Biofuel // Current TV

United States, biofuel production is taking over farmland – at a time of dramatic food price rises.

– It’s a process that comes with a price tag – the American way not... more

joeeddy
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26 days ago
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Biofuel Research Boosted by Discovery of How Cyanobacteria Make Energy

A generally accepted, 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make... more

aileenalmeda
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1 month ago
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Seaweed aquaculture:sustainable food and fuel

When copying the model of land-based industrialized farming, current aquaculture... more

JanforGore
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2 months ago
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36 comments

Protest in Kathmandu against Monsanto and US AID

More than 250 people of different race and culture, including foreigner joins holding... more

JanforGore
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3 months ago
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9 comments

Death in GM soya wars

NOTE: For more on the terrible human and environmental devastation wreaked by GM soy... more

JanforGore
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3 months ago
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7 comments

Agricultural group in western Canada eyes industrial crop oils for jet-engine bio-fuels

Ag-West Bio, a federally- and provincially-funded bioscience investment fund in... more

Danbethrach
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5 months ago
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Asian governments encouraged to embrace aviation bio-fuel development

Speaking at the Green Skies 2011 conference in Hong Kong, Paul Steele, executive... more

Danbethrach
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5 months ago
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Panda Poop… a Biofuel Breakthrough?

Panda poop contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in... more

joeeddy
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5 months ago
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For First Time, More Corn Used for Ethanol than Livestock

For the first time ever, more of the corn crop may go into gas tanks than into the... more

rodstradamus
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6 months ago
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Agent Orange being used to clear Amazon rainforest

Agent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical which killed or injured an estimated 400,000 people during the Vietnam War -- and now it's being used against the Amazon rainforest. According to officials, ranchers in Brazil have begun spraying the highly toxic herbicide over patches of forest as a covert method to illegally clear foliage, more difficult to detect that chainsaws and tractors. In recent weeks, an aerial survey detected some 440 acres of rainforest that had been sprayed with the compound -- poisoning thousands of trees and an untold number of animals, potentially for generations.

Officials from Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA were first tipped to the illegal clearing by satellite images of the forest in Amazonia; a helicopter flyover in the region later revealed thousands of trees left ash-colored and defoliated by toxic chemicals. IBAMA says that Agent Orange was likely dispersed by aircraft by a yet unidentified rancher to clear the land for pasture because it is more difficult to detect than traditional operations that require chainsaws and tractors.

Last week, in another part of the Amazon, an investigation conducted by the agency uncovered approximately four tons of the highly toxic herbal pesticides hidden in the forest awaiting dispension. If released, the chemicals could have potentially decimated some 7,500 acres of rainforest, killing all the wildlife that resides there and contaminating groundwater. In this case, the individual responsible was identified and now faces fines nearing $1.3 million.

According to a report from Folha de São Paulo, the last time such chemicals were recorded in use by deforesters was in 1999, but officials say dispensing the devastating herbicide may become more common as officials crack down on the most flagrant types of environmental crime.

"They [deforesters] have changed their strategy because, in a short time, more areas of forest can be destroyed with herbicides. Thus, they don't need to mobilize tree-cutting teams and can therefore bypass the supervision of IBAMA," says Jerfferson Lobato of IBAMA.

While Agent Orange was originally designed to clear forest coverage in combat situations, its use became a subject of controversy due to its impact on humans and wildlife. During the Vietnam War, the United States military dispersed 12 million gallons of herbicide, impacting the health of some 3 million, mostly peasant, Vietnamese citizens, and causing birth defects in around 500 thousand children. Additionally, the chemical's effect on the environment have been profound and lasting.

More at the linkAgent Orange is one of the most devastating weapons of modern warfare, a chemical... more

JanforGore
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7 months ago
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42 comments

Sweet solution: Sugarcane helps cool climate

Sugarcane is not only a major source for producing a biofuel alternative to gasoline,... more

suzane
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10 months ago
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E85 Ethanol Turbo Road Trip

If you're in most parts of the United States, outside of the Midwest, you might... more

MPGomatic
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12 months ago
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5 comments

GM corn moves forward in Paraguay

EXTRACT: "Genetically modified organisms and pesticides on the table mean more exclusion, more misery, more needless deaths, more dependence on multinational corporations and more humiliation for Paraguay," notes the National Coordinator of Rural and Indigenous Women Workers (CONAMURI).

NOTES: In Latin America, GM soy production has caused the destruction of many millions of hectares of forest in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. It's also caused violent land grabs, displaced indigenous peoples, dramatically increased the use of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller and other agrotoxins, causing major health problems, and maintaining vast unsustainable GM monocultures. Despite this disaster, GM soy production is being greenwashed by the likes of Monsanto and the WWF via the Round Table on Responsible Soy. Meanwhile, illegal GM maize production has led to contamination of native strains. See our collection of videos on the topic, including several on what's happening in Paraguay: http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-videos/26-gm-in-latin-america
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Transgenic corn moves forward
http://lapress.org/articles.asp?art=6300

*Multinational corporation Monsanto begins experimental cultivation of genetically modified corn.

In Guarani, corn is called avati. One of the many legends about this versatile plant tells of the misfortune of a young man whose fiancée dies after she is hit by a stray arrow. The name of this maiden with luminous white-blonde hair was Avati (áva: hair, tî: white). Anguished over losing her, he decides to never leave the graveside of his beloved. On that very land, dampened by so many tears, a mysterious plant with long leaves began to grow. With time, it bore fruit, and from that moment on, ears with golden kernels began to multiply and were used to make various types of food.

This fantastical story may not accurately explain the origin and evolution of this grain; however, it does shed light on certain aspects of folk wisdom and a world view expressing its relationship with nature. It is with this impressive background that several generations of indigenous and campesino communities that live on Paraguayan territory have been producing and conserving dozens of varieties of native seeds for human and animal consumption. This ancient practice is nevertheless being threatened by multinational biotechnology corporations and elite agricultural exporters.

In Paraguay, genetically modified corn was prohibited in 1993 by Environmental Impact Assessment Law 294/93; however, in January the Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural Technology (IPTA) — recently created by President Fernando Lugo — authorized the multinational corporation Monsanto to experimentally grow transgenic corn, a move that foreshadows a point of no return for best practices in agro-ecology and organic agriculture because of potential genetic contamination. This jeopardizes the development of campesino family farming and traditional indigenous production, which will be the primary parties affected if genetically modified seeds got out, according to the National Campaign for Paraguay Free of Genetically Modified Corn, which includes environmentalist and human rights groups.

Farmers in the villages of Caazapa, Guaira, Caaguazu and Misiones, in eastern part of the country, are being pushed out by agribusiness with increasingly frequency to the detriment of traditional farming. It is during this transition that the use of transgenic corn seeds emerged, brought from soybean-producing areas located in the departments of Itapua, Alto Parana, Canindeyu; in these regions genetically modified corn seeds are smuggled in from Brazil and Argentina. According to estimates by the National Service for the Health and Quality of Plants and Seeds (SENAVE), there are about 100,000 hectares of genetically modified corn in the country.

Transgenic soy is legal in Paraguay, however, and Paraguay was the last country in the soy-producing region —which also includes Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay— to allow its use. In October 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock approved the commercialization of four varieties of Monsanto-developed genetically modified soybeans, but in reality almost all soybean crops were already transgenic.

The fear given this new reality comes from the fact that Paraguayans do not consume soy; corn, on the other hand, is a mainstay in the country´s diet.

cont.EXTRACT: "Genetically modified organisms and pesticides on the table mean more... more