Subscribe to My Feed
Loading ...A Bill to Require EIAs Before Packaging Drinks in Plastic
Saturday, May 30th, 2009Last year in a post about efforts in Brazil to stop the sale of beer in PET bottles, I explored some of the possible ramifications of an April 2008 rejection by a federal judge of all challenges to a 2002 ruling that brewers wishing to bottle their beer in PET or any other plastic must […]
Using Community Mapping to Combat Deforestation / Utilizando mapeamento participativo para combatir o desmatamento
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009Temas Observation: I have long stressed the importance of good data-gathering and diagnosis as the basis for sound action, and advocated getting individuals, civic groups and communities involved in such work. Hence I applaud this effort led by Greenpeace. As their press releases point out, combating deforestation in the Amazon is difficult in part because […]
Brazilian Export of Organic Produce
Sunday, January 11th, 2009Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry (MAPA) reports that between August 2006 and September 2008 Brazil exported 37,000 metric tons of organic produce worth about US$26.7 million, 32% of it to The Netherlands, 15% to Switzerland, 12% to the US and 7% to the UK. Over half (56%) of the exports were organic soy. Organic exports in 2007 […]
Turning Manioc Production Wastewater into New Products
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008The young Brazilian men pictured at right, Leandro Aguiar and Alexsandro Pereira, remind me strongly of a trio of Córdoba, Argentine students I wrote about early on this blog for a reason: they looked at a local waste problem and figured out a way not only to reduce or eliminate the waste, but turn it […]
Brazilian Resistance to Beer in PET Bottles
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Brazilian brewers wanting to market their beers in PET bottles are not having a good year. First a court ruling that such bottles pose a significant risk to the environment, and therefore require environmental impact studies and licensing. Then a state ban on pigmented PET, and now a looming state ban on PET bottles for […]
The Changing Face of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007With much fanfare a collection of Brazil’s Ministers — Environment (MMA), Agrarian Development (MDA), Agriculture (MAPA) — and the chief of President Lula’s Civil Cabinet held a joint press conference a few weeks ago to announce the latest deforestation data and projections for the Brazilian Amazon (“Amazônia Legal” as Brazil calls it, comprises 9 states […]