.....as a woodworker, I am concerned, but as a human, I am even more concerned. Quite apart from the general 'wasting of resources' argument, the population problem that has led to people NEEDING to cut more rain forest every 2 or 3 years in order to replace the lousy farms that it provides is a world-wide issue. Also, the situation is that, the Brazilian..(and southern Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana..etc.) rainforest has a major effect on weather world wide. There are serious studies and computer modeling programs trying to predict just what will happen if the rain forest disappears. There DOES seem to a close relationship between what happens over the Amazon region and the weather in the Sahara and northern Africa.

One can argue whether or not 'X' is a scam, or 'Y' is exaggerated right now, but simple arithmetic will tell you that you can't cut down, pave over, use up, over fish, and generally pollute this finite planet forever! You can't HAVE 27 billion people on this earth. You can't mine the Grand Banks of fish and still allow my grandchildren to have seafood dinners at a reasonable cost. You can't chop down Mahogany at this rate and still leave ME a dab to turn into bowls. (I can no longer get MANY nice woods that were plentiful when I was a kid)...

What can be done? You mean besides invading Brazil and saying "stop"?..*grin*.....There are people doing what needs to be done...support them, when you can figure out which ones deserve it..(it ain't always easy)

I am afraid that money, greed, ignorance and national 'honor' are forces that are too powerful to overcome...*sigh*....Nature has her ways of 'adjusting' things, but they may not be much fun.