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To Prevent Deforestation, Brazilian Supermarkets Ban Amazon Meat
Hugh Pickens writes writes "BBC reports that the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets, representing 2,800 members, says it will no longer sell meat from cattle raised in the rainforest, a step they hope will cut down on the illegal use of rainforest where huge swathes have been turned into land for pasture and soy plantations. Public Prosecutor Daniel Cesar Azeredo Avelino says consumers will benefit from the deal. 'The agreement foresees a series of specific actions to inform the consumer about the origin of the meat both through the internet and at the supermarkets,' says Azeredo. 'We hope that the big chains will quickly take action.' The supermarkets' pledge comes as part of an initiative by the Public Prosecutor's Office to deprive the meat producers of outlets and an internet campaign aimed at informing Brazilian consumers of the ethics of boycotting meat from Amazonian sources is also planned. Brazil's Greenpeace advocacy group says the growth of the cattle industry in the Amazon is the single biggest cause of deforestation. For decades now, Brazilian authorities have battled illegal logging and other activities that continue to reduce the rainforest and in January the Brazilian government announced it plans to prepare an inventory of the trees in the Amazon rainforest. The Forestry Ministry said the census would take four years to complete and would provide detailed data on tree species, soils and biodiversity in the world's largest rainforest. The last such exhaustive survey was conducted more than three decades ago but didn't help stop deforestation."
Isn't this Closing the door a little too late? Kind of like shutting that barn door after those cows have already gotten out into that brazilian rainforest? There must be other ways to head off this deforestation. For ivory poaching in Africa, international sanctions and prohibitions on export and sale seems to work, so I guess if there were universal (United Nations?) agreement to restrict the export and sale of "amazon rainforest meat" at a governmental level then that might have some impact.
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Otherwise, a brazilian supermarket chain eschewing the sale of "amazon meat" is as useful as a bunch of hippies saying they won't work for no defense contractor no sirreee or a large bunch of idiots around the earth turning off non-essential power-consumption for one hour as occurred during the last week or weekend. It's a strange vain showing off of one's ideals and beliefs that will have very little impact or result in the real world.
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Why, yes, I am quite a cynic.
He would sell anything if he though it would help him escape death !! He wants to be cryogened at death !!
...that's from the same source as Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gal, 128 fl. oz., right?
I don't really get it. If it is illegal to raise a cattle in rainforest, put these people in jail or fine heavily. They won't do that, but they expect same people to label the cattle 'It comes from illegal farm in Amazon, don't buy it, because we are breaking the law' ? They are cutting trees and bribing officials, but not putting a label will be beyond their capablities?
There's a recent TED talk where, counterintuitively, using more livestock instead of less is an actually proven way to fix desertification:
http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html
Europe has tons of prime Romanian meat that they would be happy to provide at a killer price.
. . . you may whinny and snort after eating it, though. But you will run as fast as a Triple Crown winner!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Yeah lets keep land owners from capitalizing on their property to feed their families when the Earth is greener than ever and the huge forests in the tundra are growing at a fantastic rate due to the rise in co2.
Rainforests make 20% of our oxygen. And we let people cut that shit down?
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Amazon, sounds like:
Customers who purchased this meat also purchased:
- cheap clothes from Vietnam where factories pollute their environment
- this nice device from Chine where laborers health is affected by bad working circumstances
- fish caught against over-fishing rules
The Amazon is big, and policing the farms directly is tough. OTOH, a major supermarket chain is a single point of delivery and redistribution for many farmers' produce. Thus it is simpler to prevent undesirable behaviour by refusing to buy the goods there. Of course, this only has a chance of working if a substantial fraction of all the supermarkets in Brazil refuse to accept the produce.
Jeff Bezos is gonna be pissed .....
Hopefully he can use his patent on being an asshole, fuck everyone else - unless Larry Ellison decides to contest it with his own greedy-fuckface patent warchest.
What do you mean off-topic?
Well, it adds one more authority which they will need to bribe.
Clearly this is a case of government interference in the free market. If all that CO2 sequestration and oxygen were worth more money than cows, the invisible hand of the market would have led to an abundant rain forest rather than cattle ranches.
Hunting Female Warriors is difficult, its a question of whether they get you before you get them
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Given the lucrative profits possible from abusing the rain forest I don't think anything short of force of arms is going to put a stop to it.
Brazil needs to crack down on this and make it a crime, and then actually put some money behind law enforcement.
Amazons are people too!
Most deforestation in Brazil is caused by slash and burn to make room for sugar beet production which is then turned into ethanol in order to make Brazil energy self sufficient.
Seems that is just a big problem as beef.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Meat in Brazil is an export comodity. The bulk of production is handled by economic concerns the physicalmeat industry, and farmers, are attached, subordonate and subservient to. Also, controlled by. Since, these conglomerates usually have strong ties to banking, finance, agro supplies and machinery sales.
The economic crunch ("austerity") means the local people are already below the last rung of product substitution. Cattle meat rarely figures in their food basket, except in the very worst quality.
Election countdown economic shinkicking is already underway. And the usual not too subrepticious goading of discontent, unrest, and fear. As well as reciprocal scandals, investigations, and arrests.
Cutting off part of the older, more provincial, parochial ruralista pseudo-elite's funding, on the path to elections, on a steepening economic downturn (to be polite about it), has the effect of :
A) Served a message regarding the trouble they've been causing in poliics.
B) What little internal expenditure there is continues to concenrate in the southern economically priviledged regions. As does lobbying power.
C) The government gets some international PR in the offical media as doing something "PC".
All part of the local version of 3rd world "Cultural Wars". "Newer" elites x older x ancient x truly archaic x local financial corporate x international "vulture" corp-fin x . traditional establishment corporate and finance. All, buying and pushing politicians and local "leaderships", thugs and strongpersons.
Since most people don't know the basics about brazil or it's forests and patriotic brazilians on the internet are as abundant as they are likely to troll and HUEHUEHUE, flamewars will definitely insue.
I wrote an article on things we can do to save the planet. It was meant for the Digg crowd but some might want to read it here. One of the ways was to buy up the remainder of the rain forest. It's expensive that's true but as they say there is probably a cure for cancer in there somewhere! Save the Planet: 16 Ways
It would be much better to outlaw wood exports/trade from Brazil.
Go to any furniture store in Brazil and you cannot find any mahogany piece, because it is extermely regulated.
Go to any good USA/Japan furniture store and you will find brazilian finest pieces from the rainforest.
Logging and farming are the main reasons, you must get rid of both.
No, she (I) meant "vain" as in "vanity", not as "in vain". It's the "vanity" of showing off one's superiority to others or the conspicuous show of charity such as calling serious attention to oneself as they slip the money onto the offering platter or wanting your name on a placque or certificate showing off how much money you donated to the hospital wing, or that you donated so much that they named the wing after you.
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It's vain to do "show off charity", and saying "I refuse to buy ze blood diamonds because I've heard they kill people and support wars and that's what the cool actors all tell me I ought to do" is that kind of vanity, instead of realizing that the concept of "blood diamonds" or "why won't china stop burning coal and wood" (when we export coal to them! especially the super-hot burning stuff used to make steel) is the kind of industrial vanity that the "superpowers" assert. You other countries can't take the shortcuts we did or strip-mine land or use your resources because it's bad for the rest of the world.
Don't cut down your forests like we in the US did! All it did was give us a massively powerful, unparalleled economy inventing things and advancing the human condition at unprecidented rates.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Not. Thanks, Brazilian gubmint for "encouraging" the masses to move to the hinterland then 30 years later banning the sale of their produce. WIN!
WTF? I always liked eating an Amazon.