Amazon on fire, world losing its lungs

Summer 2020, a hot day is nothing compared to the forest fires blazing through the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. With over 73,000 fires, the world has nearly lost the lungs of the planet. President Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, denies the rise in fires.

The forest fires are caused by farmers, who want to make space for livestock and farming in general, despite consequences that affect the whole world. President Bolsonaro and his extremist environment minister don’t just pushed them to do so, they even supported and fueled them. All of this is happening because of policy choices made by the two leaders.

The Amazon rainforest is a tropical rainforest which is mostly located in Brazil, and covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.

According to the work of Rhett Ayers Butler, “A Place Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests - Their Wonders and the Perils They Face,” the basin is covered with 5,500,00km2 rainforest, a mass larger than India. It’s involved in regulating the world’s oxygen and carbon cycles and results in six percent of the world´s oxygen. The area is also the habitat to more than 30 million people and 10% of the world´s biodiversity.

Squirrel monkeys are considered to be the smartest monkeys and are, in fact, the most common monkey in the Amazon rainforest.

According to the INPE, the National Institute for Space Research, more than 1.5 football fields of rainforest are ruined every minute, daily. If the rainforest is destroyed, the rainfall around the forest region will de

crease, animals and humans will lose their habitats or homes, such as anacondas, the giant anteater, the green iguana and many even rare animals, according to the INPE.

The world’s oxygen could also be cut by 20 percent and 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity could sink – this means species would die completely, and the climate will continue to change, resulting in many other conflicts. In this sense, rainforests are an essential resource – essential for our existence.

Since May, the Brazilian army has been deployed in the Amazon to curb illegal deforestation and fires. President Bolsonaro imposed a four-month ban on forest fires, because he was forced to do so. Even tho he dismissed disclaimed the fires in the amazon and called their existence a lie in 2011.

Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist in INPE, told CNN that he believes that 99% of the current forest fires are caused by humans, either on purpose or by mischance.

How are the other countries reacting to that disaster?

The countries Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Suriname and Guyana signed a pact against the rainforest catastrophe. It accomplishes a disaster response network and satellite monitoring. They even agreed to support on reforestation.

According to Sara Rauscher, an assistant professor of geography at the university of Delware, forests normally regrow after deforestation in the Amazon.

But there must be a stop first. So, what can we individually do to stop the forest fires?

• Reduce our wood and paper consumption

• Reduce our oil consumption

• Reduce our beef consumption

• Support the grassroots movements and organizations to preserve and protect the Amazon

• Don´t throw lit cigarettes out of your moving car

• Don´t throw trash on the street, only in trashcans

• Get even more political

• Vote for climate-friendly politicians

• Inform yourself about the existential threat of climate change and deforestation

• Teach people about the importance of the rainforest and the consequences of current trends