By Jake Roos, 22 December 2022
Low Carbon Kāpiti set up the ‘Don’t Burn Our Future’ campaign in July 2022 to try and stop the government from bringing in its planned biofuels obligation law. We’ve campaigned hard this year in a multitude of different ways which are documented on our campaign webpage and Facebook page. We have distilled everything, all our arguments and evidence, into our submission to the Environment Select Committee, who have the task early next year of reviewing the bill and recommending changes. Have a read – as you’ll see, it is a comprehensive demolition of the whole foolish concept of using the law to force people to use biofuels, when those biofuels are inevitably made from food crops and actually increase emissions.
But enough from us for now! We asked our supporters what they’d like to tell the Select Committee, and here’s what they said:
Biofuels is out of the frying pan, into the fire! It is a terrible use of land.
Jacky P
In transitioning from fossil fuel to biofuel and thinking all will be OK, I see similarities with the transition from smoking tobacco to vaping. Don’t be fooled by the promises of big business interests.
Brad Hayes
I oppose the policy because it goes against the best available scientific evidence in mathematics, physics and economics.
William Bowden
We need to be sourcing energy in renewable sustainable ways which are good for human and planetary wellbeing, and burning food crops for fuel is not that.
Áine Kelly-Costello
Why would we burn food for fuel, when all it’s going to do is increase costs for that product.? Why burn food when burning is putting more pollutants in the air?
R Gwillim
Please do not make us complicit with the Global Incineration Event. We need firefighters not arsonists seeing off a good-looking planet!
Susan Chapman
I truly can’t believe that MPs don’t already see the evidence of how this would increase global and local emissions, environmental harm and increase deprivation. I’m disappointed beyond belief that our MPs would knowingly choose fuel over food, climate and environment.
Penelope Campbell
NZ is not in the same situation as most other countries. We can generate plenty of electricity from renewable sources (solar, wind on land and sea, geothermal). It does not make sense to use our precious land to grow plants for biofuels when there are such admirable alternatives. We need our land for native forests (as carbon sinks), for food growing, and for housing.
Pat van Berkel
This policy is harmful and counterproductive to reducing emissions.
Ingrid Abtibol
It’s a no brainer to me (to ditch the biofuels obligation). People throughout the world are starving and we’re using land to produce biofuels? Don’t get me started.
Geraldine Marston
Visiting NZ, I experienced the cleanest air, the most drinkable tap water, the most delicious fresh produce, and at the time a nuclear free country. Please, please do not spoil it by killing New Zealand, by polluting the land , sea and fresh water.
Emmanuel Fardoulis
It is very important to me that we don’t burn food crops for fuel. Land is at a premium, and growing food for consumption a priority. With climate change there will be more desertification, more flooding, more crops destroyed or unable to be grown where they grew before. With a large number of the world’s population starving already, it is obvious: to grow crops for fuel will only speed up the end of civilisation, and the extinction of wildlife and natural habitat.
Annelies Pekelharing
Produce has seen one of the highest increases in cost for consumers in the last year. We’re building houses on arable land and plan to grow fuel crops on more. Quality of life and health in the near future is set to drop dramatically as fresh, nutritious, local produce becomes inaccessible for the majority. A good decision considers factors beyond a term in office. I encourage the people who make these decisions to fulfil their public service roles; be strong and make choices that truly benefit everyone.
Flynn O’Meara
I fully support the “don’t burn our future”campaign because using good land (for biofuels) that can be used for food production is really a bad idea in my opinion.
Bruno Gaebler
I just think the planet will be better off without people burning food crops to get fuel, we must evolve past things like burning food crops, and discover & use planet-friendly ways to get what we need.
Jason Worth
Do not burn food as fuel! It is as simple as it can be. Food is produced already causing enough environmental degradation and produces carbon.
Tineke Witteman
I work in Pakistan where at present people affected by recent floods are suffering terribly from hunger. To burn crops etc when people suffer badly now and never have three meals per day is murderously inhuman. I’m praying for common sense to prevail.
Eilish Heaney
I want to see our air cleaner & global warming slowed down It is better to clean our air than to make it worse.
Gillian Manson
It’s better to stay home than starve.
Annette Baxendell
I oppose the NZ Biofuels Obligation, supporting the Don’t Burn Our Futures submission, mainly because it continues government financial and regulatory assistance for internal combustion engines running on carbon-based fossil fuel at a time when NZ has committed to reducing our production of CO2.
There may be a small place for carbon-based high energy-per-kilogram fuels, e.g. in long-range aircraft, but for land and water transportation there are an increasing number of viable alternatives.
David MacClement
Burning biofuels is an obsolete answer to the obsolete question: “how do we continue to operate our current transport system more sustainably?” We need to seek new questions and answers which address how we live our lives so we can reduce the mass consumerism and travel which currently require such a transport system and which empower communities to meet their needs more locally.
Kathy Kerr
Diverting valuable arable land to growing biofuels is self-defeating. We need all available growing capacity for productive, low-carbon food production.
Graham Townsend
BIOFUELS is an acronym for:
- Biospherically
- Irresponsible
- Oilternatives
- Fuelling
- Unexpected
- Emissions
- Leakage
- Scenarios
Olli Krollmann
Awesome huh? Thanks to everyone that took the time to send me a quote.
We’ve included these messages at the end of our submission to the Select Committee. You can make your own submission too, but you’ll need to be quick, the deadline is the end of the day on 12 January 2023.