| Recently government entities across the country have | | | | comparison. Bio-diesel has much lower emission rates |
| started turning away from bio-diesel and returning to | | | | when burned in vehicles and is far less toxic then |
| more traditional fuel sources for their vehicle fleets. | | | | traditional diesel fuel. Meaning in the case of a spill |
| However, this is not a case of government giving up | | | | bio-diesel will do much less damage to the environment |
| on environmental initiatives as it might seem. Once | | | | and bio-degrade much more rapidly than traditional |
| heralded as the future of renewable energy, bio-fuels | | | | diesel would. In an attempt to address the issue of |
| have recently come under strong criticism. Surprisingly | | | | soybean production and the environmental harms it |
| much of this criticism has come from staunch | | | | can cause, some bio-diesel manufacturers are |
| environmentalists who argue that the environmental | | | | switching to production based on recycled vegetable |
| benefits of bio-diesel are negligible as compared to | | | | oil from fryers at restaurants. This is a more |
| other fuel sources. | | | | expensive production method but does seem to make |
| Primary amongst the concerns of these | | | | bio-diesel much more environmentally friendly. |
| environmentalists is the impact that the increased | | | | This debate about exactly how environmentally friendly |
| demand for soybeans is having on countries that | | | | bio-diesel really is is not a new fight. Critics of bio-diesel |
| produce soybeans. Soybean oil is the most common | | | | say that they have been raising these same issues for |
| source of fatty oil used in making bio-diesel and with | | | | quite some time, they are just being paid attention to |
| the increase in demand we saw for bio-diesel there | | | | now. Both groups certainly bring strong arguments to |
| was a corresponding increase in price for soybean oil. | | | | the table and have good points to be made. They |
| Environmentalist argue that this lead to additional clear | | | | differ on how they account for the different impacts |
| cutting of native rainforests and other woodlands in | | | | of farming and bio-diesel use which leads to their |
| countries like Brazil to make space to plant more | | | | different conclusions as to whether or not bio-diesel |
| Soybeans. Environmentalists believe that the damage | | | | really is good for the environment. The current trend is |
| caused by this clear cutting is greater than the benefits | | | | certainly swinging in favor of the bio-diesel opponents |
| of using bio-diesel over traditional fossil fuels. | | | | as more and more government agencies begin to |
| On the other side bio-diesel proponents argue that | | | | make the switch back to regular diesel. At the moment |
| bio-diesel is still the way of the future. Excluding the | | | | it seems that bio-diesel is not the end solution to our |
| issue of production, bio-diesel is much more | | | | fossil fuel problem. |
| environmentally friendly then regular diesel in a direct | | | | |