Illegal Logging

Illegal logging is not something the progressive community takes particularly seriously, but it’s actually a very big deal, not only in Brazil (where it does get attention) but in Mexico (where the cartels have expanded their operations) as well as in Peru, as discussed here. This is an area where state attention to an issue can make a big difference, but there isn’t a strong ideological foundation in Latin America for environmental protection. Left-wing and right-wing are pretty addicted to classic developmentalist strategies, as we saw when Lula took power in Brazil. Mostly, it’s just a real depressing problem for me. The U.S. is a huge market for this illegal wood. Like most products, when we buy wood to build we don’t think about where the wood comes from, whether it is harvested sustainably (or even legally).