You may remember me railing against palm oil. It has led to deforestation, destruction of wildlife habitats, intentional and unintentional killing of wildlife. Like the Times once realized that using food for fuel was a Bad Idea, they now realize
"Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Instead It Unleashed a Catastrophe. …A decade ago, the U.S. mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation — and a huge spike in carbon emissions" https://t.co/ZeAs69RSkp
— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) November 20, 2018
From the article, which is a massive one investigating and discussing
Most of the plantations around us were new, their rise a direct consequence of policy decisions made half a world away. In the mid-2000s, Western nations, led by the United States, began drafting environmental laws that encouraged the use of vegetable oil in fuels — an ambitious move to reduce carbon dioxide and curb global warming. But these laws were drawn up based on an incomplete accounting of the true environmental costs. Despite warnings that the policies could have the opposite of their intended effect, they were implemented anyway, producing what now appears to be a calamity with global consequences.
The tropical rain forests of Indonesia, and in particular the peatland regions of Borneo, have large amounts of carbon trapped within their trees and soil. Slashing and burning the existing forests to make way for oil-palm cultivation had a perverse effect: It released more carbon. A lot more carbon. NASA researchers say the accelerated destruction of Borneo’s forests contributed to the largest single-year global increase in carbon emissions in two millenniums, an explosion that transformed Indonesia into the world’s fourth-largest source of such emissions. Instead of creating a clever technocratic fix to reduce American’s carbon footprint, lawmakers had lit the fuse on a powerful carbon bomb that, as the forests were cleared and burned, produced more carbon than the entire continent of Europe. The unprecedented palm-oil boom, meanwhile, has enriched and emboldened many of the region’s largest corporations, which have begun using their newfound power and wealth to suppress critics, abuse workers and acquire more land to produce oil.
Again, it keeps going on and on. The worst part is that this is primarily focused on the man-caused climate change scam, rather than the real environmental damage caused by the spread of palm oil. The Girl Scouts pledged to stop using palm oil in their cookies after a few of girls petitioned over the environmental destruction, especially how orangutans have been intentionally hunted and killed.
As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
