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Biofuels protesters disable fuel pumps

Agrofoolsaction! | 18.04.2008 09:13 | Bio-technology | Climate Chaos | Social Struggles

Agro-fuels protesters disabled the fuel pumps of two BP filling stations early Tuesday morning in opposition to mandatory blending of biofuels into petrol and diesel. Protesters argue that biofuels will worsen climate change, and cause food shortages.
Protesters have taken this action in Edinburgh as part of a national day of action against biofuels - April Biofools day - coinciding with the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation's (RTFO) coming into force, making it a legal requirement to mix 2.5% biofuels into all petrol and diesel.

Agro-fuels protesters disabled the fuel pumps of two BP filling stations early Tuesday morning in opposition to mandatory blending of biofuels into petrol and diesel. Protesters argue that biofuels will worsen climate change, and cause food shortages.
Protesters have taken this action in Edinburgh as part of a national day of action against biofuels - April Biofools day - coinciding with the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation's (RTFO) coming into force, making it a legal requirement to mix 2.5% biofuels into all petrol and diesel.

BP was targeted since it is a major investor in biofuels.

Biofuels are more appropriately called agrofuels, as far from being connected to natural, sustainable life they are made from crops grown on unsustainable monoculture plantations.

Far from being a green solution to greenhouse gas emissions, agrofuels drive climate change. Increased use of agrofuels has been promoted by governments as a possible way of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from transport. However, there is evidence that the process of producing agrofuels hugely increases greenhouse gas emissions when deforestation, peatland destruction and nitrogen fertiliser-use are taken into account.

The production of agrofuels is causing large-scale deforestation which is likely to lead to a tipping point of irreversible rapid destruction of forests, which could mean the release of as much as 120 billion tonnes of CO2. Similarly, the expansion of palm oil production for agrofuels is leading to an acceleration of peat draining, which is likely overall to mean the release of 40 million tonnes of CO2. In addition, increased large-scale agriculture means increased use of fertilzers which mean the release of large amounts of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Agrofuels are also a major threat to food supplies and food sovereignty. Increased demand for agrofuel crops is putting pressure on food prices, pushing more and more people below the breadline.

Agrofuel crops are being grown on monoculture plantations. The land for these is often violently seized by governments and corporations from the people who live and work on it. People displaced are forced to either go to join the growing numbers of people living in poverty on urban peripheries or, as happened in the 1970s, settle in a previously uninhabited area of rainforest, causing further ecological devastation to add to that already caused by the plantations themselves.

Agrofuels are being pursued by Western governments because they offer a non-Middle Eastern fuel source. This is unrelated to the need to combat climate change, and is instead based on maintaining neo-imperialist power.

Agrofoolsaction!

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. Hope you are all vegan — Chris
  2. Hope you are all perfect — me
  3. Vegan AND against biofuels — Campaigner
  4. Divine Wrath Approaches. — Chipfat Diesel User