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What you can do to help the burning Amazon rainforest

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  tig  •  5 years ago  •  107 comments

What you can do to help the burning Amazon rainforest
Environmentalists say humans are the root cause of the Amazon fires — not wind or heat.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



Nearly   73,000 wildfires   have decimated the Amazon rainforest this year, a record amount for an ecosystem that produces   20% of Earth's oxygen . From celebrities and politicians throughout the world to locals, frustration and mourning continues to mount over the amount of man-made devastation in the Amazon.

Brazil's space research center INPE has reported a recent 84% increase in forest fires from the same period in 2018. NASA satellite images showed the smoke all the way from space. It traveled to nearby cities and those even thousands of miles away such as Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Environmentalists say humans are the   root cause   of the Amazon fires — not wind or heat. The surge has coincided with the arrival of right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who critics feel has emboldened farmers and ranchers to clear land to create pastures, therefore speeding up the rate of deforestation.

Despite no evidence, Bolsonaro blamed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for the fires again Thursday,   BBC News reported . He also said there aren't enough resources to fight the fires, but stated the government is investigating.

How to help the Amazon rainforest


The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world and vital to combating   climate change . In the aftermath of the wildfires, several organizations have stepped up to assist in aid or other ways to help save the Amazon. The following organizations have been rated 4 out of 5 stars by   Charity Navigator , a non-profit that evaluates financial health, transparency and accountability in charities.

  • Amazon Conservation Team   fights climate change, protect the Amazon and empower indigenous peoples. 
  • Amazon Conservation Association   accepts donations and lists exactly what your money goes toward –– whether it's planting trees, sponsoring education, buying a solar panel and preserving indigenous lands.
  • Donate to the  Rainforest Trust  to help buy land in the rainforest. The organization has saved over 23 million acres and counting since 1988.  
  • The   Rainforest Foundation   is committed to making sure donations made reaches projects such as supporting environmental defenders, indigenous advocacy organizations and deforestation monitoring. 

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TᵢG
Professor Principal
1  seeder  TᵢG    5 years ago
Nearly   73,000 wildfires   have decimated the Amazon rainforest this year, a record amount for an ecosystem that produces   20% of Earth's oxygen .

20% of the oxygen for the planet is produced by this ecosystem.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
1.1  JBB  replied to  TᵢG @1    5 years ago

20% of Earth's oxygen used to come from this ecosystem...

 
 
 
Larry Hampton
Professor Participates
1.1.2  Larry Hampton  replied to    5 years ago

The only solution is to rid the planet of humans and cows.

...or morons.

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
1.1.3  Raven Wing  replied to  Larry Hampton @1.1.2    5 years ago

jrSmiley_79_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
kpr37
Professor Silent
1.2  kpr37  replied to  TᵢG @1    5 years ago

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, oh my, cried chicken little. The claim that the Amazon rainforrest supplies 20% of the world oxygen is a lie also.

"Amazon rainforest is burning at an unprecedented rate," declares CNN. The Daily Beast gives us "Record Number of Wildfires Burning in Amazon Rainforest." Here's NBC News: " Amazon wildfires could be 'game over' for climate change fight ."

Interestingly, when NASA released the satellite image on August 21, it noted that "it is not unusual to see fires in Brazil at this time of year due to high temperatures and low humidity. Time will tell if this year is a record breaking or just within normal limits."

So why are there so many fires? "Natural fires in the Amazon are rare, and the majority of these fires were set by farmers preparing Amazon-adjacent farmland for next year's crops and pasture," soberly explains The New York Times . "Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rain forest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use."

It is routine for farmers and ranchers in tropical areas burn their fields to control pests and weeds and to encourage new growth in pastures.

 
 
 
kpr37
Professor Silent
1.2.1  kpr37  replied to  kpr37 @1.2    5 years ago

As Dr. Jonathan Foley explained in a lengthy Twitter thread, the Amazon represents at most approximately 6% of the world’s oxygen production, and it is “biologically and physically impossible for the Amazon to produce 20% of the world’s oxygen.” And in reality, even that 6% is likely an overestimation, given that oxygen production from plant growth is offset by the decomposition from plant death.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
1.2.2  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  kpr37 @1.2.1    5 years ago

Your link doesn't work. 

 
 
 
kpr37
Professor Silent
1.2.3  kpr37  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @1.2.2    5 years ago

Both links seemed to work when I clicked them?

