Ethanol production in Brazil may drive deforestation in Amazon Term Paper - 1

Ethanol production in Brazil may drive deforestation in Amazon - Term Paper Example Our extreme weather temperatures (heat waves and extreme cold temperatures), super typhoons, droughts, floods, and similar occurrences have all been traced back by scientists and other experts to global warming. Due to these concerns, efforts to cut back on fuel or oil use have also been conceptualized and strong support for the use of alternative sources of fuel has been suggested. One of these methods is the use of ethanol from sugarcane as an alternative fuel source. Ethanol can be blended with or used directly as fuel and its properties create less pollution and environmental damage. Ethanol is already being utilized in different countries, including Brazil, Scandinavia, United States, Germany, Japan, and New Zealand, among others and many car manufacturers have made the necessary adjustments and accommodations in their cars in order to ensure that they would run well on ethanol fuel (Peyton and Nalco, p. 298). The use of ethanol is however, not without its problems. Brazilâ€⠄¢s ethanol is mostly made from sugarcane and some environmentalists have pointed out that the growing demand for the fuel may push sugarcane growers into the Amazon. Hence, the global demand for ethanol may threaten the Amazon rain forest in Brazil, causing large scale deforestation of the area. This paper shall now discuss the negative impacts of the ethanol production in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. It shall also conceptualize possible solutions in order to alleviate these problems. Surveys reveal that from the years 1960 to 2007, the land area in Brazil planted with sugarcane increased from 1.4 million to 7 million hectares. With this increase in land cover for sugarcane plantations, the production of sugarcane also increased from 45 to 75 Mg/ha. Such an increase in productivity was caused by improved agricultural techniques and improved breeding programs (Martinelli and Filoso, p. 886). In recent years, the increase in