4 ms·

Rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat

27 points by SmkyMt 7y ago

sprafa 7y ago
“Greed for meat” could be easily replaced by better diets with more varied nutritional sources. Brasil is a country still emerging from backbreaking poverty, my family is from there and my mother would walk with no shoes 1 or 2 hours (I forget how much) to school every day. The western idea that we should all go vegan is actually in many ways a position of privilege - you can afford to go vegan or vegetarian because you have tasted meat, had enough of it, then decided to do something different. For a poorer person meat consumption is often the sign that they’ve “made it” in life because meat is so often considered a “weekend” or once-a-month meal. In Brazil ie lots of poorer people eat a diet that’s very focused on rice and beans. To be fair Brazilian feijoada is delicious. But it always a mark on how wealthy you are in Brasil how much MEAT there is in your feijoada. I remember it clearly when my aunts and uncles would make me feijoada with lots of meat in it because coming from Portugal, where my family emigrated to, they felt like I should get a “richer” meal. They would often put so much meat! But it was their attempt to look “wealthy” to our European eyes, and to make me feel at home. Bolsonaro, the current neofascist president for which I have no love for, said one thing: “if the gringo wants the Amazon he will have to pay for it” And in that instance I can’t disagree with him. I am sick and tired of western pubs attacking poorer people for not living the way they would like them to live.
- xsmasher 7y ago
  > Companies in JBS’s supply chain are potentially responsible for the destruction of between 28,000 and 32,000 hectares (280-320 sq km) of forest each year for exported beef I don't think "greed for meat" is aimed at poor people of Brazil. It's literally about cutting down the rainforest to raise beef for export. It seems like a lot of environmental organizations ignore the impact of meat production, so I applaud The Guardian for highlighting it.
  - sprafa 7y ago
    Are we sure it’s exported? Either way the “greed for meat” is still a very reductionist position. From my understand a lot of meat consumption is coming from other countries that have recently come up from poverty like China.
    - coder4life 7y ago
      Brazil is the largest exporter of beef to the US, among other countries: https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2019/01/22/Largest-ever-beef-exports-by-volume-for-Brazil https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2019/01/22/Largest-ev...
  - malandrew 7y ago
    Even if it is exported, exports is how a country increases its wealth and improves the lives of Brazilians. It's easy for people from a country to a high quality of living to criticize other countries for trying to achieve the same for its citizens.
    - sprafa 7y ago
      So true.

27 points by SmkyMt 7y ago

“Greed for meat” could be easily replaced by better diets with more varied nutritional sources. Brasil is a country still emerging from backbreaking poverty, my family is from there and my mother would walk with no shoes 1 or 2 hours (I forget how much) to school every day. The western idea that we should all go vegan is actually in many ways a position of privilege - you can afford to go vegan or vegetarian because you have tasted meat, had enough of it, then decided to do something different. For a poorer person meat consumption is often the sign that they’ve “made it” in life because meat is so often considered a “weekend” or once-a-month meal. In Brazil ie lots of poorer people eat a diet that’s very focused on rice and beans. To be fair Brazilian feijoada is delicious. But it always a mark on how wealthy you are in Brasil how much MEAT there is in your feijoada. I remember it clearly when my aunts and uncles would make me feijoada with lots of meat in it because coming from Portugal, where my family emigrated to, they felt like I should get a “richer” meal. They would often put so much meat! But it was their attempt to look “wealthy” to our European eyes, and to make me feel at home. Bolsonaro, the current neofascist president for which I have no love for, said one thing: “if the gringo wants the Amazon he will have to pay for it” And in that instance I can’t disagree with him. I am sick and tired of western pubs attacking poorer people for not living the way they would like them to live.

xsmasher 7y ago
> Companies in JBS’s supply chain are potentially responsible for the destruction of between 28,000 and 32,000 hectares (280-320 sq km) of forest each year for exported beef I don't think "greed for meat" is aimed at poor people of Brazil. It's literally about cutting down the rainforest to raise beef for export. It seems like a lot of environmental organizations ignore the impact of meat production, so I applaud The Guardian for highlighting it.
- sprafa 7y ago
  Are we sure it’s exported? Either way the “greed for meat” is still a very reductionist position. From my understand a lot of meat consumption is coming from other countries that have recently come up from poverty like China.
  - coder4life 7y ago
    Brazil is the largest exporter of beef to the US, among other countries: https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2019/01/22/Largest-ever-beef-exports-by-volume-for-Brazil https://www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2019/01/22/Largest-ev...
- malandrew 7y ago
  Even if it is exported, exports is how a country increases its wealth and improves the lives of Brazilians. It's easy for people from a country to a high quality of living to criticize other countries for trying to achieve the same for its citizens.
  - sprafa 7y ago
    So true.