BEFORE YOU EAT THAT SOY BURGER
As the United States government is finally formally acknowledging the reality of global warming, conservation is no longer reserved for just us, “tree huggers.” Information travels through cyberspace to the most remote communities on the planet carrying the word that dwindling resources and atmospheric contamination are now everybody’s problem. In the Amazon basin, an area so vast it could cover the entire contiguous 48 United States, forest is destroyed in ways that are insidiously legitimate.
For years, we have heard the outcry to “Save the Rainforest” as 400 football fields of land was being destroyed every day. The trees of the Amazon are often referred to as the lungs of the planet. They are crucial to its health. However, like lungs their value is not to create oxygen but to clear the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide. With no infrastructure to police or monitor the area, unauthorized roads have been cut through huge parcels of land enabling poachers to illegally log trees and clear for land for mining. The Brazilian government seemed helpless against these crimes. Thanks to the cooperation of scientists at MIT, a satellite surveillance system was launched whereby illegal activity can be identified and stopped. However many challenges remain as communities required to take action often do not have the telecommunications to receive this information. Nevertheless, its presence has been a deterrent as evidenced by the 30% reduction of forest destroyed in 2005 and 2006.
With the planet’s fifth largest population and sixth largest economy, development of the country’s interior is inevitable. The question is how? Recently completed Brazil highway BR-163, cuts through the heart of the Amazon and ends in the city of Santarem. Along its path soybean farms have been moving north from the state of Matto Grosso. Brazil is the second largest producer of soy in the world, and the US based Cargill company has built a huge terminal to process and ship the soybeans from the Santarem. Though they vow to buy soybeans only from farmers who practice sustainable framing methods it is almost impossible to monitor practices in remote areas. Poor farmers continue to clear forest by burning and use dangerous herbicides and insecticides that wash into tributaries. As soy grows more valuable on the world market, more and more farmers will turn to growing the crop encroaching on tracks of land unsuitable for agriculture.
Sorry to sound like a bleeding heart, but as we sailed from Santarem by mid-afternoon the air had become heavy with the sweet smell of smoke. By sunset, the sky was pinkish-brown. One hour after sunset, we passed it – on the port side, you could see the entire horizon was ablaze. Huge flames shot up into the sky silhouetting the burning trees. It was heart breaking. I asked the Amazon River pilot what was the nature of the fire and he said, “soy.” I consider myself a marginal vegetarian and do consume more than my fair share of soy products. However, after what I saw and learned about soy farming’s effect on the forest, I am determined to buy only from domestic, non-GMO, organic farmers and urge you all to do the same.