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...Unfortunately, many of these insights may never be gained. As Homo sapiens multiplies and forages like army ants, Wilson has grown alarmed about the millions of plant and animal species that are disappearing in civilization's path. Thirty years ago, he witnessed the beginnings of mass deforestation in the Amazon. Ten years ago, he became an active conservationist, with a touch of the ecological poet. Destroying rain forest for economic gain, Wilson now says, "is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal." If there is a gene for vivid imagery, future scientists should know where to look...
...executive. Hurrying to create "O Brasil Novo," the new Brazil he promised during his campaign, he has reduced an 84% monthly inflation rate to less than 13%; axed some 100,000 employees from the government payroll; and begun to halt the destruction of the country's greatest resource, the Amazon rain forest...
...same time, Collor reversed a long-standing government policy that treated the Amazon basin principally as a source of wood products and a locale for development. He declared that he would work vigorously to stop the burning of the forest by ranchers and settlers, then appointed Brazil's foremost environmental activist, Jose Lutzenberger, to enforce the program. In an interview with TIME, Collor was unapologetic about the abrupt turnaround. "On questions of ecology, we have made a fundamental commitment to life," he said. "We have nothing to hide and nothing to explain...
...would have been unheard of 20 years ago for people [in America] to be concerned about the Amazon River Basin," says Wilson, "Now, it regularly makes the cover of Newsweek and Time magazine...
...first priority will be to halt the destruction of the Amazon, but he has also vowed to protect Brazil's last remaining Atlantic forests and gravely threatened savannas. Some Brazilians are concerned that the new Secretary might be too inflexible and idealistic for the rough realities of government, but Lutzenberger, 63, calls himself a "possibilist." The Gaia Foundation, a private organization he set up, finances problem-solving environmental projects. Example: an effort to help poor settlers improve agricultural techniques so that they do not have to clear as much forest land to produce enough crops...