No, we’re not talking about global warming in Australia. Topsoil often contains a significant amount of organic matter. The expression  ‘below ground carbon” refers to this. In a nutshell, the NY Times is claiming that the carbon released in cultivating biofuel feedstocks and processing biofuels may negate carbon-locking claims (NYT Feb 8, 2008, “Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat”). There is a more credible, if unintentional, counter-claim that carbon is sequestered in the ground by root systems.

Why is this especially significant to biofuel proponents? Well, the claim has long been made that using plants to capture the sun’s energy and then burning all or part of the plant provides a rough sort of balance. If we are releasing carbon obtained from below ground where it had been safely locked, we could be ‘barking up the wrong tree’, so to speak.

We are not fans of clearing rain forests to plant oil palm, as is being done in pretty much any wet climate within 20 degrees of the equator. We think this may be as irresponsible as redirecting food sources to fuel when much of the world’s population already lacks basic nutrition. However, it would be a shame if these objections resulted in throwing out the baby with the bath water.

It seems that we environmentalists have a propensity for action, occasionally misdirected. There is agreement that the sooner we stop pulling so much carbon from the ground in order to quickly release it, the better. Yet, most environmentalists (including us) are not luddites; we like technology, and this requires fuel. Pretty much any fuel that comes from a plant is probably a good thing, on balance. If the oil comes from a plant that is placed where there are no leafy greens, better still. Shell’s algae plant in Kona? Check. Chevron’s algae plant, also in Hawaii? Check. Our LookLocal™ plan, which among other things enables halophytic algae farming in the desert? Check. Oil palm in exchange for rain forest? Not so much. Corn and soybean oil at less than 150 gallons per acre? Puhleeze.

The worst option is to wait for the perfect solution to come along. That’s fiddling while Rome burns; or, in our case, playing an electric guitar on the side of an LA freeway during the rush hour crawl.