Are we paying to royally screw ourselves?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1713431,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar

In theory, we are supposed to use biomass fuels in order to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere, thereby reducing global warming. However, we have apparently forgot to consider the price of biomass fuels themselves. There is no free lunch in this world. Land has to be cleared in order to grow the crops used in biomass fuels. To clear this land, deforestation, a cause of global warming, is carried out. Brazil is 4th in the world in terms of carbon emission and a large portion of it comes from deforestation. Indonesia has cleared so much land for oil palm trees that it is now the third most carbon producer as compared to 21st previously. The carbon that is stored in the soil and trees are released when burnt, the preferred method of clearing up the trees.

The growing of the corn used in biomass itself is an environmental hazard. Due to the increasing demand for biomass fuels, there is an increasing number of farmers who start growing even more corn, a product which requires a lot of fertilizer. This fertilizer usually washes off the soil into the rivers. This would cause eutrophication, a process which removes oxygen from the water, to happen, gradually killing our oceans.

Worse yet, the large demand for biomass fuels is pushing food prices up as a larger and larger portion of grain is diverted to making biomass fuels. This leads to two negative effects. First, is that the less fortunate of the world would have even less to eat than before. The grain used to fill up the tank of an SUV could feed a person for a year. There have been tortilla riots in Mexico and flour prices have made Pakistan more unstable than it already is. Secondly, the higher price encourages farmers to clear more land to produce more corn or soybeans. This leads to more carbon dioxide being released into the air.

In short, biomass may not be as good as it appears to be. More research should be done before biomass fuels are actively used on a large scale and the grains used could be diverted to helping the hungry or to lower food prices.