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
1.2.4  Texan1211  replied to  kpr37 @1.2.3    5 years ago

They both worked just fine for me, too.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2  Kavika     5 years ago

You can thank ''Captain Chainsaw'' the president of Brazil for this unfolding disaster.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
2.1  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Kavika @2    5 years ago

NPR was just reporting those that are opposed to him might be deliberately starting the fires.  

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2.1.1  Kavika   replied to  Dean Moriarty @2.1    5 years ago

And ''Captain Chainsaw'' said that it looks like the fires are from illegal loggers and ranchers.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5  It Is ME    5 years ago

Just Re-Plant.

It's done everyday !

MY Prayers are with Brazil and it's Peoples. jrSmiley_99_smiley_image.jpg

 
 
 
Tessylo
Professor Principal
5.1  Tessylo  replied to  It Is ME @5    5 years ago

So it's as simplistic as re-planting

jrSmiley_78_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5.1.1  It Is ME  replied to  Tessylo @5.1    5 years ago
So it's as simplistic as re-planting

It's done all the time on this planet. jrSmiley_78_smiley_image.gif

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
5.1.2  Gordy327  replied to  It Is ME @5.1.1    5 years ago

That might work with regular woods and forests. Rainforests are a different matter. 

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
5.2  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  It Is ME @5    5 years ago

You can't replant wildlife. All those animals met a miserable death and all the fauna that was there is gone forever. And the real reason this is going on is because of poor farming practices. 

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5.2.1  It Is ME  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @5.2    5 years ago
You can't replant wildlife. All those animals met a miserable death

Wild life is better than Humans on how to survive !

You think "Wildlife" just sat there and let themselves burn to death ?

Suicide by fire ?

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
5.2.2  Gordy327  replied to  It Is ME @5.2.1    5 years ago

How long can you survive being homeless, with no source of sustinence? Animals face that problem when their ecosystem is wiped out. Whole species go extinct that way.

 
 
 
Gordy327
Professor Expert
5.3  Gordy327  replied to  It Is ME @5    5 years ago
Just Re-Plant.

Rainforests cannot be replanted. Neither can the plant, insect, or animal species native to rainforests and part of the whole ecosystem be replaced. 

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5.3.1  It Is ME  replied to  Gordy327 @5.3    5 years ago
Rainforests cannot be replanted.

Yes they can.

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
5.3.2  Paula Bartholomew  replied to  It Is ME @5.3.1    5 years ago

Only to a limited extent. Rain forests are climax forests of great age that are complex ecosystems of plants, animals, bacteria and fungi. Just planting a bunch of rain forest trees will not recreate the ecosystem. In the rain forest many of the plants depend on each other for their survival, many of them need specific fungi in their roots to grow, they need certain insects to pollinate them, etc. It is virtually impossible to recreate a rain forest unless you have thousands of years to do it.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5.3.3  It Is ME  replied to  Paula Bartholomew @5.3.2    5 years ago
Only to a limited extent. Rain forests are climax forests of great age that are complex ecosystems of plants, animals, bacteria and fungi.

It only takes Time …. 

We should have been Dying or Dead in 2012 according to ?

But.....We are still here non-the-less !

This is one thing you can actually say, and it would be true ….."This issue is man made" !

Man can "Rebuild" as always !

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
5.3.4  Raven Wing  replied to  It Is ME @5.3.1    5 years ago

Maybe in your world. But, not in the real world. The rainforest is the only place where many species exist, and once they are gone they can not be replaced. Ever. As those species will no longer exist anywhere on the planet to be replaced. 

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
5.3.5  Paula Bartholomew  replied to  It Is ME @5.3.3    5 years ago

Never mind.  Facts are lost with you.

 
 
 
It Is ME
Masters Guide
5.3.7  It Is ME  replied to  Raven Wing @5.3.4    5 years ago

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6  Nerm_L    5 years ago

So, what are we supposed to do?  Piss in the wind and hope for rain?

Environmentalists killed the ability of the United States to supply its own needs.  NIMBY environmentalists wanted poor countries to wreck their environments so Americans can buy cheap imports and boast about clean air and water.  Just look at how environmentally responsible is the United States!!!  We don't pollute, we import.  And then we ship our trash to poor countries so they have jobs; shitty jobs for sure but nonetheless our benevolence has improved the economic prospects of those poor, poor people.

