We have heard a global clamor for quite a long time about the Amazon forest being devastated, as was the Atlantic forest, which started during the first years of the European presence on the continent. Not that the uproar is a negative point, it is somehow refreshing since the Amazon is vital for the climate balance both in Brazil and globally.
We have seen what has happened after the colonizers knocked down the Atlantic forest in Brazil which continued until the last decade of the 20'th century. The expansion of sugarcane created an almost desert like land in the northeast of Brazil, with soil salinization in parts where once forests existed. Rivers have disappeared and the dried out basins have formed a sterile land of what in the past was covered with life. Such will eventually happen to the Amazon, taking away the plants, trees, all kinds of life.
The Amazon forest is not only vital to the many animals, plants and insects that are endemic to the region, not to mention the humans that live there. It is immensely important for the health of the planet earth, and although it is almost totally ignored in the most important urban centers of the country, it should be a matter of concern for all people living in Brazil and the rest of the world.
The Amazon should be treated with more attention, caressed, respected, appreciated as the unique universe that it is, with all of its particularities, the beauty, the magnificence, the animals, the plants and the perils inherent to the forest. It should be valued for all, and subjected to study in all the schools, as one of the most important pieces of nature's mosaic that is the Earth. Teaching about the environment is indispensable in schools, our children should be involved in this matter, they need to understand the importance of the forests, rivers and oceans for the continuation of life on the planet, because the future belongs to them.
Most Brazilian children don't know the names of even half a dozen of the 1,900 bird species living in the country. They don't know where the principal rivers are, the lagoons, they don't know the names of the medicinal plants used by the former native populations. They were never taught in schools how to appreciate things like these.
We see the Amazon being attacked in all sorts of ways, especially being used by individuals from all over the world. It's as if everybody was rushing to get a little piece of the biome while it still exits. Birds are smuggled in briefcases, reaching the final destination without life. Insects, spiders, seeds, leaves are constantly confiscated in the main airports of the country. The mega-investors are arriving with their billions, it is an insane race to get there before everybody else.
We hear lots of noise, exchanges of accusations of all kinds, from different places on the globe, but on the other side of the Atlantic, the wood from this devastation is being eagerly bought and used without any qualms. Hypocritical words don't go together with certain attitudes.
Are the governments of the planet doing enough to stop the destruction of the forest? I don't think so. Are they really preoccupied with global warming? Some say yes, but no action can be seen that is hepling the forest. What are they doing to assure that the Amazon and the rest of other forests remain alive?
Profits speak louder! Ethanol lobbyists, with loud propaganda campaigns and large political contributions, are raising chauvinist issues linking ethanol with wealth and national pride. They hope to influence the Brazilian people to take a stand in favor of the forests' biggest enemy, biofuels. They would like to see everybody turn against the "enemies of Brazil", those who don't want to see Brazil turned into a big biofuel powerhouse, in the name of clean energy. A country like Brazil cannot produce biofuels for the whole planet without destroying the native vegetation, a country cannot produce ethanol for all the world as the present government would like to see. This is a big mistake, something that future generations will never forgive. Governments should think about another direction. Continental countries like Brazil (and the US) should have implemented mass transportation, they still can. Forget the quick money coming from the old and environmentally damaging system which has brought us millions of individual vehicles, each a direct source of pollution and an indirect factor in the destruction of the forests.
