Silvio Donizetti Palvequeres, president of the farm workers’ union in Ribeirão Preto, told the New York Times in April that Brazil’s ethanol boom has only increased the burden placed on sugarcane farmhands.  “You used to have to cut 4 tons a day, but now they want 8 or 10, and if you can't make the quota, you'll be fired," he said. "We have to work a lot harder than we did 10 years ago, and the working conditions continue to be tough."  Through rose colored lenses, Brazil’s experiment with alternative fuels like ethanol may seem like the perfect green fix to this country’s development challenges.  But ethanol has many potential pitfalls, which, if left unaddressed, threaten to overshadow its economic and environmental contributions in the region.