Articles by Ron Steenblik

Farming for fuel will drive up the cost of your favorite brew

According to this story in the Financial Times, strong demand for biofuel feedstocks such as corn, soybeans, and oilseed rape (canola) is encouraging farmers to plant these crops instead of barley, driving up its price.

And what is barley a key ingredient of? Beer.

A message from Kenya and Biopact

Over on the Biopact website -- probably the best website for up-to-date international news on bio-energy science and markets -- they have posted an interesting commentary, based on a BBC interview, on how small Kenyan farmers, Mr. Peter Ndivo and Mr. Samuel Mauthike, are affected by the confusion engendered by concepts such as "carbon footprints," "fair trade," and "food miles."

Biopact's message? Buy your vegetables and fruits locally, if you must, but please allow developing countries to supply your biofuels.

European NGO calls on the EU to abandon its proposed biofuel targets

A new European-based group calling itself "Biofuelwatch", on Wednesday issued an open letter addressed to the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and citizens of Europe, urging the EU to abandon its targets for biofuel use in Europe. Already, several other organizations and individuals have signed onto the letter.

The group is responding in part to a recent proposal by the European Commission to establish a mandatory minimum biofuel target of 10% of vehicle fuels by 2020.

French NGO calls for 5 min. of darkness to protest against climate change.

This was just forwarded to me, concerning a grassroots protest that some European NGOs are trying to organize on the quick. It involves everybody dimming their lights between 7:55 and 8:00 P.M. tonight. I don't know whether they want everybody to do it at the same time (i.e., 19:55-20:00 GMT), or in their own time zones. In any case, it is novel.