
Rampant deforestation of Amazon driven by global greed for meat - SmkyMt
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/02/revealed-amazon-deforestation-driven-global-greed-meat-brazil
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sprafa
“Greed for meat” could be easily replaced by better diets with more varied
nutritional sources. Brasil is a country still emerging from backbreaking
poverty, my family is from there and my mother would walk with no shoes 1 or 2
hours (I forget how much) to school every day.

The western idea that we should all go vegan is actually in many ways a
position of privilege - you can afford to go vegan or vegetarian because you
have tasted meat, had enough of it, then decided to do something different.
For a poorer person meat consumption is often the sign that they’ve “made it”
in life because meat is so often considered a “weekend” or once-a-month meal.
In Brazil ie lots of poorer people eat a diet that’s very focused on rice and
beans.

To be fair Brazilian feijoada is delicious. But it always a mark on how
wealthy you are in Brasil how much MEAT there is in your feijoada. I remember
it clearly when my aunts and uncles would make me feijoada with lots of meat
in it because coming from Portugal, where my family emigrated to, they felt
like I should get a “richer” meal. They would often put so much meat! But it
was their attempt to look “wealthy” to our European eyes, and to make me feel
at home.

Bolsonaro, the current neofascist president for which I have no love for, said
one thing: “if the gringo wants the Amazon he will have to pay for it”

And in that instance I can’t disagree with him. I am sick and tired of western
pubs attacking poorer people for not living the way they would like them to
live.

~~~
xsmasher
> Companies in JBS’s supply chain are potentially responsible for the
> destruction of between 28,000 and 32,000 hectares (280-320 sq km) of forest
> each year for exported beef

I don't think "greed for meat" is aimed at poor people of Brazil. It's
literally about cutting down the rainforest to raise beef for export.

It seems like a lot of environmental organizations ignore the impact of meat
production, so I applaud The Guardian for highlighting it.

~~~
malandrew
Even if it is exported, exports is how a country increases its wealth and
improves the lives of Brazilians. It's easy for people from a country to a
high quality of living to criticize other countries for trying to achieve the
same for its citizens.

~~~
sprafa
So true.

