Biofuels and the globalisation of risk : the biggest change in north-south relationships since colonialism? /

This work cogently presents concerns about using biofuel feedstocks, such as corn, soybeans, and palm oil, which can also be used for food. Smith (African studies, Univ. of Edinburgh, UK) describes environmental critiques as well as assessments of biofuel life cycle impacts that assert net positive greenhouse gas emissions. These assessments question whether biofuels can actually play a role in mitigating climate change. Finally, the book describes the critiques that assert that advocates of biofuels development are embedded in a techno-scientific-industrial system that unquestioningly promotes their development and are blind to the possibility of downsides to these fuels. It could be useful in an advanced graduate or undergraduate course focused on bioenergy or climate change policy. However, the work has some limitations. It contains some misunderstandings of US biofuels policy. Further, the book is not a neutral discussion of the costs and benefits of biofuels development, but focuses mostly on problems, and advocates biolfuels' use solely at small scales that may be impractical. Teachers and scholars interested in exploring the possibilities of biofuels could balance it by drawing on additional readings in these areas. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. K. E. Halvorsen Michigan Technological University