ethanol. anything to say?

We all know that ethanol has been a hot topic these days and I don't wanna repeat what everyone has already heard about it. But if there is something I can contribute to this discussion - and yes, that is what I've been repeating again and again - regards the spatial distribution of ethanol production in Brazil.

I heard (and probably you too) a lot about ethanol threatening indigenous lands and promoting deforestation. 

Well, ethanol is part of a quite old and unfair value chain. Was the first export product Brazil ever had. And sugar cane has channeled (or has been channeling) tones of slave labour, land injustice and economic inequalities from Brazil to the world.

The MST (landless movement) was responsible for high profiling these to Brazilians, and also to people all over the world. I am sure that many had seen the pictures made by Sebastiao Salgado of people working in sugar cane fields. 

Anyway... I had promised not to talk about same same issues. But it is impossible to talk about ethanol without going "back to basics", from a Brazilian perspective.

Moving straight to the point: ethanol is embedded in a complex chain, which has also served for ambitious governmental energy plans in the last 30 years in Brazil. Petrobras seems to be the one "laundering" ethanol nowadays, thus kind of neutralizing the odd memories of old sugar cane days.

So I will try to come up with interesting references. Unfortunately some of the best data about ethanol production is only available in Portuguese. Might be useful to give directions (at least) in English....