Brazilian rain forests are being burned so people can get a piece of the free trade pie created by environmentalism.  Why pollute our own country when we can pay poor countries to pollute their's? 

NIMBY environmentalism isn't sustainable.  The burning Brazilian rain forests are proof of that.

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
6.1  Freefaller  replied to  Nerm_L @6    5 years ago
NIMBY environmentalists wanted poor countries to wreck their environments so Americans can buy cheap imports

Yep it's all on the environmentalists and had nothing to do with consumers wanting cheaper products or corporations wanting greater profits.

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.2  Nerm_L  replied to  Freefaller @6.1    5 years ago
Yep it's all on the environmentalists and had nothing to do with consumers wanting cheaper products or corporations wanting greater profits.

When did the Environmental Protection Agency begin regulating consumers?  Environmentalists have placed the onus on domestic manufacturers, not on consumers.  Consumers are still allowed to buy whatever is imported.  And EPA turns a blind eye toward exported trash.

Yes, NIMBY environmentalists share a large responsibility for the Brazilian forest fires.  Instead of demanding sustainable environmental management, the arm chair environmentalists have been demanding Not In My Back Yard.

 
 
 
Freefaller
Professor Quiet
6.1.3  Freefaller  replied to  Nerm_L @6.1.2    5 years ago
When did the Environmental Protection Agency begin regulating consumers?

I have no idea where that question came from, but also don't care so I won't delve further into it

Environmentalists have placed the onus on domestic manufacturers, not on consumers.  Consumers are still allowed to buy whatever is imported.  And EPA turns a blind eye toward exported trash.

No shit

environmentalists share a large responsibility for the Brazilian forest fires.

We don't disagree that environmentalism is a part of the problem I just think consumers and corporations (and probably a bunch of other factors) all combined to create this any many other issues

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.4  Nerm_L  replied to    5 years ago
In some cases people are just trying to survive and don’t need environmentalist to tell them what is best for them.

Monoculture farming isn't a means of subsistence.  And it isn't sustainable.  

The Indonesian and Malaysian rain forests were decimated to establish palm oil plantations for the export markets.  That's what's happening to South American rain forests, too.  It isn't about survival, it's about money.

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.5  Nerm_L  replied to  Freefaller @6.1.3    5 years ago
We don't disagree that environmentalism is a part of the problem I just think consumers and corporations (and probably a bunch of other factors) all combined to create this any many other issues

Environmentalists actually believe that southeast Asian countries or eastern European countries or South American countries are capable of producing these consumer goods with less environmental impact than can be done in the United States?

The problem is that environmentalists focused attention on clean air and water in their own backyards without considering the sustainability of consumer products.  Environmentalists demanded closing domestic lands and protecting domestic resources while turning a blind eye to open borders.  Public funds have been funneled into feel good science rather than developing sustainable consumer products.

Consumers are going to consume; that only states the obvious.  But consumers don't know how products are produced.  Consumers buy whatever is available without considering the sustainability of what they buy.  Sustainable products require investment in applied science and engineering to develop products that are sustainable.  And once that initial investment has been recovered, then sustainable products doesn't have to cost more.

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
6.1.7  Paula Bartholomew  replied to    5 years ago

Have you?

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.9  Nerm_L  replied to    5 years ago
You only seem to to know part of the story not surprising have you ever been to Brazil?   

I haven't been to Brazil.  I have no reason to go.  And I can't justify the carbon emissions for personal aggrandizement.

I don't need to travel to Brazil to understand that the country is increasingly dependent on agribusiness and monoculture farming to sustain economic growth.  

As Brazilian agribusiness booms, family farms feed the nation

Global trade works the same everywhere and respects no national borders.  Monoculture agribusiness will force people to migrate to cities because subsistence farming can't provide a sustainable lifestyle.  Brazil is traveling down the same path as the United States.  And the same thing is happening in other South American countries.

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.11  Nerm_L  replied to    5 years ago
I would say meet these poor people before you judge them.

I'm not judging Brazilians.  I'm judging Americans who believed they are divinely ordained to speak for others while those very same self righteous Americans contribute to the problems they are outraged about.  

I've met poor people.  I don't need to travel halfway around the world to find them.  They live among us.  

