Pour Some (Brazilian) Sugar On Me

It has been said that the North Korean diplomatic outpost in Uzbekistan has probably the worst diplomatic staff on the face of the earth.  The second worst is probably the staff of the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles.  Horror stories abound, the most recent of which comes from poor (name withheld to avoid any risk of a denied visa), who upon presenting all of his documents, was told, "Oh, you're going to Salvador?  I love it there . . . but I cannot issue you a visa . . . Ha!  You should have seen the look on your face!  Oh, but I'm not issuing you a visa because you don't have a proper blank page in your passport."  Meanwhile, a sign above the windows admonish the following:

 

 

Well, this poor soul will get his visa next week, and I received mine yesterday, as GreenGoPost will be there for Carnival for two weeks in February.  However, after hearing this story, I was so paranoid that I marked all of my previous Brazil posts as private.  Now they are public again.  So now that I have my visa, I am amazed at how long it takes to process a Brazilian visa--upon receiving my visa yesterday, my last name was left off.  I am flattered that they thought I was Brazilian, but I did not want to risk any hassles at the airport, so I pointed out the error to the Brazilian visa dragon behind the window (and probably also, behind her face, as Brazil boasts high GNP investment in plastic surgery), so it took all of 10 minutes to straighten that hassle out.

 

Well, this week, Brazil opened what it claims as the world's first ethanol-powered power plant in the state of Minas Gerais.  State-run energy giant Petrobras partnered with GE in opening this 87 megawatt-capacity plant.  Granted, it is only one small plant in a huge field of 14 plants that operate using gas, oil, or hydroelectricity, but the project is nonetheless impressive.  the plant's opening is demonstrative of Brazil's thirty year quest for energy efficiency.  The Brazilian mandate mentions that all gasoline sold within the country includes at least 20% ethanol, and most cars now boast flex-fuel technologies that give consumers a choice when rolling into a petrol station.

 

Ethanol is a logical fuel of choice for Brazil.  Sugar cane grows like a weed, and the processing of cane into ethanol is far more efficient than that of corn.  It is not a perfect solution:  I have already written about the concern over the effects of Brazilian agribusiness on the nation's cerrado, and there is always the threat the growing crops for energy instead of food can contribute to rising food prices worldwide.  Nevertheless, the NGO Oxfam has pointed out that the blame over any biofuels fiasco is because of wealthy nations have blindly subsidized crops for biofuels while foolishly blocking Brazilian cane ethanol with tariffs and other trade restrictions.  There is always a threat of further environmental damage and food shortages from focusing on biofuels, but Brazilian cane offers the least evil idea.  Using farmland that already exists threatens exhausting the soil--but mowing down forests or draining wetlands is just another short-sighted idea that policymakers need to seriously consider.

 

So like the Def Leppard song title, Brazil is feeling pretty hot right now.  Its economy is improving, its stature on the international scene is growing.  Let's just hope the further increase of cane production--talks are underway to export it to Japan--turns out sweet . . . and not a sticky situation.