Page - July 30, 2007
Climate solutions must start in the U.S. with more efficient cars and trucks.
President Bush will soon meet with Brazilian president Inacio
Lula da Silva, hoping to encourage Latin American investment in
sugarcane-derived ethanol. While this may seem like the great white
hope for the region to help stop global climate change, the truth
remains that this is only a distraction from the real issues at
hand. The largest contributor to global warming in Brazil is the
destruction of the Amazon rainforest. As a natural carbon sink,
rainforests help keep our air clean and serve as our best defense
against global warming. Over 55 percent of all intact forest
landscapes in tropical Latin America are in Brazil, and 11 tropical
nations in the Latin America/Caribbean region have destroyed all of
their intact forest landscapes. Currently, Brazil clears a larger
area of forest annually than any other country in the world.
While an ethanol surge may seem like the answer to many
problems, what President Lula da Silva could do to halt the climate
crisis is protect the unique Amazon forest. As leader of the
largest consumer of fossil fuels, and largest emitter of carbon
pollution, President Bush can work within the U.S. to create a
sensible carbon emissions cap, and make U.S. automobiles more
efficient.
Learn more about how increased ethanol production is a
distraction from real climate solutions here.
Learn more about our disappearing forests
here.
For photos of the Greenpeace protests in Brazil, click here.