So, I'm judged because I haven't burned tons of diesel fuel and warmed the planet to earn world traveler cred?  How very narrow minded of me.  

 
 
 
Nerm_L
Professor Expert
6.1.13  Nerm_L  replied to    5 years ago
Okay I under your point now it is basically the same as mine maybe all the self righteous types can pull their money and help these people instead of telling them how to live.The poor in this country have zero compared to Indonesia or Brazil Peru and so on I do judge people so your dig at me falls flat.

But Americans do pool their money.  The United States is sending $2.5 trillion to other countries every year.  The people of Brazil only need to clear the forests and pollute their land, water, and air to obtain a share.  Sending dollars to Brazil only requires shopping at Walmart or on Amazon or at the local bistro.

The United States spending on imports is about twice the Federal discretionary budget.  Americans are spending more to encourage other countries wrecking their environments than is being spent to protect our own environment.  In fact, Americans are sending their trash to other countries and deliberately wrecking the environments of other countries to protect their own backyards.

Environmentalists have forced Brazilians into the position of burning their own forests to obtain a share of pooled American dollars.  The United States can no longer produce what it consumes; we must protect our environment.  So, Americans depend upon other countries producing for them without concern over those other country's environments.  The problems aren't in Americans' back yards so they aren't really problems.

 
 
 
MrFrost
Professor Expert
7  MrFrost    5 years ago
Environmentalists say humans are the root cause of the Amazon fires — not wind or heat.

So, this is literally proof of man made global warming. 

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
8  charger 383    5 years ago

Overpopulation is the real problem

 
 
 
bbl-1
Professor Quiet
9  bbl-1    5 years ago

The Rainforest is being 'cleared' because of the great potential of Brazilian Soybean trade with China.  Mr. Trump has no comprehension of what he is doing with 'his personal trade war' and in a way is also responsible for this.

Also.  Once these American markets are lost it will be difficult to attain them again.  And this falls directly on the American Agriculture community which lacked the understanding of what Donald Trump was and is.  Their support for him was a grave error on their part.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
10  Kavika     5 years ago

Deforestation in the Amazon rain forest has been going on for a while. Illegal logging and gold mining are the two main culprits. A number of indigenous people have been murdered by the illegal logging and gold mining scum. 

The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro has opened up the protected areas and the indigenous lands of the Amazon to logging and now you're seeing the result.  

The indigenous people of the Amazon are now taking up weapons to defend their lands from this invasion. 

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
10.1  Raven Wing  replied to  Kavika @10    5 years ago
The President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro has opened up the protected areas and the indigenous lands of the Amazon to logging and now you're seeing the result.

True, and there is no doubt that Bolsonaro is getting a heft kickback for doing so. After all, he does not live in the rainforest, nor does his life or that of his family depend on it. Now, anyway. But, tomorrow is another day, and what he may gain with his greed will not serve him well, or his descendants who will come after him. But, what the heck....they can take all their money with them when they walk on. Right?  ?? 

But, like many others, they are the only ones who matter, and those who are left after they walk on can kick rocks for all they care. I am sure their deity will be very happy about how much they appreciated their gift of life from Him.  /s

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
11  Greg Jones    5 years ago

Not our country.

Not our forests.

Not our problem....or business.

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
11.1  Raven Wing  replied to  Greg Jones @11    5 years ago
Not our problem....or business.

That kind of thinking will bring earth's destruction even sooner. 

But, hey....I can see your point....you won't be alive when that happens, and maybe none of your descendants will be either. So who cares if the world ceases to exist. Right?

 
 
 
Raven Wing
Professor Guide
11.1.2  Raven Wing  replied to  Have Opinion Will Travel @11.1.1    5 years ago
That's so silly.  The world will be just fine without us.

The only one silly here is YOU. But, if that is your world view....enjoy.

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
11.1.4  seeder  TᵢG  replied to  Have Opinion Will Travel @11.1.3    5 years ago
It was around for billions of years before us and probably will be after us.

You have stated a correct, specific fact!   Your prediction seems likely too.

Of course the concern in this seed is not that the planet will be destroyed but rather that our environment will degrade.   The concern in this seed is for life on the planet, not the planet itself.

 
 
 
TᵢG
Professor Principal
11.1.6  seeder  TᵢG  replied to  Have Opinion Will Travel @11.1.5    5 years ago

So you agree that you missed the point of the seed.

 
 

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