The largest rainforest in the world, Amazon Rainforest, is combating climate change. On Monday afternoon, the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil suffered some strange and cosmic event. The winds carried the smoke from forest fires and burned nearly 1500 miles away. While the lives of people living in the Amazon rainforest revolves around forests, a new incident that burnt the forest has made their life more dangerous.
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has seen several numbers of fires. Thousands of trees are burning through the forest, making it the largest and the most shocking incident to happen in the last ten years.
Recently, Hollywood actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio shared a photo raising a question over the lack of media coverage about the fire at the forest in his post.
He wrote -
"Terrifying to think that the Amazon is the largest rain forest on the planet, creating 20% of the earth’s oxygen, basically the lungs of the world, has been on fire and burning for the last 16 days running, with literally NO media coverage whatsoever! Why?"
Brazil has suffered more than 72,000 fires this year. There was a great rise in deforestation during July, which became more intense after a burn-in August.
Researchers and environmental organizations are saying that wildfires in the rainforest were set up by loggers and cattle ranchers who wanted to utilize the land.
The Program Director of non-profit organization Amazon Watch, Christian Poirier, said-
“The vast majority of these are human-lit.”
He also said –
“Even during dry seasons, the Amazon—a humid rainforest—doesn’t catch on fire easily, unlike the dry bushland in California and Australia.”
It is recorded that this week the number of fires in Brazil are 80-85% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon region and creating a disaster for the environment.
You would be shocked to know that nearly 99% of the fires are caused by human actions. The burning may range from small-scale agricultural practice to deforestation for a modern agribusiness project.
Haley Brink, CNN meteorologist said the fires are “definitely human-induced.” He added-
"It's the best time to burn because the vegetation is dry. [Farmers] wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can graze. And that's what we're suspecting is going on down there."
Recently, a drone photo was released by the Corpo de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso that showed the intense fire at the location.
A researcher at INPE’s Earth System Science Centre said –
“Because the use of fire is a traditional part of tropical agriculture to clean agricultural land, grazing land, it is very difficult to stop it.”
Satellite images show fires in the Brazilian states of Rondonia, Mata Grosso, and Para. Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist, tweeted on the matter.
The rainforest generates over 20% of the world’s oxygen and 10% of the world’s known biodiversity. The world may change if the rainforest were to disappear, and it could impact everything from farms to drinking water.
The World Meteorological Organization said-
“Fires release pollutants including particulate matter & toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere."
The fire is still raging. Surprisingly, there were reports of rain and thunderstorms to happen on Thursday.
NASA is controlling and monitoring the fires. The Aqua satellite and Sentinel 3 have been sharing the images of smoke on social media. People from all over the world are putting their efforts to help the Amazon Rainforest.
Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, said that he had spoken to Bolsonaro and would send three brigades of specialists in forest fires who would help in controlling the tragedy in the Amazon rainforest.
Social media users from around the world are reacting to this news. #ActforTheAmazon, #PrayForTheAmazon, and other hashtags are trending on the internet. Just like the trash tag challenge went viral on the internet, these hashtags should be spread around the world to make the world a better place to live.
As the news of the fire spread, many people are demanding accountability from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. When he was running for president, he made a campaign and promised to restore the economy by exploring the Amazon’s economic potential. The environmental organizations said that he encouraged loggers to burn the rainforest like never before with a sense of impunity.
Several celebs shared old images of the forest and tweeted about the awareness of this incident.
You might not be the one residing in Brazil, but there are several ways in which you can protect the forest. Below are the ways you can follow to save the environment.
1. Donate to the Rainforest Trust to help them in buying land in the rainforest. Do you know since 1988, the organization has saved nearly 25million acres?
2. Stop the usage of paper and wood. Try to purchase rainforest-safe products from the alliance’s site.
3. Donate to Amazon Watch, which is an organization that saves the rainforest and works to address climate change.
4. Donate to the Amazon Conservation Team, which works to protect the Amazon and people living there.
5. Try not to consume beef products because most fast-food burgers come from the rainforest.
6. You can also donate to One Tree Planted that works to stop deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and around the world.
What do you think about who should be blamed for the Amazon rainforest fires? Humans or nature? Amazon rainforest and other forests that exist are equally important for the environment.
Is there anything that you can do to help the burning Amazon rainforest? It would be great if you have an idea to stop deforestation and burning forest. Drop your comments below, and we would spread the word about ways to help the Amazon rainforest.