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Can We Recreate the Amazon If It Burns?

August 23, 2019

The Amazon is an enormous rainforest in South America. It covers forty percent of the South American continent, and can be found in eight countries. If it were laid over a map of the 48 contiguous states of the United States, it would encompass nearly two-thirds of it. Because trees breathe in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, it is essential that we protect them, wherever they grow. In Brazil, where much of the Amazon is located, the president of that country has been encouraging farmers, ranchers, and loggers to exploit the riches that can be found there. That means clearing away the trees by incinerating them.

So hellbent are farmers on enlarging their holdings and growing more food, they organized a "fire day" last week. In order to accommodate them, President Bolsonaro of Brazil has weakened regulations intended to protect forests and indigenous lands. His failure to halt deforestation, in keeping with the Paris Climate Accords, has caused Germany and Norway to withhold tens of millions of dollars in aid. Environmental agencies in that country have lost $23 million from their budgets, a lot of money in Brazil. Is it any surprise that deforestation has increased by 80 percent since last year? Thus far, an incredible 74,155 fires have burned in the Amazon this year. This equates to 1,330 square miles of rainforest. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) started recording data regarding forest fires in 2013. They report that 870 square miles of forest disappeared during July of this year alone!

Around 30 million people live in the Amazon, of whom roughly 1 million are indigenous. It goes without saying, their livelihoods and even lives are threatened. Representatives of these indigenous peoples report that the fires are consuming crops and animals, while decimating river systems upon which residents rely. The fires release toxic gases as they burn, among them carbon monoxide, sending inhabitants of the forest to the hospital for help with respiratory issues. The Amazon provides the world's citizens with 20 percent of the oxygen we need in order to survive. "The Amazon is incredibly important for our future, for our ability to stave off the worst of climate change," said Christian Poirier, program director of the environmental organization Amazon Watch. "This isn't hyperbole. We're looking at untold destruction - not just of the Amazon but for our entire planet."



With thanks to Slate.com and CNN.com.

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