Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Biofuel rush wiping out America’s grasslands at fastest pace since the 1930s

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, February 22, 2013

Biofuel rush wiping out America’s grasslands at fastest pace since the 1930s

Click here to access article by Brad Plumer from The Washington Post and republished on Climate Connections.

I posted this article from the secondary source, Climate Connections, because of the latter's introductory criticism that the author did not go far enough to identify the true cause of the "social and ecological devastation":

Note: Rather than algae or cellulosic biofuels, as the author suggests, which will create just another grab for land to produce cellulose for bioenergy, we must challenge and ultimately dismantle the systems which give rise to the exorbitant consumption of energy. Without addressing the drivers of energy and resource consumption, social and ecological devastation will only continue to accelerate.
–The GJEP Team

While the Post's article accurately cites numerous problems with the growing of current crops to produce biofuels and the GJEP Team (Global Justice Ecology Project) makes a correct critical observation about its conclusion, the GJEP Team for some strange reason, stops short of identifying what the "drivers of energy and resource consumption" are. To be succinct, there is one driver and that is the system of capitalism! Why is that so hard to write?