Mission Salvador
Feb 09, 2010
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Today we leave for Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. It's a trip to which we are looking forward immensely. We will be there for Carnival, and decided to book the trip last May. We visited Rio in 2004, and would love to visit again, but we decided to visit Salvador to explore its African heritage--and supposedly its Carnival festival is more authentic than that of Rio's. Salvador is also the cradle of Brazilian civilization and history: it is here the the Portuguese first landed, and Salvador was the capital of the colony until Rio took that crown in the 18th century.
Obviously Carnival will be the priority, as well as the beaches that brighten this region, and the historic core, the Pelourinho, which underwent massive renewal during the 1990s. The nerd in me also hopes I get the opportunity to quiz locals about their ethanol program, a source of national pride.
This will be a pivotal year for the Brazilian ethanol industry. Exports have not been as robust as believed, so the government reduced its mandate of ethanol in gasoline from 25% to 20%. In order to avoid inflation, the government also reduced its gasoline tax. A recent partnership between the Brazilian firm, Cosan, and the multinational Shell may give Brazil the scale it needs in order to increase ethanol exports. And in order to pressure the US to reduce or eliminate its tariff on cane ethanol, rumors abound that Brazil may also eliminate its tariff on imported ethanol in order to put more pressure on the US.
Environmental issues related to the production to cane ethanol do exist; nevertheless, Brazil's 35-plus year march towards energy independence is a smart one. It's an impressive case study considering how the US risks moving backward towards energy DEPENDENCE: the Obama Administration has been bamboozled into pursuing "clean coal" and increased production of corn ethanol . . . one technology very uncertain, and other leaving a legacy of increased food prices and pollution in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.
Salvador, the third largest city in Brazil, has an important role in Brazil's emergence on the world stage--many commodities pass through its ports, and there is a large petrochemical presence as well.
If you have been to Salvador, and have any last minute tips, please let us know. I know we look forward to exploring this very culturally distinct region of Brazil!
Note:
While I am gone, Tricia Widgen will be monitoring my site, and hopefully, with my encouragement, she will post about her experiences in the world of sustainability. I had the good fortune to work with her at a DC-based consultancy and found her one of the most talented and resourceful professionals with whom I have ever worked. A graduate of UMASS, she completed her MBA from George Washington University. She lived in Bolivia for two years, working at an NGO; prior to that, she worked for an organic baking goods company that now distributes its products across the US. Her LinkedIn profile is here.
