Brazil Arrests Amazon Razer King

[icyfroth]

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil has detained a land-grabber thought to be the Amazon's single biggest deforester, the country's environmental protection agency said.

The Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources said Ezequiel Antonio Castanha, who was detained Saturday in the state of Para, operated a network that illegally seized federal lands, clear-cut them and sold them to cattle grazers.

The agency blames the network for 20 percent of the deforestation in Brazil's Amazon in recent years, though the statement issued Monday did not provide the estimated scale of the devastation.

Officials said late last year that 1,870 square miles (4,848 square kilometers) of rain forest were destroyed between August 2013 and July 2014. That's a bit larger than the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

In addition to holding around one-third of the planet's biodiversity, the Amazon is considered one of the world's most important natural defenses against global warming because of its capacity to absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide.

Rain forest clearing is responsible for about 75 percent of Brazil's emissions as vegetation is burned and felled trees rot.

Entire Article Here

A bit like the way Australia is being exploited for it 's natural resources by mulitnationals to make profits for teir shareholders!

Makes me sick to the stomach and the heart!

[iapetus_rocks]

Making profits for the shareholders is the raison d'etre of Business. it's about being "free" to compete in a "free" market, with market forces regulating activities.

It's an economic  model which is destroying our planet and sending millions to the poorhouse.

it's an economic model which is supported and touted by the right wing side of the political spectrum. I'm rather surprised you find anything to criticise in it, seeing as how you say you support that side of politics.

(to be fair, it's also supported by the psuedo leftish side aka Labor party)

It's a System failure. That economic model will see the end of everything we hold dear.

Like clean air, clean water, trees, wild animals and butterflys; you name it, they'll destroy it in their relentless search for Profit.

[***super_nova***]

---

iapetus_rocks wrote:That economic model will see the end of everything we hold dear.

Like clean air, clean water, trees, wild animals and butterflys; you name it, they'll destroy it in their relentless search for Profit.

---

..and do not forget the bees, which are needed for pollination of majority of out food crops.  Without bees we will all starve. 

[icyfroth]

---

@iapetus_rocks wrote:

Making profits for the shareholders is the raison d'etre of Business. it's about being "free" to compete in a "free" market, with market forces regulating activities.

It's an economic  model which is destroying our planet and sending millions to the poorhouse.

it's an economic model which is supported and touted by the right wing side of the political spectrum. I'm rather surprised you find anything to criticise in it, seeing as how you say you support that side of politics.

(to be fair, it's also supported by the psuedo leftish side aka Labor party)

It's a System failure. That economic model will see the end of everything we hold dear.

Like clean air, clean water, trees, wild animals and butterflys; you name it, they'll destroy it in their relentless search for Profit.

---

I have no problem with profits. But I'm sick to death of people making profits and in the process killing off the very resource they're exploiting, with complete disregard for the people and creatures who depend on it for their existence.

[myoclon1cjerk]

Sustainability is a no-no or as Mr Smith says

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5foZIKuEWQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[iapetus_rocks]

"I have no problem with profits. But I'm sick to death of people making profits and in the process killing off the very resource they're exploiting, with complete disregard for the people and creatures who depend on it for their existence."

Well, the problem is that companies are under a legal obligation to act in the best interests of their shareholdres and that means making the maximum profits possible.

So, companies have to put profitability first and if that means destroying the habitat of some cuddly little bats or stilling the song of some beautiful birds or bringing in workers from overseas who will agree to work for less than the Aussie worker will do (no matter how low the pay) . . . then they will do it.

it's not personal, it's Business. And the Right side of politics supports this attitude more than the Left side of politics does.

I'm not saying that Labor doesn't enable and support it as well; just not so vehemently and aggressively as the conservatives do.

It's a very bad system except for those powerful enough to derive personal gain; and if they happen to get their wealth by stepping over the corpses of bats and bees and butterflys and over the financial corpses of the poor, then they will do so without hesitation or even a backward glance.

It's a System failure. Capitalism, red in tooth and claw, will destroy our planet and our people. and all the "regulatory" instruments in the world can only delay the inevitable finale.

Be careful who and what you vote for . . . . etc, etc.