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These days, when you fill up your car with a gasoline-and-ethanol blend, you
are probably burning ethyl alcohol made from American corn. A few years from
now, your commute may be powered by ethanol from sugar cane grown in Brazil's
cerrado, a biodiversity hotspot that is the largest savanna in South America and
disappearing at a faster rate than the Amazon. You may be hastening the demise
of the world's largest rain forest as well. And you won't be alone: AOL founder
Steve Case, film producer Steven Bing, supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, global
financier George Soros, and other well-known investors (see below) could end up
playing leading roles in Brazilian deforestation. Case and his colleagues are
banking on Brazilian biofuel. They may be hoping to make a green investment that
will help save the world, or they may just want to get a piece of the next gold
rush. But they probably don't understand the importance of the cerrado, or the
possible ...