The High Price of Rubber & the Devastation of Southeast Asia
Slash-and-burn agriculture may be bad for the environment, but in southeast Asia, the cure may be worse than the disease. Endorsed by multiple governments, at both the local and national levels, as well as numerous business interests, everyone from individual farmers to massive corporations has been replacing the traditional slash-and-burn, more technically known as swidden, method of farming with rubber plantations managed with European techniques. In the last 20 years, over 1.2 million acres of land in China, Thailand, Vietnam, [...]
Brazil’s health ministry has announced a plan aimed at reducing its dependence on imported goods, fighting AIDS, providing contraception and … preserving the Amazon rainforest. The highlight of the plan? 
