ALTERNATE ENERGY: Progress Report No. 11 — Indonesia and Brazil: When capitalism goes awry

A view from space of smoke from a burning Brazilian rainforest.

Oh people, look around you
The signs are everywhere
You’ve left it for somebody other than you
To be the one to care
— Jackson Browne, “Rock Me On the Water,” 1978

Ann Landers, an early-day newspaper help columnist, responded to a reader about the economies this way:
Socialism: You have two cows. Give one to your neighbor.
Communism: You have two cows. Give both to the government, and they may give you some of the milk.
Fascism: You have two cows. You give all of the milk to the government, and the government sells it.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government shoots you and takes both cows.
Anarchism: You have two cows. Keep both, shoot the government agent and steal another cow.
Capitalism: You have two cows. Sell one and buy a bull.

While markedly over-simplified it has brought us to this month’s story: a tale of two countries. I put Brazil and Indonesia in the same boat because their predicament is the same and a major issue on the world stage: The exploding exploitation of natural resources to grow the economy. A major portion of which is ironically biofuels from sugar cane and palm oil. Unfortunately, both countries share the honor of being the largest centers of biodiversity in the world, which is being compromised by the destruction of their rain forests by chainsaw and fire making them rank high among the carbon polluters of today.
America set for the world the example and benefit of a powerhouse economy. Our freedom to discover and create new devices propelled our country like none other before. Now this “model,” as it were, has been used with great success by countries like our rival China, for example. China is adopting capitalism whether they want to define it as such or not.
The third world is catching on as well. African nations are reaching double-digit growth rates. South America too is moving forward. The theory of capitalism says that through self-motivation and self-benefit, everyone benefits. I am a recipient of capitalism. All Americans are better off because of this driving force and so too will the rest of the world.
So to the rest of the world, we must ask the question, “Success at what cost and long-term benefit?” The exploitation of indigenous people whose land is being taken away, the poor barely making a living working long hours under dangerous conditions, and the exploitation of the land at the expense of the environment is taking place in Brazil and Indonesia at unprecedented pace. The irony of the dilemma is in part due to the manufacture of biofuels from sugar and palm oil.
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A brief energy history, first Brazil
Brazil is the fifth largest land area country in the world and produces nearly 80 percent of its energy from renewable sources. It has the world’s second largest hydroelectric dam, which provides 20% of its electric power. Brazil took a posture of raising sugar cane to make ethanol in the late 1970s due to the price and availability of gasoline. So to ensure their independence from foreign oil, huge sugar plantations were built. Brazil had everything it needed for a successful sugar crop — a very high solar index, plenty of water, and plenty of land.
One problem: It had plenty of land with plenty of trees. So deforestation continues today. Approximately 6,000 to 9,000 square miles of rainforest are taken every year. Brazil also is producing palm oil, which is used in biofuels and fuels. Making room for sugar and palm oil is having a devastating effect on the environment. While much of the land is being used for farming, a significant portion of that farming is to make fuel.

Now Indonesia
Indonesia is the fourth largest country by population in the world. It is comprised of over 17,000 islands, only two which hold the majority of the rain forest. Its major energy exports are coal, palm oil and petroleum fuels. Its forests have been reduced by 50% since 1900 and will be expended by 2050 at the current rate of deforestation. Current estimates are that 2.4 million hectacres of forest are destroyed every year, a little less than the state of Maryland. Palm oil is a significant export and a significant portion of Indonesia’s GDP. The destruction process and the economic manifestation of the rainforest is a major employer of Indonesia’s poor.
The country’s rapidly rising economy has caused additional environmental problems. Namely the rapid volume of undisplaced groundwater. This has caused and continues to cause the new infrastructure to begin sinking then collapsing. This sinking of the land mass also cause the shorelines to recede, thus bringing the ocean and its force to bear ever closer to the main population centers.

The cost of capitalism
Brazil and Indonesia both are emerging Third World nations. The rainforests are their cash cow and a major driver to prosperity. However, the questions are will it last and at what cost? The cost is the massive loss of biodiversity which will be forever. Our earth’s atmosphere for life depends on the right mix of gases. This is necessary because all species have evolved with this platform; a slight change in the amount of oxygen or nitrogen or carbon dioxide could conceivably wipe out every living creature. This does not even take into account climate change. Industrialization benefits the whole world so does the maintaining of our ecosystem. It’s not politics; it’s simply real life.
So often today we hear the term socialism bantered around as a negative, almost akin to communism, while capitalism is branded as the super hero. The truth is we need both capitalism and socialism. If I could entertain you with this concept: capitalism is like the booster rocket on a spaceship, propelling the space vehicle out of earth’s gravity. Once out of earth’s gravity, then it’s a matter of control. America is long out of the gravity stage of the economic hardship. We are at a platform where we have to plan how these new projects and adventures in discovery serve everyone. This is socialism. We know better that mindless exploitation is wrong and has consequences. America has exploited her resources and has committed crimes against humanity in that misguided quest of manifest destiny, crimes such as slavery and genocide of the American Indian.
The current exploitation of the rainforest will be Brazil’s and Indonesia’s crime against the earth and humanity. The majority of logging and burning is illegal but there is little enforcement. There are criminals with weapons who threaten the indigenous people to take their land, just like America did only 120 years ago. The repairs for the removal of the rainforests are incalculable. The species that will go extinct will be irreplaceable, the trees and the fauna will take decades to replace, the carbon damage also incalculable, and the damage to carbon sequestrating or absorption by the lack of trees also incalculable. The damage to the infrastructure, water systems roads and building also incalculable. The rage of the indigenous people will be incurable.

Conclusion: In my ever so humble opinion
It is a shame that with all the knowledge, experience, technological and business know-how, we allow these systems of exploitation to carry on. When it is clear that the temporary economic gains will be washed away by the resulting damage, damage that will have to be repaired to protect lives and property. How can this double negative of carbon waste happen at a time when carbon sequestrating is absolutely critical? How can we allow this to happen when there are clearly other choices? There are choices that would provide just as many economic opportunities as better pay without the excess damage done by the burning and harvesting of the forests. All for the profits over a relatively short period. Is this justified or is this capitalism gone awry?

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