The Bad Side of the biofuel boom

Once biofuel seemed to be the future. Crops such as corn and canola were planted to be used for fuel, biofuel. They were thought to be a new and renewable energy source that did not harm the environment. Until recently did some scientists discover that this is not true. Studies show that crops that can be used as biofuel have a huge need for nitrogen and they produce net greenhouse emissions.Furthermore, with the biofuel boom a lot of grassland was converted to crop fields for the purpose of farming biofuels. Pandika even states that the amount of farms is roughly the size of the state of Delaware. Without the grasslands that are now farms there is a major loss of oxygen that the then grass in the grasslands produced. Also, all the wildlife from the grasslands, especially birds, has had a massive decline in population.Clearing out grasslands is hurting the ecosystem since they are all interconnected in some way.

HUMAN IMPACT
Humans are obviously responsibly for the rise in biofuel and loss of grasslands. Many times us as humans do not think about the consequences of our actions until the damage is either irreversible or almost irreversible. When we change the environment of an ecosystem we do not only affect what there was such as the grass but also the animals. Like the ducks or other birds.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
A lot of birds that used to live in the grasslands are now in a population decline. The birds that used to nest in the swampy grasslands cannot anymore because the greenhouse gases released by the biofuel affects the soil and makes it bad for their eggs to be nested.

ECONOMIC IMPACT
The only reason  many farmers decided towards planting biofuels is it is a subsidized industry. The crops also have a high price in the market and that helps farmers continue their unknowingly harmful actions.

GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION
The government is hurting the grasslands by giving subsidies to farmers in order to plant biofuels