No Rain in the Amazon: How South America's Climate Change Affects the Entire Planet (MacSci)

256 Pages·2010·0.95 MB·English

by  Nikolas Kozloff

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NO RAIN
IN
AMAZON
THE
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ALSO BY NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
AND AVAILABLE FROM PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Revolution!
Hugo Chávez
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NO RAIN
IN
AMAZON
THE
HOW SOUTH AMERICA’S CLIMATE CHANGE
AFFECTS THE ENTIRE PLANET
Nikolas Kozloff
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NORAININTHEAMAZON
Copyright © Nikolas Kozloff, 2010.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS.
Companies and representatives throughout the world.
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and
other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and
other countries.
ISBN: 978-0-230-61476-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kozloff, Nikolas.
No rain in the Amazon : how South America’s climate change affects the
entire planet / Nikolas Kozloff.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978–0–230–61476–5
1. Climatic changes—South America. 2. Rain forest conservation—South
America. 3. Greenhouse gases—South America. 4. Climatic changes—
International cooperation. I. Title.
QC903.2.S63K69 2010
333.75’16098—dc22
2009033416
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Letra Libre
First edition: April 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER ONE
The Global North Fails to Act 7
CHAPTER TWO
Living in an Age of Extremes 29
CHAPTER THREE
Carbon Conundrum 49
CHAPTER FOUR
Cattle and the “Carbon Bomb” 71
CHAPTER FIVE
Soy Is King 95
CHAPTER SIX
Deforestation Dilemma 123
CHAPTER SEVEN
The “Clean Energy” Trap 145
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EPILOGUE
Food and Farmers in an Era of Climatic Uncertainty 175
Conclusion 193
Notes 203
Index 235
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I
would like to thank Luba Ostashevsky as well as the entire editorial
and production team at Palgrave Macmillan, all of the people who
took the time to sit down with me in Peru and Brazil, and my grand-
parents, Leonard and Adele Blumberg of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
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NO RAIN
IN
AMAZON
THE