Boycott Brazilian products!

The Amazon is on fire! Over the last few days we have witnessed horrific video footage and photos, much of them thanks to the efforts of Greenpeace, of literally thousands of fires in the Amazon. Most of the fires are located in the Brazilian portion of this great rainforest.

According to BBC, Brazil’s space agency reports that so far this year, the number of fires is, astonishingly, 77% higher than for the same period last year. NASA confirms this is the most active fire year in almost a decade. The fires have also been releasing huge amounts of CO₂ (over 200 megatonnes, the highest amount since 2010) — the main cause of global warming — as well as carbon monoxide.

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, came to power last October on a pledge to open up the Amazon to development. While logging and mining have some impact, the biggest culprit is clearing land for large-scale farming and cattle ranching.

He is also very dismissive of the rights of the 1 million Indigenous people, who’ve been living in the Amazon for at least 30,000 years. Since coming to office with the slogan “Brazil before everything, and God above all,” he has turned a blind eye to the illegal deforestation of the Amazon.

What can we do?

Brazil is a trading nation, and two industries are being blamed for contributing to the blazing infernos — beef and soybeans.

Brazil is currently the world’s largest exporter of beef products. Even though it’s a relatively small portion of Canada’s total beef consumption, we did import about $30 million worth of Brazilian beef and veal in 2018.

How about a boycott of Brazilian beef?

Brazil also exports vast amounts of soybeans, much of them grown in the Amazon. I wish I could simply look at the labels of products to learn if the soybeans, soy oil, or any other ingredient, is from Brazil. But, unfortunately, regulators don’t make Canadian producers and processors indicate where ingredients come from on labels. So I’ll do my best to look up the product online and see if the answers are available that way.

Any products with Brazilian soybeans or soy oil — or anything else from Brazil — will be off my shopping list until the country starts taking its global responsibilities seriously.

Let us hope that international pressure brought to bear on Bolsonaro will force him to take the necessary steps to protect the vital treasure that the Amazon is.