Bill Clinton: don't destroy the forest to make ethanol

During the big Ethanol Summit 2009 down in Brazil this week, former President Clinton gave a bit of advice to that country's ethanol industry: don't destroy so much forest land just to make biofuel. Clinton said that "everybody" already knows that Brazilian ethanol made from sugar cane is the most efficient biofuel in the world. The problem isn't getting the word out, but potential negative consequences of cutting down more forest in order to plant more crops. "The world would say, if we let Brazil help us solve our problem at the price of more rainforest destruction, have we really gained anything? That's what you have to answer," Clinton said during his speech. Business leaders should see their self-interest in working with the government to help protect the forests, he said, because there are huge political negatives of a cut-and-plant strategy.

[Source: Reuters]
Photo by sskennel. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.