In an article buried on nyt.com titled "Brazil, Alarmed, Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change", I found it interesting that after so, so many years of deforestation in the Amazon the technocratic Brazilian government is finally taking steps to reduce carbon emmisions and deforestation.
The article profiles how Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is begining to become more flexable towards changing there current policies towards these enviromental issues. Not only president da Silva but also Eduardo Braga, governor of Amazonas recently announced a law to compensate and provide subsidies to those who adhere to more enviromentally friendnly practices in his very important state to the Amazon rain forest. I think that these are noble an important first steps to saving the rain forests of the Amazon and Brazil. The one thing that bothered me was the President da Silva stated that though he began to take step the northern more wealthier nations, such as the United States, are causing more pollution and carbon emmissions and need to inact more policies to save the enviroment of the Western Hemisphere. This shows that the United States must lead by example for the nations not only of the Western Hemisphere but of the world. If one of the most notoriously stubborn nations when it came to making enviromentally friendly polciies is now taking strides, why can't we further our policies, thus setting the example for Brazil and other countries to move ahead with similiar measures. All in all we share one earth, but as the leader of the free world the United States must be the trend setter when it comes to enviromental policy for under developed and developing nations of not only the Western Hemisphere but the world.