Systematic thinking is vital when considering environmental impacts. Just when you think you understand an issue, some new information or analysis comes along that can significantly shift your outlook. Biofuels have taken much criticism lately, but here is another angle that I had not previously considered: certain biofuels (from crops such as corn and soybean) require large amounts of fertilizer to grow, of which phosphorous is a key component; furthermore, phosphorous is derived from relatively scarce phosphate rock, meaning that a non-renewable, mined resource is a crucial component in the biofuel production chain.
This Sunday, we will be talking about the link between biofuel production and poverty alleviation, so some of the definite upsides will be discussed, which of course need to be balanced against some of these red flags which seem to keep popping up.
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