Amazon Tofu

Two quotations leap out of this Guardian Unlimited story ("The New China: A hunger eating up the world"), about the growing China-Brazil trade axis and the toll that massive soya plantations are having on the Amazon Basin. The first is from a Brazilian economist who says, "Foreign environmental activists worry too much about a few trees, a few species and a few tribes. They don't want us to develop. All we want is health and money." The second is from a Chinese diplomat. "Since 2003 China has pursued a policy of sustainable development. But how Brazil protects its environment is up to them." Satellite data shows that last year alone, the Amazon lost 10,000 square miles of forest, and some researchers believe the real figure could be twice that. Go here to see pictures.