2<\/a>). Who buys it? Not Brazilian farmers and ranchers. Americans, Europeans, and other affluent folks like you and me.<\/p>\nBeef: <\/span>It\u2019s cheaper <\/span><\/span>to cut down an acre of rainforest, plant grass, raise a cow, kill and \u2018process\u2019 it, and ship it to the US or Europe than it is to buy locally raised beef. That is amazing and sad. That is wasteful and stupid.<\/p>\nWood products are the same. Demand and the high prices and regulations amongst the affluent nations and cheap labor and plentiful resources in poorer nations drives the flow of products. It might be justifiable if it weren\u2019t for our meddling in their political affairs and replacing their grower\u2019s co-ops and people\u2019s markets with Starbucks and McDonalds.<\/p>\n
It is sad, the amount of waste involved. When so many go without, so many die due to lack of food. We can ship beef from Amazonian forests to New York City and Paris, but we can\u2019t get a meal to the starving children in Rio de Janeiro<\/a>. But it is everywhere\u2026 overwhelming. I just try to do what I can to reduce my own consumption: no meat, no new furniture, a little cut back here, a little cut back there. <\/p>\nIt\u2019s like we\u2019re all on a very large boat going in the wrong direction: if each of us puts out an oar to turn the ship, and gets some people around us to do likewise, then slowly but surely we\u2019ll get headed the right way. Meanwhile, we all have lives to live, and live them we must. And live them well we shall, all the while putting out our oar when we see things headed in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n
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