probably a better thing to do would be to get the rest of the world to pay you to not do it.

They'd have to pay a lot. And continuously. Earlier this year, the EU's approach was to try to introduce sanction terms into the international agreements. Even our current president took offense to that.

I really don't find it surprising that he's friends with China. They're the ones who buy up all our soy anyway. They'd probably enjoy it a lot if we destroyed the Amazon to make more soy for them to buy.

Maybe you're unaware of the situation in Haiti, but burning your entire jungle down brings nothing but flooding and despair. The other country on the same island has none of these problems.

I'd do a lot of things if they were free. Nothing is.

Which is why I said I would do it "if" it brought us prosperity. I didn't say I'd do it lightly. The point I tried to express was my willingness to sacrifice it. If I could push a button to replace the entire area of the Amazon with high tech industry, I would do it without thinking twice.

Western countries have been telling us what to do with this jungle for many decades now. Even as a kid I used to hear of US presidents talking about how the Amazon "belongs to the world". I find that to be extremely offensive and disrespectful towards our sovereignty.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.