By Arto Torosoglu
On Monday, December 13, 2010, 60 Minutes on CBS had a segment about Brazil’s economic boom and how the country is working on managing it. Americans recognize Brazil as many things whether it be a vacation spot, tourist attraction, soccer haven, or even a third world country. It turns out that the country is far from just those things. As Steve Kroft reported, “It was the last country to enter the Great Recession, the first to leave it – and is poised to overtake France and Britain as the world’s fifth-largest economy.” Brazil has always been bountiful in natural resources and land, but has long-lived the year-round lax mentality, ultimately neglecting its potential to be relevant in the world as a powerful economy. The 60 Minutes segment gives us the idea that the country has began to put all of the doubts everyone has had to rest.
“Brazil is already the largest producer of iron ore in the world and the world’s leading exporter of beef, chicken, orange juice, sugar, coffee and tobacco — much of it bound for China, which has replaced the U.S. as Brazil’s leading trade partner,” Kroft reports. In order to satiate an appetite such as China’s you certainly need to be doing something correct. As populations in the world continue to grow you would imagine that the consumption of these goods produced in Brazil will ultimately grow as well. But unlike America, Brazil is taking the necessary steps to create a green economy rather than rush everything to make as much money as possible.
“Brazil is a huge country, slightly larger than the continental U.S., with vast expanses of arable farmland, an abundance of natural resources, and 14 percent of the world’s fresh water. Eighty percent of its electricity comes from hydropower. It has the most sophisticated biofuels industry in the world, and, for its size, the world’s greenest economy,” says Kroft. When you hear a statement like this, you cannot help but be impressed. Their economy is growing at a fantastic pace, but it is not a dangerous one either. They have done what we Americans could not, and that is combine the environment and economy, not separate them. By having the two complement each other rather than conflict with each other, Brazil is on pace to remain sustainable while keeping up with all of the worlds demands. They are not only creating green jobs and providing services but they have balanced the manufacturing portion as well so they do not need to rely on other countries for materials.
This is a message to the United States, “Start Taking Notes!” Although we cannot be absolutely sure that this is a boom or bubble, we can certainly agree that it looks like they are on the right track. They are now working on constructing new stadiums for the 2014 World Cup that they are hosting. FIFA doubts that Brazil will be ready on time, but Brazil thinks that they are right on schedule. Will these stadiums eventually be graffiti sanctuaries like the Olympic stadiums are in Greece or will they actually be used after their purpose has expired? All we know for now is Brazil is taking the appropriate steps to do everything correctly and we can only hope that they are setting an example for other developing nations to do things correctly for the environment rather than quickly.
