Climate played no role in Brazil’s election, but Amazon’s future hinges on runoff

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By Trey Thoelcke Updated Published
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Climate played no role in Brazil’s election, but Amazon’s future hinges on runoff

© luoman / E+ via Getty Images

More than 50 years ago, when I was in seventh grade, a teacher introduced my geography class to a new concept: “the environment.” No mention of climate change or global warming. Just “the environment.” And his example was an area that was fascinating for the boys assembled before him: The Amazon, with its vast expanse of trees and rivers, its piranha fish and uncontacted tribes. He also explained that the huge forest was of great importance because it sucked carbon dioxide from the air and replaced it with oxygen.

Memories of this class were revived about a year ago when a study by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) revealed that the Brazilian portion of the Amazon — by far the largest — now emits more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs. This is largely due to the large-scale deforestation of the area by small- and large-scale farmers, much of it by burning.

And now the recollections have been rekindled by the current presidential race in Brazil between the incumbent, right-winger Jair Bolsonaro, and a former leftist president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, a contest that has now gone to a runoff later this month after neither candidate topped 50% of the votes on Sunday. For the Brazilian Amazon, it could be a life-or-death decision…

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Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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