World Deforestation Index. What do you notice, in detail? Why is it significant? Speculate and elaborate.

Brazilian Deforestation Map. What is the appropriate balance between economic development and environmental preservation, i.e. sustainable development?

Which of these human activities do you think is the most damaging to the rain forest?

Economic Development: 22% of Brazil’s GDP is agriculture, much of which is exported to China. Historically, millions of Brazilians were landless. Developing the Amazon helped lift many Brazilians from extreme poverty and modernized parts of inland Brazil.

Environmentalists: Your job is to preserve the Amazon rain forest, which absorbs tons of CO 2, reducing global warming. What other benefits are there to preserving the Amazon?

Government Leaders: Your job is to balance everybody’s interests and try to forge a consensus. You need to be good listeners and leaders.

Rubber Tappers: Latex sap from rubber trees are harvested in the evening before high temperatures make the sap run slowly. Bark is stripped, but the tree is not destroyed. Your goal is to preserve your access to the Amazon and reduce logging.

Native Amazonians: Your people have lived here for thousands of years as hunter/gatherers. For centuries, you have been marginalized and abused. Your goal is to preserve as much of your traditional lands as possible.

Ranchers: Since the 1960s, the government has allowed your group to cut down large parts of the Amazon in order to raise cattle. The resulting beef exports to China and elsewhere have greatly increased the country’s wealth. Your goal is to open more land to cattle ranching and roads to export beef.

Settlers: Your family was very poor in the sertao and never owned land until the government opened up the Amazon. You slashed and burned a small area for your farm. Now you can feed your children adequately and can even afford to send them to school. Your goal is to open more of the Amazon to small farms.