George Will on alternative fuels: Right problem, wrong solution

George Will in a recent column in Newsweek ("The Biofuel Follies," Feb. 11, 2008) accurately points out the problem of destroying forests to plant biofuels. He points his finger in particular at Indonesia, where, he says, "44 million acres [of forests] have been razed to make way for production of palm oil." He also reiterates the now well-worn argument that corn-derived ethanol is neither energy efficient nor economically sustainable.

Guess what, George. No one who is familiar with these issues is arguing with you.

Pulling forests to plant palms or jatropha for their oil, or cane for its sugar, is counterproductive if it results in a net greenhouse gas increase. And it's becoming increasingly clear that the silliest of all biofuels is corn because of the high energy demand in planting, harvesting and converting it to ethanol, as well as its dependence on oil-based, environment degrading fertilizers and herbicides in the growing process and oceans of water in the ethanol production phase.

Fortunately, those who really know this issue, unlike you, have proposed other solutions, none of which include drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or processing shale in Colorado, both of which, like clearing forests, would increase greenhouse gas emissions.

Agreed, there is no easy path out of the energy-vs.-climate hole that we have dug ourselves into. But the answer is not to take what appear to be easy, old-energy solutions and then fashioning a path to get there. The answer is to keep our minds open to all possible solutions, many of which have yet to be discovered, provided that we keep focused on these threefold goals for the future:

• Energy efficiency (both in production and use),
• Environmental stewardship (to avoid planet-wide catastrophe), and
• Economic realism (which includes a full accounting of energy and environmental costs).

Despite the head-in-the-sand approach of the Bush administration over the past seven years, great strides have been made by scientists and futurists towards finding real solutions for our environmental and energy problems, which are too numerous to mention here.

I suggest this: Before you write on this subject again, George, force yourself to read Lester Brown's Plan B 3.0. It should give you a whole new perspective on the options that are available to us.