Supermarket
giant Wal-Mart along with two other large retailers, Carrefour SA and
Pão de Açúcar, announced that they would no longer sell meat in their Brazil outlets from suppliers who had cleared protected Amazonian rainforest to raise cattle.
The
announcement was made at a meeting of the Brazilian Association of
Supermarkets (Abras) shortly after the environmental group Greenpeace
released a report showing how the activities of internationally known
brands are leading to Amazonian deforestation for grazing pastures.
Meanwhile,
also in the wake of the Greenpeace report, a Brazilian federal
prosecutor filed a billion dollar lawsuit against the cattle industry
for devastating the Amazon.
What encouraging news! Our heartfelt
thanks and congratulations, Greenpeace for your carefully researched
report on livestock raising and the clearing of invaluable rainforests
in Brazil.
We also thank Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Pão de Açúcar and
other stores for responding to the public’s wish to protect these vital
reserves. With collaborative actions such as these and humanity’s
growing awareness of the need to halt meat eating altogether, our planet is surely on the path to recovery of her flourishing verdant state.
Reference
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0612-abras_beef_wal-mart.html
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12272317.htm