https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-...
Brazil, in contrast, has a very libertarian government, so companies simply hire private hitmen to assassinate non-profit environmental group activists:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/13/environm...
Almost all of the old growth forest in the United States was destroyed by capitalism prior to World War I. For an extremely depressing photographic account I recommend the book Kinsey, Photographer: A Half Century of Negatives by Darius and Tabitha May Kinsey. It is a photo book of hundreds of photographs of the Pacific Northwest's giant tree forests being destroyed. The scale of these trees is almost impossible to comprehend today (only a few scattered patches of Giant Sequoias remain in California), and most of them were cut down to be made into small siding and roof shingles.
There are a handful of old forest groves left on private lands, and there are a few land trust organizations trying to save them. For example, I donate to the Save the Redwoods League, and their big project now is acquiring Mailliard Ranch.
I should note that growing forests consume 10-11 times more CO2 than old growth forests, and the US is excellent at keeping growth rates as high as possible or a given tract of land.
You assume Brazilians are represented by their government. In theory, yes. In theory.
also, although unpopular, its easy to bull doze over our forests, do our thing, and let it grow back.
where i grew up every 15~ years tractors and such go through wiping out many of the trees and reshaping the landscape, but it doesnt take very long before you never would know they were there.
that doesn't apply as well in many parts of the Amazon
In North America, there is more forest cover than there was 200 years ago, thanks to private ownership and maintenance of woodlands.
Because of how productive these private woodlands are, there's largely no reason to cut down old growth forest.