Rainforests are cleared and burned and endangered species such as the orangutans dying to expand production of palm oil and other food-based biofuels to power our cars.
EU policies have generated huge demand for biofuels. Today, biofuels are mainly made from food crops (palm oil, rapeseed, soy). A football field of land is needed to power just two and a half cars for a year. But since most agricultural land is already being used to produce food, fragile ecosystems such as rainforests are being converted to crop fields to fuel our cars.
Just one company, Korindo, destroyed 50,000 hectares of untouched rainforests in the Indonesian island of Papua to grow palm. Right now in Europe, there is more palm oil in our cars than in our food.
Why burning palm oil in our cars?
Biofuels were meant to reduce climate-change emissions from vehicles. BUT because of deforestation and the draining of swamps, biofuels made from palm oil, rapeseed or soy are worse for the climate than fossil fuels. The cure is worse than the disease.
We now have a unique opportunity to end this lunacy. On 23rd October, the European Parliament's Environment Committee will decide whether the use of these biofuels should stop or continue as today. It is our best chance to stop the further destruction of these unique habitats that threaten orangutans and displace local communities.
By signing this petition, you are sending a clear message to your Member of the European Parliament (MEP) that you won't accept rainforests going up in flames and the real possibility of orangutan's becoming extinct in the future, because of tragically misguided efforts to clean up fuels with unsustainable biofuels.
Dear MEP,
In 2015, Indonesia’s rainforests burned for months and months on end, mainly due to deliberate arson to make room for new industrial oil palm and acacia plantations. Highly toxic smoke blanketed large parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries. As of mid-October, fifteen people – most of whom were children – had been killed by the pollution. Half a million people have fallen seriously ill from exposure to airborne particulate matter.
This man-made disaster is a tragic outcome of the misguided energy and climate policies of the EU member countries. EU countries imported 1.62 million tons of palm oil in 2014 for the production of biodiesel alone. Producing that palm oil requires 5,500 square kilometers of plantation area on former rainforest land. Citizens of EU countries are involuntary accessories to this crime against the planet every time they fuel their cars.
Other crops used for biodiesel production such as rapeseed and soya have a similarly negative environmental impact. Please ban the mandatory blending of biofuels immediately for the sake of the climate, biodiversity, and the health and well-being of millions of Southeast Asians.
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