Op-Ed

A Shared Self-Interest

Long has the Amazon of Brazil been in the public eye. By extension, one could make the case that it has been an equally long time for which its problems have been overlooked, and unattended, internally or externally.

Indifference.

Think of all the wonderful things the Amazon has provided the American people over the years. Most likely, you can’t think of much other than wood, and soybeans, and a few other cash crops, to a lesser extent. However, it also provides beef, and the far more important resource of carbon, of the sort that is released into our atmosphere. Wood, it should be obvious where that originated from, and the beef and soybeans come from land that originally contained Amazon rainforest, that is now area for cattle to graze and the crop to grow respectively. Carbon comes from a source twofold; the machines used to deforest the jungle, and the jungle itself once the trees die, for they are repositories of carbon. And among these, a myriad of other, smaller resources, unimportant as they are, among them the unique plants and animals of the Amazon itself. Of trifling importance to anyone, of course. As tragic as an extinction might be, it’s happened before, no big deal.

Ignorance and indifference. It’s hard enough as it is to handle our own problems and responsibilities, much less the troubles of the world. Charity begins and home, and whatever happens away from home, stays there. Global warming, deforestation, ice caps melting, genocides, naturals disasters, war, and more. Each problem has a different degree of importance on any given individual, but none will matter much until experienced in some measure. What matter the issues that ravage another country, because ignorance is indeed bliss for the majority of people. Turning the blind eye seems to have become second nature.However, it is a rare problem that is one-dimensional. It follows then, that the solutions for such a problem need to be a multi-dimensional, complicated thing that encompasses every challenge presented. And therein lies the difficulty. It is always easier to ignore than to address. Convenience.

Deforestation is a worldwide issue, on the brink of catastrophic proportions. The rate it currently follows cannot be sustained. The Brazilian Amazon comprises very nearly half the remaining rainforests of the world, and covers an area of 5.5 million square kilometers. A few more numbers to digest. Since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers of the Amazon have been lost, over ten percent of the total size of the rainforest. Between May 2000 and August 2006, the Amazon lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers, the highest spike of deforestation in its history, and the area lost is equivalent to the size of Greece. Brazil is the world’s fourth largest producer of carbon emissions, with 70 percent of it being directly or indirectly related to the deforestation occurring within the country.

Furthermore, the reason for the majority of all this deforestation can be attributed to government involvement and the cattle industry in Brazil, the largest beef exporter in the world. Whether by directly enlisting the help of the people to cut down the Amazon, or by giving the people rainforest land, placing land clearance restrictions upon them which the government has no means with which to enforce. The Brazilian government has so much invested in the national cattle industry, and so much stock within it, any decrease in productivity or efficiency will provide further economic problems for the country as a whole. So instead of saving the Amazon, the government itself allows the people, to a certain, albeit extensive, degree to do whatever they wish with the land. Sure, they apprehend illegal loggers, and make occasional arrests based on outstanding circumstances, but all in all, not much is being done to prevent the practice. It suits the agenda to just let what happens, invariably happen.

And this attitude has rubbed on the people, somewhat. They don’t need the wood, there’s so much of it. The logging is left to the companies to do. One of the main ways of clearing the Amazon is just burning it. Saved everyone a ton of trouble, so why not. The people even receive subsidies, tax breaks, and incentives from the government to tear it down further. If pays to destroy the forest, because no one will pay them to save it. As Brazilian congressman Homero Pereira puts it, “If you don’t want us to tear down the forest, you better pay us to leave it up!”