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    Re: Average year for wildfires in the Amazon, so why the hysteria? Archived Message

    Posted by John Monro on August 25, 2019, 7:29 am, in reply to "Average year for wildfires in the Amazon, so why the hysteria?"

    I thought the article was a bit confusing and I'm not quite sure what message was trying to convey. Is this burning forest a worry or not? Is Bolsonaro a worry or not?

    Well, as to the latter, since Bolsonaro has been in office (and even before) he's made it pretty clear that the Amazon is open for business, (Mining, timber, farming) he's relaxed environmental safeguards and he's telling foreigners to mind their own business. Forest clearing has accelerated after some containment for a few years.

    As to these fires, they are a record number, and not in a drought year, which applied to 2016. It's probably too early to tell exactly how much area has been burned, so the article referred to here is being a bit premature to claim the area isn't as large.

    True, the Amazon probably provides less than 10% of the Earth's oxygen but what if it's capacity is reduced by half? Oxygen is a pretty important atmospheric constituent for us all.

    But just because some people get these figures a bit wrong, doesn't mean that what's happening in the Amazon isn't deeply concerning. The number of fires has increased a great deal in the last few years, and large tracts of the Amazon have been deforested and these shallow soils are being grazed. It's likely they'll severely degrade over relatively few years.

    So is it "hysteria" or is it a genuine concern? Bolsonaro is not a good custodian of his own country's environment, and when such a massive planetary resource is being destroyed, others have a right to call it for what it is. I don't think this article is particularly helpful.

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