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Arts & Culture

FRONTLINE/World: The Carbon Hunters

Photo of rainforest in Brazil. FRONTLINE/World journeys to the remote rainforests of Brazil, where several American companies have been on the hunt for an increasingly valuable new commodity -- carbon. But investing in big tracts of forest in order to soak up the carbon they may have to account for in proposed energy legislation is not without its costs.
Nicolas Villaume
Photo of rainforest in Brazil. FRONTLINE/World journeys to the remote rainforests of Brazil, where several American companies have been on the hunt for an increasingly valuable new commodity -- carbon. But investing in big tracts of forest in order to soak up the carbon they may have to account for in proposed energy legislation is not without its costs.

Airs Friday, October 8, 2010 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV

Brazil: The Money Tree

In the new economy created by global warning, forests are turning into a valuable commodity. Promising not to cut them down is one of the popular ways companies would like to offset their emissions. Correspondent Mark Shapiro follows the trail of one of those offset projects deep into Brazil's Atlantic forest. Watch now

FRONTLINE/World journeys to the Amazon and the remote rainforests of Brazil, where several major American companies are on the hunt for ways to capture an increasingly valuable commodity -- carbon -- as Congress considers new legislation that would force them to pay for their pollution.

In a joint project with the Center for Investigative Reporting, reporter Mark Schapiro visits a number of demonstration projects that help explore the promise and potential pitfalls of this new trade in trees.

Also in this hour: On the two-year anniversary of the immigration raid at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa -- one of the largest workplace raids in history -- a look at the human impact of the crackdown on both sides of the border. And, in Uganda, a new approach to the threat of diseases that cross the species barrier.

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Explore this timeline to learn what is happening at the global, federal, and state levels to regulate carbon emissions.

Carbon Watch Winner Of People's Voice Webby Award