A right wing politician critical of gay rights and now, not surprising, the Amazon is burning

I often connect the issues of sexual politics and reproduction to environmental issues. Most people don't discuss that connection very often. They put gay rights and feminism in the human rights compartment of their compartmentalized thinking. Environmental issues are in another compartment. I often connect the two with the issue of overpopulation.

I'm not surprised that not long after Brasil elected this right wing president, the fires have gotten worse in the Amazon. I'll admit that maybe I am reinforcing my own bias as I just did a Google search with the words Jair Bolsonaro (president of Brasil) and Gay Rights to see what came up. This article came to the top. I had heard that Bolsonaro was not friendly to gay rights. This article brings that point home tho it isn't new news. It came out in April 2019.

One can also blame part of the problems in Brasil on the traditional left, or at least some of the leftist politics of Venezuela. Venezuela has a left wing government that has made lots of promises to the people which, apparently, it is not able to keep. The Venezuelan economy has been imploding causing lots of refugees to flee into other Latin American countries; including Brasil. Venezuela is on Brasil's northern border near where the Amazon region is located.

Population growth, in part from refugees, may be one factor adding to the pressure to lift environmental restrictions in the Amazon. The pressure of farmers, miners and so forth trying to make a living.

Venezuela's economy is based, mostly, on fossil fuels. I think the true solutions are to reduce population growth and reduce dependency on the fossil fuel economy. Often those type of goals are not talked about in the mainstream right or left wing circles. One problem Venezuela has faced is the volatility of oil prices. When prices go up, promises can be made, but when prices go down, promises are broken.

Remember, even if climate change is subtle and not as alarming as some people think, we still have to find a way to feed, house and employ possibly 4 billion more inhabitants on Planet Earth by the end of this century due to projected population growth.

As to the problem of meat consumption, this chart was of interest to me. Brasil being the world's largest meat exporter feeding many countries, around the world, such as Egypt, with growing populations and rising material aspirations. Clearing of rain forest is largely driven by beef consumption.

Interesting that the US is not clear at the top of the list. Consumption is a worldwide problem related largely to population. The US does get lots of blame, but the problem is worldwide. I would guess the US grows lots of its own beef so Brazilian beef sources are less important. The US is still on the list, however. It's still in the top 10.



I found this chart in another interesting article.

Hong Kong is at top of this list with the large population of China a second.

Lists like this also bring up more questions for me. Hong Kong is small, tho densely populated. Is Hong Kong also shipping beef along into China? It's listed separate from China.

The Middle East is a big importer of Brazilian beef, according to this chart. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE.

As to my own meat consumption, I do eat some meat, but try to eat mostly plant based things. Better for health also. I do drink lots of milk, admittedly.