Biofuels

Fueling Disaster Report: A Community Food Security Perspective on Agrofuels

Daniel Moss — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:51:48 +0000

The new magic bullet for our energy woes - industrial agrofuels - is already exacting heavy costs on food security and rural communities around the world. The anticipated increase in agrofuel production could lead to catastrophic impacts on the world's ability to feed itself.

In this report, Grassroots International, the Community Food Security Coalition, World Hunger Year, Food First and several other food justice organizations tackle these impacts and identify actions that would buffer communities from increased hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation.

Open Letter to the High-Level Conference On World Food Security

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:12:02 +0000

To the conference organizers (FAO, CGIAR, IFAD, WFP); the Heads of States; the General Secretary of the United Nations: bear responsibility to protect the Palestinian people who are exposed to poverty and hunger by the Israeli occupying forces.

Bill Clinton: Brazilian Landowner

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:50:08 +0000

A rich, influential citizen of the United States or Europe—say, Bill Clinton or Bill Gates—buys land in Brazil, either as an individual or a partner in a company. They want to invest in agrofuels, and figure that crops can be grown on their new land for fuel (and profit). But as a result, the price of land rises in Brazil; peasants and other low-income workers can no longer afford to buy land. And they have no say in how the land purchased by foreigners is used.

Dangerous Liaisons

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:44:41 +0000

"Burning food today so as to serve the mobility of the rich countries is a crime against humanity" said Jean Ziegler, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food criticizing the growing push for using food crops as fuel crops and diverting land use from food cultivation to fuel cultivation. In the face of the growing global crisis that he said could lead to "widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale" United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon convened a global task force to respond, and called for closing the $755 million funding gap in the UN's World Food Programme.

A Plan for a New Food and Agriculture Agenda in 2008

Daniel Moss — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:19:56 +0000

ETC Group, a Grassroots International ally based in Canada, has released a report highlighting the failure of governments to manage their multilateral food and agriculture agencies.

ETC is calling on the United Nations to gather the leaders of such agencies to hammer out a plan for the future. It says the meeting is necessary because of numerous threats facing the world's agricultural systems:

What Does Heating Homes in New York City with Biodiesel Have to do with Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:53:54 +0000

Many of us think we’re doing the climate and the environment a big favor when we consider meeting our liquid fuel needs through biodiesel. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s time to think again.

Agribusiness is seeing dollar signs as cities and states across the country consider using biodiesel to fuel municipal vehicle fleets and heat homes and businesses. In New York City, over a million households depend on petroleum heating oil to stay warm every winter. Legislation currently wending its way through City Council proposes adding biodiesel to future supplies.

But where does this biodiesel come from and at what environmental cost?

Biofuels in Brazil: A Trojan Horse and a Rallying Cry

Daniel Moss — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:13:57 +0000

Biofuels can be effective disguises. They disguise the unseemly profiteering of agribusinesses that earn millions from corn- and sugarcane-based ethanol. They disguise the power-grabbing of governments that use biofuels as political pawns. And they disguise the suffering of land and people in the Global South whenever they are touted as "safe green technologies."

A new report from the Oakland Institute and Terra de Direitos lifts these disguises and documents how sugarcane grown for ethanol in Brazil has become the country's international bargaining chip, yet has also mobilized millions of Brazilians--and people throughout Latin America--against the growth of monocultures for export as fuel.

A Response to the Global Food Prices Crisis

Paul Venuti — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 04:08:32 +0000

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Sustainable Family Farming Can Feed the World

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A response to the Global Food Prices Crisis: Sustainable family farming can feed the world

Biofuels

Fueling Disaster Report: A Community Food Security Perspective on Agrofuels

Open Letter to the High-Level Conference On World Food Security

Bill Clinton: Brazilian Landowner

Dangerous Liaisons

A Plan for a New Food and Agriculture Agenda in 2008

What Does Heating Homes in New York City with Biodiesel Have to do with Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

Biofuels in Brazil: A Trojan Horse and a Rallying Cry

A Response to the Global Food Prices Crisis

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Sustainability Alert

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A Brazilian Perspective on Food and Energy Sovereignty

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