False Solutions: Agrofuels, Industrial Bioenergy, nuclear energy, GMOs, Synthetic Biology, Geo-engineering

To avoid real action, corporations and their governmental allies are promoting many false, damaging and often life-threatening solutions such as industrial bioenergy, nuclear energy, geo-engineering and related dangerous technologies like GMOs and synthetic biology. The risks and devastating impacts of nuclear energy are well-known. Agrofuels and other forms of large-scale bioenergy production are another clear example of false, destructive solutions, leading to large-scale landgrabbing, hunger, deforestation, and other human rights’ violations and environmental havoc. With synthetic biology, these elites want to create more life forms than those that exist. With GMO seeds for industrial plantations, they will engender more landgrabbing and destruction of the territories. Geo-engineering (e.g. dumping iron particles in the sea, or weather manipulation, carbon capture and storage) can cause devastating impacts for millions of people, far away from the place it is deployed. These false solutions cause vast ecological and social destruction and human rights violations, especially amongst local communities, indigenous peoples and women, destroy ecosystems and worsen the climate crisis. What they call “solutions” reinforce the systems that have resulted in climate change and the food and energy crisis. The real agenda behind them is to avoid real change, to continue with business as usual, and to increase corporate control over land, forests, water, agriculture and biodiversity. This is a new 21st century phase of colonialism. During this dialogue seminar, we would like to share our analysis and build a common ground on what’s going on in order to strengthen our own struggles against these false solutions.