Brazil, already in the midst of the soybean cycle, is regressing back to the colonial sugarcane cycle, showing the behavior of a compulsion to be the country of the future as described by Stefan Zweig in his 1942 book. Brazil is bringing back one 
of its original and damaging colonial extractive cycles, the sugarcane plantation, which devastated the most important forest on the continent, taking away species that will never be seen again, plants that may well not be used again. Looking at the economic aspect, a few "families" are again to be benefited with the profits of exports, forgetting the large majority of the population which was kept marginalized, exploited and under employed.
The legacy of sugarcane is the extermination of 95% of the Atlantic Forest. This forest was the biggest concentration of plant and animal species on the planet, much more important than the Amazon Forest. The Atlantic forest contains many different biomes (ecosystems) in the same forest - compositions like the Caatinga (White forest), the coastal forest, the mangroves, the Restinga (vegetation in the sandy coastal plain), and the highland biomes like the Mantiqueira mountains and the Serra do Mar.
The extermination of the Atlantic forest continues to the present time. The green desert takes its place, forming dry rivers, desertification, salinization and erosion, altering the climate and destroying the habitat of many avian, mammal and plant species in its damaging march forward.
The myth of ethanol comes at a time when Mideastern oil has turned into a geopolitical tool, it is a scarce and expensive commodity, wanted by all, but also recognized as the principal origin of CO2. In the search for clean, cheap and renewable energy, all attention is drawn to the plantation and ethanol as if it were the panacea for the substitution of oil.
Blindly looking for high profits, investors and governments don't stop to make an accurate analysis of what will be the impact of replacing natural vegetation with the formation of a continental expanse of sugarcane. Brazil includes one of the last uncultivated areas on the earth which is so vital for people, for future generations, for the country, and therefore, for the planet.
All eyes turn to Brazil, the so-called ethanol super-power, forgetting what comes with ethanol. Thousands of beautiful birds will not have those native grasses with the seeds, the fruit trees, for their subsistence, no shade, no shelter, they will vanish, sugarcane will take their place. They forget all these meadows and marshlands with little creeks that will be buried, and all the gorgeous and exquisite wild flowers that will be seen no longer.
All eyes are turned to the ethanol super power, which is being transformed into a giant "canavial", running the risk of being a continental sugarcane plantation. The Sugarcane plantation owners (senhores de engenho) however, are no longer of the old style, old fashioned type. Nowadays the sugarcane barons are foreign mega investors, whose only commitment is to easy profit. We would at least hope to see that they consider cultivating sugarcane on only 1/3 or 1/2 of their land, keeping the rest for the native landlords like birds, mammals and plants, otherwise Brazil will be turned into a continental green desert and the recent rapid increase in food prices will continue to a disastrous conclusion.
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