#PrayForAmazonia is one of the top trends on Twitter right now. The reason why it’s trending is because the Amazon forest has been on fire for the past 3 weeks and the Brazilian government is doing nothing about it.
This is Sao Paulo today, 4PM. The cloud from the burning of Amazon rainforest in Rondonia, covered the city. Sao Paulo is 3300km (2052 miles) distant from Boa Vista. Athens is closer to London than Sao Paulo is to Boa Vista. Just to give you an idea of the damage. pic.twitter.com/rVVBFFxPZS
— Beyond the Shadows (@BeyondDShadows) August 19, 2019
The smoke from the fires is so bad that pictures and videos of Sao Paulo being plunged into darkness have been circulating online. Residents have said that even storms don’t turn their skies that colour. Please take note that Sao Paulo is actually 3300KM away from the Amazon forest and an equivalent comparison will be smoke from China being blown to Malaysia. The smoke can even be seen from space!
Source: Twitter
Imagine how much smoke is being produced and how much of the forest is being destroyed this very second?
According to Inverse, these fires were reportedly created by farmers and loggers because they wanted to clear the Amazon for more land. The restriction on the Amazon was actually way stricter before but ever since the Bolsonaro government took over, they have been non-existent.
Data from the Brazilian Space Research Institute showed that around 870 square miles of the Amazon has been destroyed by human-made fires. Instead of acknowledging that, Brazilian Prime Minister Jair Bolsonaro dismissed it as lies and fired the person who made that statement.
Source: Daily Express
Now that we know about the cause of it all, we should definitely think about the effect that this will have on our environment.
The Amazon Rainforest creates 20% of the air we breathe, has 40% of the world’s tropical forests and holds 20% of the world’s freshwater supply.
Source: Reader’s Digest
According to National Geographic, 10% of the world’s species will lose their home, risking extinction. The water cycle will be affected on a regional level or maybe even a global level and there will less rainfall than before.
The Amazon also sucks up carbon from the atmosphere, so if 60% of it is deforested then that would unleash about 5-6 years of carbon emissions into our atmosphere. In turn, this will worsen climate change.
Source: Twitter
A group called Amazon Watch on Twitter has said that this is an international tragedy and that we can help by supporting the courageous resistance of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon and to make clear to the agribusinesses & financiers involved in the destruction that we won’t buy their products.
Guys, this is an international crisis, and we really need to spread this awareness so that they’ll be pressured to take action.
Also read: Study Predicts Tropical Cities, Including KL, Will Experience Extreme Weather & Drought by 2050
