There is an extremely unique ecosystem in Brazil that contains about 5% of all life on Earth. It is called the Cerrado. Unfortunately, it is disappearing faster than the Brazilian Amazon. Why? Humans, of course.
We are cutting it down at a tremendous rate largely to grow soy. Think you’ve got vegans and vegetarians in a corner now and can say, ‘See, we got you! Vegetarianism is hurting the environment!’? Well, soy (aka soya) is not just fed to vegetarians and vegans. 80% of soy crop is fed to livestock, and chickens in particular.
Take Action to Protect the Cerrado
Of course, one thing you can do to stop this destruction, is stop eating soy or livestock fed on soy from the Brazilian Amazon (of course, that requires a little bit of research, but not too much).
Another thing you can do, however, is help out with WWF UK’s work regarding this topic. In particular, you can sign a petition they’ve started (above) targeting major supermarkets in the UK and asking them to stop carrying products that contain soy from the Cerrado.
More on the Cerrado
In the past 40 years, the Cerrado has been reduced 50%. For comparison, that’s more land area than the UK, Germany, Italy and Portugal combined. Learn more about the Cerrado in the beautiful hand shadow film above or on WWF.
Amazon deforestation has been dramatically reduced using similar means as presented above, spearheaded by Greenpeace. I think we can help save the Cerrado, too, and it’s nice to see WWF UK spearheading action on this issue.
- Deforestation Rates in Brazilian Amazon Dropped 47% in August
- 80% of Amazon Deforestation Stems from Cattle Ranching
- Greenpeace Praises Brazil
- Amazon Says Goodbye to World’s Largest Meat Exporter
- World’s Largest Leather Exporter Backs Out of Amazon
- 14,000 Barrel Oil Spill in Ecuador’s Amazon Rainforest
Image via Daniel Zanini H.