The roots of a problem in Brazil
Re “Planting themselves in Brazil,” Column One, Nov. 30
This article made no mention of what all that agricultural expansion is doing to the Brazilian environment. Although that wasn’t the topic of the article, it certainly is the reality of what is happening in Brazil.
New agricultural land is a result of human alteration of a preexisting landscape, in this case the cerrado, which was barely mentioned except to characterize it as scrubland (worthless being the obvious implication) that is being turned into “productive farmland.”
Readers might be surprised to learn that the cerrado has 10,000 species of native vascular plants and the highest level of plant diversity of any savanna in the world. That is, until it started being converted to habitat-destroying agricultural land.
The simple truth is there is little hope for creating sustainable environments if educated people cannot see or understand the dangers before their eyes.
ROBERT ERNST
Chesterfield, Mo.
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