Everything You Need to Know About the Amazon Fires

During mid-afternoon August 19th, residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil found themselves amid literal darkness. At 3 p.m. local time, cars, businesses and homes were forced to flick on their lights as day became night. The combination of wildfire smoke and dense rain clouds wrapped the city in a blanket of darkness. The cause behind this is the significant amount of smoke emanating from the burning Amazon rainforest.

I am sure we have all come across a wide variety of social media posts especially within the last week or so regarding the Amazon rainforest burning and the lack thereof media coverage. Since August 15th, more than 9500 new forest fires have started in the Amazon rainforest majority of which spans northwestern Brazil. The supposed “lungs of the planet” responsible for 20% of the Earth’s oxygen has witnessed an 83% increase in forest fires in comparison to 2018.

The primary culprit has been identified to be the increasing demand for beef exports of which Brazil holds a large market share. Cattle ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon have been rapidly expanding their herds and willing to clear-cut the forest and burn what’s left to make way for pastures. The pro-business agenda of recently elected president Jair Bolsonaro has resulted in the ignorance of environmental enforcement actions. In fact, the head of the federal agency who was tracking deforestation in Brazil was fired shortly after he had criticized Bolsonaro’s policies.

Categorizing the situation to be a global crisis, leaders from countries worldwide have pledged $20 million in foreign aid during the G7 summit held this past week in France towards extinguishing the flames. To their dismay, President Bolsonaro refused the aid unless French president Emannuel Macron withdrew his “insults” for him.  

Not realizing the severity of the issue at hand, the existence of the Amazon ecosystem has unfortunately become subject to personal ignorance and political motives. As for the rest of the world, the call to action doesn’t suggest to completely stop consuming beef, but to collectively work towards preserving the natural resources of our planet; the one place we all call home.

By: Fariha Farooq

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