The missing patches of forest were conspicuous proof that Brazil’s struggle to protect its habitat was as much an onshore fight as an offshore one. For all the stories I’d heard about deforestation, none prepared me for seeing these jagged, burned patches carved into the rain forest. It left me with a deep foreboding feeling of inevitability, like you get when you watch an injured prey being chased down by a healthy predator. This is not going to end well, I thought.
