The Amazon Is On Fire!

I told them to vacuum between the trees. Sad!

OMG, I hope they'll still be able to deliver the Hotpot I ordered yesterday!

I’m in New England, and I remember when we could smell the fires in Tennessee. This was in the late 80s, I think. That’s really far away.

I saw this in a few places the last few days and thought it was too awful to be true. We are so truly fucked.

A few thoughts.

a. the Amazon is huge. These numbers are bad, but they're chopping away at the edges at this point.

b. at this point about 20% of the Amazon has been lost to clear cutting and burning. Scientists believe if that number gets to 40% it will trigger a die-off of the entire rainforest. That's when the shit hits the fan.

c. up until 3 years ago Brazil had made good progress towards restoring/preserving parts of the rainforest.

d. Bolsonaro is getting a ton of heat over this nationally and internationally. Not like he listens to anybody, but they've impeached presidents for far, far less.

e. most Brazilians realize just how freaking important the Amazon is to the world.

If we're lucky, they'll be able to turf "President Chainsaw" (his words) before he can do irreversible damage if not...yes we're fucked.

Ah fuck it! Brazil is their own country. We Americans already plowed through our forests, who are we to tell them what to do with theirs? Maybe if we had our grasslands and indigenous forests the concern wouldn't be so hypocritical.

Oh is that a fact? It’s not like every fucking celebrity on earth has reposted memes about it on Instagram.

I’m sick to death of the social media posturing. The same people who are causing climate change are now lecturing us about it to show how woke they are.

The top 10% cause 49% of carbon emissions.

The Amazon Forest has been referred to as The Lungs Of The World - they've got to save it no matter what.

[quote]Ah fuck it! Brazil is their own country. We Americans already plowed through our forests, who are we to tell them what to do with theirs?

Because what happens in one part of the world can do damage to us?!?!?

Everyone is so caught up on States! Countries! Continents! But they always seem to forget that we all share one giant ass planet.

That's why I fear there's no way to stop drastic climate change: because people won't even stop thinking of themselves for one minute so I don't expect entire countries to do the same.

There's no stopping climate disaster R9. Do you live with your family still? That's a natural way to stop the progression of climate change. Gringos wanna explore and think there is a way to happiness with self- exploration. The Western way of living has been a total disaster for humanity.

These fires are started by people burning down the areas that they've clear cut in order to grow shit to sell to us. Consumerism will end our world.

[quote]Although fires are a regular and natural occurrence during the dry season at this time of year, environmentalists blamed the sharp rise on farmers setting the forest alight to clear land for pasture.

[quote]Farmers may have had at least tacit encouragement from the firebrand right-wing president, who took power in January. Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he believes Brazil should open the Amazon up to business interests, to allow mining, agricultural and logging companies to exploit its natural resources.

Shame Portugal did such a bad job with colonization. If the British had colonized, there'd be a South American Canada there, with a protected Amazon rainforest.

Instead we have a chaotic nightmare basket case.

83. Explains the narrow, short-term thinking, etc.

Selfishness, sociopathy, horror.

In some ways modern society is an evil thing.

5 things the media won't tell you about the Amazon fires

I've got to give kudos to Macron, Merkel and the Finish leadership at the EU for putting the pressure on Brazil to take action. It was only after Macron, especially, chastized Brazil's far-right climate-change-denying leadership of ineptitude and willful disregard for this crisis AND backed up that rhetoric with real threats to shut down a pending EU-South American trade deal, that Brazil finally agreed to take action and call in the army.

There are people who want to raise the temps on planet Earth. For instance Russia, where half their country is too chilly to plant anything. And the coveting of Greenland is no joke: it's rich in resources. They just have to get rid of that damned ice!

R13 you do realize how shortsighted and idiotic you sound? What natural forests does England have? What natural forests did y'all help rally around and save in America in the colonization time?

Good ol Jair. As long as your money’s in the right place, you’ll never have to worry. Of course, there will be more oxygen on the moon or Mars by the time your great-grand-kids go to college, but who cares. Why not make the whole world GREAT again?

I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation. Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?

Have an international boycott.

I've been hearing that a portion of the fires were in areas that had already been cleared, which if true is some small good news.

Bolsonaro is getting an insanely strong pushback on this, so I'm hoping his "fuck the Amazon!" policies are now effectively dead.

from NASA:

In the Amazon region, fires are rare for much of the year because wet weather prevents them from starting and spreading. However, in July and August, activity typically increases due to the arrival of the dry season. Many people use fire to maintain farmland and pastures or to clear land for other purposes. Typically, activity peaks in early September and mostly stops by November.

As of August 16, 2019, satellite observations indicated that total fire activity in the Amazon basin was slightly below average in comparison to the past 15 years

This article is a really helpful overview of the situation.

I spent a few weeks traveling in the Amazon some 25 years ago. Extraordinary place.

RIP to the forest, the animals, and the native tribes.

I hope this won’t interfere with their deliveries.