Chapter 2: Producing the Forest

“While offsets and payments for emissions reductions are based on an absence—a reduction in emissions—they are made through and rely upon the production of many other things. Carbon was not monocropped but rather multicropped, produced through the making of many other forest and nonforest products, including açaí.” (Greenleaf 79)

Synopsis

“Chapter 2 explores how Acrean forest protection centers on increasing, rather than decreasing, production—of many things other than carbon. Specifically, the chapter focuses on efforts to in- crease açaí berry production in forests and fields as part of the effort to make the forest valuable. It explicates what I call inclusive productivism to show how green capitalist inclusion can reinforce the marginalization it purportedly seeks to combat, in ways that can both modify and reinforce the status quo.” (Greenleaf 31-32)

Discussion Questions & Key Concepts

Key concepts: Inclusive productivism, intensification

• What is the relationship between forest carbon and products like açaí?

• What are the differences and similarities between açaí grown in forests and açaí grown in fields?

• What is inclusive productivism, including its limitations?