Many issues come to rise when the topic of fuel is raised. Most concerns revolve around how waste carbon dioxide emissions affect the climate and health of our planet. In an article released by the FAO “Reviewing biofuel policies and subsidies” reporting on their paper, “The State of Food and Agriculture 2008” the possible solutions and drawbacks of biofuel are explored. The report displays an ideal of precautionary thinking where the odds of the outcome are unknown then we should move to act in the direction that causes the least amount of harm. With biofuels this ideal can be placed on a number of different levels. They state numerous negative effects biofuel production will have on not only the world’s economy but also individual communities in general.
The article states, ”When looking at the environmental dimension, the balance is not always positive.” (Northoff 2009). They base this on the amount of reduction in the net greenhouse emissions. Here the benefits of reduced carbon dioxide levels from fossil fuel use and processing are weighed against the cost of deforestation to grow the biofuel crops. I agree with their use and conclusion stemming from the precautionary principle. I believe in this case the costs out weigh the benefits, even though the full potential of biofuel as an alternative is unknown. The precautionary principle also states to move to prevent harm even though the possibility of the even happening is unknown. I believe in this case we should move to do as the article suggests and place measures where the growth and use of biofuels is closely monitored so the full benefits and least amount of negative effects can occur.
Resources:
Northoff, Erwin. Reviewing Biofuel Policies and Subsides. Food and Agriculture Organization. October 7 ,2008. Accessed October 17 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.fao.org/news/story/ch/item/8223/icode/en/
Posts
I found your blog interesting and informative because you clearly identified what the precautionary principle was and the different aspects that are derived from it. I feel that was important because several readers might not know otherwise (I know I wouldn't have a clue if I wasn't in this class!). I also like how personal you made this blog entry by continuously stating your opinions and explaining why you feel this way. My suggestion would be to organize your thoughts into smaller paragraphs. For example, your first paragraph could be separated into a small introduction and then another paragrah with details about the report that you analysed. This is just a style preference!
ReplyDeleteI felt that our blog was very well done, te structure, content and presentation all conveyed your argument effectivly. The only suggestion that I would make would be to be more specific when discussing the limitations of our knowledge towards biofuel. Specifically what don't we know versus what we do. But overall a very good job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you explained the use of the precautionary principle in this blog because I also was able to form an opinion about whether or not the precautionary principle should have been used or not based on the information that you gave. However, I think that you maybe should have explained a little more about biofuels and the potential problems that the precautionary principle was referring to. Overall, I think this blog was very well done.
ReplyDelete