this field that i'm standing in used to be covered in rapeseed they've since harvested it all
processed the oils and now it's something else but just a few months ago jonas and i were flying the
drone in czechia in these huge fields of blooming yellow rapeseed now at that time i thought they
were being used for canola oil that common cooking oil you get in stores instead the farmers told me
they're being used as a fuel it's a countrywide initiative to move towards biofuel in fact this
is happening all over europe and much of the us and canada in fact farmers are given an incentive
to grow it and it now covers 16 of the countryside in czechia and this while on the surface at least
seems very very good i will say once you start diving in though there are a few issues the basic
idea is that it's carbon neutral so instead of pulling carbon from the earth and releasing it
then these plants sequester it and then it's released again the only carbon cost is the
carbon needed to harvest process and transport it which in some ways also means it's not totally
carbon neutral now this is fascinating in itself but first let's step back and look at what this
plant actually is jonas found some alongside the road to show you how big they are hey guys jonas
here i'm on the side of the road here in sweden i just want to show you a really cool plant that
we have growing here this is brassica napus or napas depending on how you pronounce it we call it
raps here in sweden commonly called rapeseed plant in english now this is in the mustard family and
it's actually really easy to tell the members of this family if you look at the flowers the flowers
have four petals that are shaped in a cross and if you're not used to looking for these i'm sure you
can just go out in your backyard and you will most likely find some plants that are in this family
just to give you a few examples turnips cabbage broccoli brussels sprouts they're actually all
in this mustard family as well but the real service that we will get from these particular
flowers here are from the seeds that will form now when the flowers are done blooming which
will happen very soon and this is what makes rapeseed the second largest source of protein
meal in the world and the third largest source of vegetable oil and if you're wondering why you
don't see bottles that say rapeseed on the shelf it's basically a branding thing it's worth noting
the name rape seed comes from the latin rappa which means turnip the problem was that rapeseed
always had high arisic acid in it it wasn't until selective cultivars were bred specifically to have
low uric acid in it that it finally became safe for cooking in high amounts they rebranded canola
oil canola oil is an acronym of sorts can for canada and ola for oil low acid that means you can
cook with it and it's safe so just to clarify you can make canola oil out of rapeseed plants that's
what they do but it's a very particular cultivar but let's stop and talk about this as a biofuel
biofuel can be ethanol and that's produced usually from corn or sugar cane
or it can be biodiesel like soy palm oil or rapeseed now the biodiesel from rapeseed
looks like this you squeeze the oil from the seeds then you transform it through transesterification
you're left with glycerol and biodiesel which you can actually put into your diesel engines
and you can create hydrotreated renewable jet fuel if you care at all about the environment
you're probably thinking this is a fantastic thing you have a renewable resource and you're doing
something that is in theory carbon neutral or you have less greenhouse emissions and that is kind
of how it's being pitched all over but if you're someone like me whose primary goal is protecting
biodiversity and making sure there are good wild areas it does feel like a fairy tale out here
then you see a real problem and i'm not going to dive into this topic too much further but
i just want you to realize if you're growing a valuable resource like fuel on the surface
then you're creating a little bit of a land grab you know you're not just
putting the biodiesel in an abandoned field you're replacing a field that could be growing food
you're actually then now having to grow food in other places for instance in the tropics people
use palm oil for biodiesel and if you know a little bit about palm oil you know that that's
not great for the rain forest plus there is a ton of herbicide and pesticide put on these fields
which means if you're an animal and you go into a field like this you're probably not
coming out plus it increases the price of food because of market demand it's just how it works
and before i leave this biofuel issue i should point out that my goal in filming these fields
was originally just to talk about the fascinating biology of this showy rapeseed plant it really
is an interesting botanical specimen that could power the jets that i'd ride in the next time to
get to czechia and while as an ecologist i see that selling this as a way to help us all feel
morally justified in our fuel consumption is very appealing well i can't help but think that this
isn't the solution we're all looking for and maybe it's even distracting us you see these fields are
dead zones in many ways and if you're anyone from a scientist to a birder to a wildlife advocate
or even a proud hunter it doesn't take long to think through the consequences of this sort of
growing fuel so unlike almost every other rapeseed video here on youtube that seems to overlook this
obvious point i'm here to throw just a bit of warning about taking this amazingly cool plant
and other biofuels and covering large amounts of our earth in the name of climate stewardship
so let's move forward in our green futures i'm all for that let's use this amazing plant for
what it gives us but i hope that everyone can see that we should also prioritize the
most primal thing we still hold on to and that is the wild places if we can find that balance
then there will always be room for these spectacularly cool golden fields of rapeseed
by the way welcome to the swedish countryside here i'm visiting jonas
who many of you follow along our adventures on instagram or whatnot we've done so many videos
in the past i'm really excited to be here i got a video coming out every week until christmas time
if you want to see rough cuts before they come out i'm sending them over on patreon
that's also how a lot of people are supporting this work and trying to encourage this educational
outreach make it better and better so i really appreciate all of you who are supporting that
oh and you can get a copy of the book haley and i wrote cheaper there than you can
on amazon which is kind of cool okay we'll see you in the next one