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While gas prices have skyrocketed during the past five years in the US and the provisioning of fuel seems to be as dark a proposition as its color, a new alternative which has been growing in America at a rate of 30% annually opens a new window of opportunity to end the country's dependency on oil: ethanol.
This biofuel not only pollutes less than gasoline, it is also easier and cheaper to produce since it is created out of renewable raw materials like sugar, wheat or corn. The need for this energy alternative is becoming so important that even President George W. Bush included it in his January State of the Union address. "We'll also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol," said the President. "Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years." Additionally, the US Government, under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, calls for the gradual increase of ethanol from 4 billion gallons in 2006 to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012; which is half of what Brazil, the largest ethanol producer in the world, generates nowadays. The United States' increased interest in this alternative is such that today there are 97 ethanol production plants in the country, with another 31 under construction. Each month sees the opening of an average of two new ethanol refineries. For doubters, evidence that this new biofuel is legitimate can be seen in the fact that as of next year, the Indy Racing League, home to some of the highest-performing automobiles on the planet, will be powered solely by ethanol. And because of this need to our oil addiction, forums and events to discuss the qualities of ethanol and other alternatives are also in great demand. One of them, Fispal Latino International Forum 2006: Sugarcoating the Fuel Economy, will take place from May 10-12th, 2006 in Miami, Florida. Present at this event will be Brazil's Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, along with various other top-level executives from countries that have been pioneers in producing ethanol for day-to-day use. A Fuel of World Interest The benefits of ethanol have not only been called to attention by the US. China has just completed construction on the largest ethanol production plant in the world, while the Venezuelan government is studying the possibility of opening 15 ethanol refineries and planting 700,000 new acres of sugar cane within the next three years. Brazil, already the world's largest ethanol producer, plans to duplicate its production by 2013. "The entire world has been exposed to the benefits of ethanol," stated Oscar Dominguez, President of Fispal Latino. "Latin America and the Caribbean have a golden opportunity with their extensive cultivatable acreage to become the largest ethanol providers in the world." As mentioned, Brazil has been the first Latin American country to realize this fuel's potential. Presently, the country has over three million cars running on ethanol. Also, Embraer, a Brazil-global aircraft manufacturer, has announced plans to produce the first airplane to run on this biofuel. Additionally, Brazil has focused its efforts on the international market. In February of this year, the country exported 38,331 gallons of ethanol, 20% more than what was exported during the same month in 2005. The majority of this volume is shipped to the USA, who, together with South America's giant, accounts for 85% of the world's total consumption. And though these numbers are cause for hope, the gap that exists between gasoline and ethanol production is still staggering. "Taking into consideration that annual gasoline consumption is about 7.7 billion barrels per year, ethanol production worldwide is minimal since it only represents 2.5% of current gasoline consumption," commented Eduardo de Carvalho, President of Brazil's Sugar Cane Agro Industrial Union of São Paulo (Unica). With such great growth potential and the appetite that governments worldwide are beginning to demonstrate for ethanol, the only conclusion that can be arrived at is that slowly, but surely, consumers will be replacing the famous black gold for what most likely will be called the sweet fuel.
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The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj).
...is that the sugar cane industry is the one that employs the most......slaves.
Simply because the Soya industry is 100 % harvested by combines, but only 40/50 % of sugar cane !
Just read and see all the sad stories with the sugar cane cutters.
More Ethanol = more poverty and more slaves.
Greaaaaaat !