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Derrick Jensen & with more energy myths:
THE CARBON SCAM
Even when it simply comes to carbon emissions,
many of the so-called successes of the climate
activists are not the result of actual reductions in
carbon emissions, but rather from accounting
shenanigans. For example, heres a headline:
Costa Rica boasts 99% renewable energy in
2015. Well, sorry, no. First, they mean electric-
ity, not energy. In most countries electricity ac-
counts for about 20% of energy use. So reduce
their percentage from 99 to just under 20.
Next, the article states that Three-quarters of
Costa Ricas electricity is generated by hydroelec-
tric plants, taking advantage of the countrys
abundant river system and heavy tropical rain-
falls. So, the electricity comes from dams, which,
as weve said, kill rivers. And dams arent even
carbon-neutral, as governments, capitalists and
climate activists so often like to claim. This claim
has been known to be false for decades. Dams
can be called methane bombs and methane
factories because they emit so much of the po-
tent greenhouse-gas methane.
They are the largest single anthropogenic source,
accounting for 23% of all methane emitted be-
cause of humans. Dams can release up to three
and a half times as much atmospheric carbon per
unit of energy as is released by burning oil, pri-
marily because, as an article in the New Scientist
pointed out, large amounts of carbon tied up in
trees and other plants are released when the res-
ervoir is initially flooded and the plants rot. Then
after this first pulse of decay, plant matter settling
on the reservoirs bottom decomposes without
oxygen, resulting in a build-up of dissolved meth-
ane. This is released into the atmosphere when
water passes through the dams turbines.
So when people tell you that dams are carbon
neutral theyre really just saying, We dont count
the carbon from dams. But its all just accounting,
and doesnt reflect the real world, which trumps
accounting any time. From the perspective of the
health of the planet, the best thing we can say
about dams is that eventually they fail, and to the
degree that the river is still alive at that point it will
do its best to recover.
Biomass is, if possible, even more of a carbon
accounting scam. It is counted as carbon neu-
tral and green and renewable, even though
burning wood pellets produces 15% to 20% more
carbon dioxide than burning coal. This figure
doesnt include the fuel needed to grind, heat, dry
and transport the wood, which adds another 20%
to the emissions.
So you might be asking: How can climate activists
(and nations, and plain old capitalists) call this
green and carbon neutral? One argument is
that because trees originally sequestered carbon
in their bodies as they grew, and will eventually
release this carbon when they die, we may as well
cut them down and burn them. But this as untrue
as it is absurd. As forests continue to grow, they
continue to sequester more and more carbon. An
old growth forest both contains and annually se-
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questers more carbon than does a forest attempt-
ing to grow after its been cut down. And individ-
ual trees also sequester more carbon with age,
and sequester more carbon per year with age.
Another way to put this argument for the carbon
neutrality of biomass is that the carbon was al-
ready stored when the trees grew, so all were do-
ing is re-releasing the previously stored carbon.
Its like spending money we already put in savings.
This, too, is crap, for at least a couple of reasons.
The first is that we didnt store that carbon. The
trees did.
This is analogous to you putting money into your
savings account, and me taking it out and spend-
ing it, and then calling us even. You might call that
theft, but capitalists might call that dollar neu-
tral: a dollar was put in, and a dollar was taken
outwhats your problem? Another reason this is
untrue is that you can make the same argument
about coal and oil. The carbon got sequestered by
algae in the time of dinosaurs, and were just tak-
ing it back out.
Another related argument for the carbon neutrality
of deforestation is that although you may be cut-
ting down trees and releasing carbon, since trees
grow back, the carbon will be re-sequestered in
the future, thereby rendering the process carbon
neutral. As Climate Central reporter John Upton
put it: often without saying a word about the deforesta-
When power plants in major European countries tion.
burn wood, the only carbon dioxide pollution they And for the record, 70% of Germanys renewable
report is from the burning of fossil fuels needed to energy comes from biomass. As energy analyst
manufacture and transport the woody fuel. Euro- Robert Wilson states, Biomass is . . . the biggest
pean law assumes climate pollution released di- source of renewable energy, on a final energy con-
rectly by burning fuel made from trees doesnt sumption basis, in all but two EU countries. The
matter, because it will be re-absorbed by trees that exceptions are Cyprus and Ireland. Denmark may
grow to replace them. The assumption is conven- get 30% of its electricity from wind farms, but it
ient, but wrong. Climate science has been reject- still gets more than twice as much of its final en-
ing it for more than 20 years The accounting ergy consumption from biomass than from wind
trick allows the energy industry to pump tens of farms. We can show similar carbon accounting
millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air every smoke and mirrors for wind and solar. Meanwhile,
year and pretend it doesnt exist. carbon emissions continue to rise.
So basically the argument is that biomass is car- I got a note just the other day, where someone
bon neutral because the trees may grow back and said he understands that this culture is killing the
the carbon may be recaptured over the next 100 planet, then told me his attitude about protecting
years. This is accounting fraudulent enough to the earth is, Why bother? Ill just hang out with
make those who ran Enron envious. Can you my friends in the time we have left. This is the
imagine what would happen to even a corporation attitude that ties all of the reasons for our incapac-
that tried to claim its books were balanced be- ity to love the planet that is our only home. If your
cause it was spending money now, and hoping to beloved is threatened you act to defend your be-
accumulate that same amount of money over the loved. Thats what love is. You dont just hang out
next 100 years? Any accounting firm that tried that with friends, and you certainly dont actas too
would be shut down in a heartbeat. many climate activists and environmentalists are
Its actually worse than this. Because the (de)for- doingto defend the one who is killing your be-
esters didnt sequester the carbon, but rather the loved.
forest did, the more accurate analogy would be an It is long past time we transferred our loyalty
Enron-style company stealing from people, then away from the economy that is ravaging the
saying this is not theft because in time their vic- earth, and back to the living planet. It is long
tims will earn more money to put back into the past time we made our loyalty to this planet
bank (which will then be stolenI mean harvest- absolute, and then started to fight like hell to
edby the company). protect it.
But none of this matters: environmentalists, na- -DERRICK JENSEN
tions, and capitalists continue to count biomass derrickjensen.org
as carbon neutral, and count it, and its numbers, Author, Activist
as part of their global warming success stories, & founder of Deep Green Resistance
deepgreenresistance.org
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