They Paved Paradise
WaPo’s Terrence McCoy and Raphael Alves took a roadtrip to Brazil to report on the ways Highway 319 is causing controversy and cutting through the Amazon. But down in those parts, highway robbery is not the biggest risk of reporting. “These rough-hewn side roads are often the work of armed criminal groups. The groups, which dominate this stretch of the forest, had unleashed a wave of fire and destruction that was transforming much of southern Amazonas state into smoldering pastureland. The way they solve problems is with violence. People disappear. Their bodies are never found.” WaPo (Gift Article): Death in the Forest. For millions of people (and plenty of Brazilian politicians), the road represents a much-needed “lifeline that connects them to the rest of the country and paves the path toward development.” But for the rest of the world, this head-on collision with climate change science looks more like the highway to hell. “The outcome of the emotional political clash, scientists say, has implications not only for the rest of the forest but the world. The Amazon is a crucial bulwark against global warming, helping to slow the inexorable march of climate change. But researchers warn that finishing the highway and subsequent state roads would open up its core to destruction. Scientists at the Federal University of Minas Gerais found in 2020 that paving the highway would quadruple deforestation here over the next three decades. ‘That would be the end of the forest,’ said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist who focuses on the Amazon.” For now, proponents of the highway can’t see the forest through the trees, even though there are fewer and fewer trees in their way.