“United Nations, June 2008 – The bio-fuel, ethanol, is generating a revolution in renewable energy that could help reduce the world’s thirst for oil. In Brazil, the production of ethanol from sugarcane is booming, but what is not clear is the impact it is having on the industry’s sugarcane cutters.”  Transcript of video available here.

Source: www.youtube.com

Although ethanol is working well for Brazil, there is a growing literature supporting the idea that wide-scale ethanol production is not sustainable or environmentally beneficial.  This is a great example to demonstrate that economic and environmental policies are locally dependent on geographic factors and are not universally transferable.  Click here for a simple explanation of the differences in the economic and environmental differences in the production of sugar and corn-based ethanol.  


Tags: energy, resources, political ecology, agriculture, food production, land use, Brazil, South America.