Shooting Itself in the Foot, Brazil Spreads Concrete

Through the Rainforest

Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world’s most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. Brazil houses the largest expanse of tropical wilderness remaining on the globe, claiming 60% of the Amazon Rainforest. This is a vast and remote stretch which thirty years ago only Indians and wild animals roamed. Today, ranchers and sawmill owners in four-wheel-drive pickup trucks speed past new stores selling chain saws, construction materials, and farm equipment.

While land development, human settlement, and logging are the main sources of deforestation , the bedrock of this global ecocide is the construction of roads which tear through the rainforest habitat, laying down concrete in every direction with each newly paved yard. Brazil has faced a grave and pressing dichotomy ever since its ascension as an agricultural superpower in today’s globalized economy. Experts insist that if this reserve is to last, Brazil must balance development and economic growth with the implementation of a well-calculated Amazon preservation program.

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