Following up on a couple of recent posts about ethanol, which mirrored the official view of the use of ethanol, I thought it would be useful to echo the view from those who underline the shortcomings of ethanol production. The Portuguese language website Brazil de Fato recently published an article under the headline ‘The contradictions of ethanol‘. In it, specialists point out that the current sugar cane rush is a throwback to the colonialist phase of Brazil, which was built mainly on the cultivation of the plant for European sugar consumption, and it leads to an increase of land monopilization by the country’s oligarchies as they buy out smaller properties to convert them into sugar cane fields.
In terms of the environmental impact it causes, the article warns that one of the most common practices during the process of ethanol production is the burning of straw to save human labor, which obviously generates a lot of carbon that will then go into the atmosphere and damage the ozone layer (it can also fatally damage the health of poorly paid workers). Another threatening aspect of ethanol production is the dumping of waste into rivers, as well as destruction of water springs. And finally, large-scale sugar cane cultivation compromises bio-diversity and causes impoverishment of the soil.
Comment: These observations have to be taken seriously, even though ethanol is a promising alternative to petrol-based fuel. Considering the oppressive power relations that exist in developing countries like Brazil, it is crucial to monitor business practices and regulations to ensure that the environment really is benefitting and poor people are not being exploited to death. The last thing we need now is placebo green fuel.
I live in Brasil, in a region that received in the last two years three ethanol plants. It was a beautiful place… I am very sad because I never had seen such a destruction in a so short period of time. Now I pray for a stop on this crazy thing… Ethanol has nothing to do with environment