It takes a Texan
The Economist has an article that illustrates the complicated state of affairs in environmentalism: Texas rancher John Cain Carter is
the driving force behind Aliança da Terra, a new NGO that aims to be a “bridge” between producers and environmentalists, promoting standards of good practice that both sides can live with”
That NGO’s partners “are betting that as Brazilian agriculture becomes more corporate and internationally oriented it can be made to behave more responsibly.”
“What is novel about Mr Carter is that he sees things from the point of view of the producers, and is rooted in ranching—a bigger threat to the Amazon even than soya [or the logging industry].”
Things are bad and not yet getting any better:
In the year to August 2004, according to data released this month, 26,130 square kilometres (10,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest were destroyed in Brazil, mostly by ranchers, farmers or speculators who cleared land in anticipation of ranchers and farmers coming. That is the second-highest level of destruction on record.
There is a fine photo of Mr Carter, and this is worth a chuckle: “[Carter] indulges in a bit of Texas swagger, as if George Bush had not made it the world’s least fashionable sub-culture.” Heros sometimes come from very curious quarters, maybe this Carter is another of them.