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The point I tried to make is that it doesn't matter if it's the us, china, france, russia, etc. Blaming brazil isn't the solution, they're only doing this becau
by maccard 6y ago
The point I tried to make is that it doesn't matter if it's the us, china, france, russia, etc. Blaming brazil isn't the solution, they're only doing this because china (in this case) are prioritizing cheap soy over the health of the Amazon.
The exact same argument is true for palm oil in indonesia; blaming indonesia for destroying borneo and sumatra isn't going to fix the problem when it's all being exported to the EU and india.
- samatman 6y agoBlame is the wrong framework in any case. It is incumbent upon those with the power to stop degrading the environment to do so. Where the Amazon rainforest is concerned, that's Brazil. Getting every nation which might want cheap soybeans (all of them, to a first approximation) to agree to stop buying from Brazil is a complex coordination problem with rewards for defection. Getting Brazil to stop cutting down the rainforest for the profit of agribusiness is coordinating the policy of a single nation; still difficult, just not completely intractable. Brazilian soybeans rely on genetic modification to survive in the sweltering climate. Monsanto is perhaps the best target here.
- maccard 6y ago> Brazilian soybeans rely on genetic modification to survive in the sweltering climate. Monsanto is perhaps the best target here. Something I did not know, and definitely a really important consideration here.