 Sugar. It's everywhere. In the U.S., more than half arcane sugar comes from Florida's Glades region, and it comes with a side of flames and smoke. The first step in sugar cane harvest is burning. The growers, like nature, use fire to clear. It ridges the stalks of excess leaves, making them easier to cut and mill. Some residents in these mostly low-income communities of color have said for years the smoke and ash are making them sick. Florida's largest sugar companies say the burns are safe, well-regulated, and couldn't be stopped without significant economic impact. But the U.S. is an outlier on the global stage. In Brazil, it's a totally different story. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugar cane. Sao Paulo's state outlawed burning years ago, and farmers have reduced the practice there by about 99%. It only allows me one thing, the practice of burning is very rudimentary. It's a practice, I'd say, pre-guessing. The U.S. is a first-line country. We understand that it's a very developed country, and I would never expect it to burn there. European colonists brought sugar cane to Brazil in the 16th century. Throughout the Western Hemisphere, it was a colonial crop that enslaved people were forced to grow. Originally a precious export for European royalty, over the centuries it became a household staple and an international commodity. Burns were introduced in Brazil in the 1960s. The cane was burned to facilitate manual cutting. Fire was used to clear the way for workers who were getting injured by sharp leaves and bitten by animals that hid in them. The cane they harvested became multiple products. Sugar, ethanol for fuel, and electricity from leftover plant material. Environmental activists protested to the government, so did citizens rich and poor in Brazil's most powerful and populous state. Children who had asthma or bronchitis became very sick during the months where sugar cane was being harvested. We saw that where we have more plantations, more burning, we had more hospitalizations and more mortality for respiratory disease. Medical constructions specialized in respiratory parts are with the emergency rooms Throughout the 2000s, pressure was building. There was opposition in the newspapers, on television. In 2002, Sao Paulo's state government passed a law phasing out the burns. A few years later, the sugar industry worked with them to speed up the timeline to make sure that the sugar industry was able to make the best out of it. In 2002, Sao Paulo's state government passed a law phasing out the burns. A few years later, the sugar industry worked with them to speed up the timeline eliminating nearly all burning by 2017. In Brazil, there were two big simultaneous changes from hand cutting to machine harvesting and from burnt cane to raw cane. It required major investments by the sugar companies, especially in machinery. Government policies encouraged ethanol production and use and other forms of renewable energy. In the end, stopping the burns paid off. You had a smaller, better trained workforce operating machines instead of toiling in the fields. And raw cane had significant farming benefits. The big difference is this stuff. These outer leaves, called straw or leaf trash. When you burn, most of it goes up in smoke. When you harvest raw cane, it's blown back onto the fields. In Brazil, that straw is now highly valued. In most places, it embraces and protects the soil so they leave it on the ground. In Brazil, there's a big difference. In Brazil, there's a big difference. In Brazil, it embraces and protects the soil so they leave it on the ground. In places where too much can harm the cane plants, they gather it up off the fields. Some is sent to mills where it's used to generate electricity, which is then sold to the grid at a profit. In Florida, that same straw is portrayed as useless at best, harmful at worst. Safe communities, an advocacy group with ties to the sugar industry, sent out flyers warning residents that mounds of straw on the ground would bring rats and snakes to their yards and increase the risk of wildfires. We're talking about pollution in the air that will affect everybody. And you are asking me, but if we have an infestation of insects, well, let's deal with it. Brazilians have a different understanding of the nature of the country. We're talking about pollution in the air that will affect everybody. And you are asking me, but if we have an infestation of insects, Brazilians have adapted with effective pest control strategies and fire brigades at every mill. Nationwide, almost 90% of Brazil's cane fields are now harvested without burning. American sugar companies point out that more cane is burned in Brazil than Florida, which is true, but only because Brazil's overall production is so much larger. In Florida, harvesting was mechanized long before Brazil. But the practice of burning never stopped. It's the cheapest way to prepare for the harvest, maximizing profits. The state government's approach has been to regulate the burns instead of banning them. Since the early 1990s, burns have not been permitted when the wind blows east towards wider, wealthier places like West Palm Beach, but they're still allowed when the winds blow towards the glades, where about a third of the population lives in poverty. The state tightened restrictions in 2019, but the overall number of burns has held steady. The sugar companies are currently fighting a lawsuit from residents. The companies argue that the air quality in the glades is good. Florida crystals previously told us that Florida shouldn't be compared to Brazil because of differences in soil, climate, and regulations. In Brazil, there's no going back, and experts say their methods for harvesting raw cane are transferable. We've done it here in Brazil. We have done it, so I believe they can do it in Florida.