The Amazon rainforest is burning

[Eric J (Viking)]

Bit dramatic...copied.

BREAKING: AMAZON FIRE THREATENS EVERY LIFE ON THE PLANET WITH ASPHYXIATION

https://www.disclose.tv/the-amazon-is-deliberately-being-set-on-fire-says-indigenous-woman-374321

Not sure how serious this is but not making mainstream as yet.

Viking

[Bill Ryan]

Bit dramatic...copied.

BREAKING: AMAZON FIRE THREATENS EVERY LIFE ON THE PLANET WITH ASPHYXIATION

https://www.disclose.tv/the-amazon-is-deliberately-being-set-on-fire-says-indigenous-woman-374321

Not sure how serious this is but not making mainstream as yet.

Viking

From https://bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49443389 (23 August)

Amazon fires: Merkel and Macron urge G7 to debate 'emergency'

The French and German leaders say the record number of fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest is an international crisis which must be discussed at this weekend's G7 summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the "acute emergency" belonged on the agenda, agreeing with French President Emmanuel Macron's earlier rallying cry.

"Our house is burning," he tweeted.

Environmental groups say the fires are linked to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's policies, which he denies.

Mr Bolsonaro has also accused Mr Macron of meddling for "political gain". He said calls to discuss the fires at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, which Brazil is not participating in, evoke "a misplaced colonialist mindset".

The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.

It is also home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people.


In graphics: How bad are the Amazon fires? (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49433767)
'Football pitch' of Amazon forest lost every minute (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48827490)

Satellite data published by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) has shown an increase of 85% this year in fires across Brazil (http://queimadas.dgi.inpe.br/queimadas/portal/situacao-atual), most of them in the Amazon region.

Conservationists say Mr Bolsonaro has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land.

Mr Bolsonaro has suggested that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) started the fires, but admitted he had no evidence for this claim. In comments on Thursday, he acknowledged that farmers might be involved in setting fires in the region, according to Reuters news agency.

Environmental groups have called for protests in cities across Brazil on Friday to demand action to combat the fires.

What have the leaders said?

Mr Macron, who will host the G7 summit of leading industrial nations at the weekend, warned that the health of the Amazon was a matter of international concern.

"Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon - the lungs which produce 20% of our planet's oxygen - is on fire," Mr Macron tweeted (https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1164617008962527232), using the hashtag #ActForTheAmazon.

"It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 summit, let's discuss this emergency."

Mr Bolsonaro responded by accusing the French president of using a Brazilian domestic issue for "personal political gain".

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/11947/production/_108470027_055970648.jpg
Smoke from fires burning in the Amazon can be seen from space

"The French president's suggestion that Amazonian issues be discussed at the G7 without the participation of the countries of the region evokes a misplaced colonialist mindset, which does not belong in the 21st Century," he wrote on social media.


Brazil wildfires prompt 'prayers' for the Amazon rainforest (https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-49406519)
Is the honeymoon period over for Brazil's Bolsonaro? (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47865386)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also said he is "deeply concerned" about the fires in the Amazon.

"In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon must be protected," he tweeted.

A new level of dismissal
Analysis by Daniel Gallas, BBC News, Sao Paulo

Brazilian presidents shrugging off international concern about the Amazon is nothing new.

Others before Mr Bolsonaro have dismissed international NGOs and European leaders as foreign meddlers into national affairs.

But Mr Bolsonaro has taken this to a new level by suggesting NGOs may be responsible for encouraging wildfires to sabotage him.

His words may shock some international audiences, but they ring true to his supporters at home, where he remains a popular leader.

Surprisingly the one reproving voice that could influence this debate is that of Brazilian farmers.

One would think that they would support policies to promote more farming in the Amazon. But some agricultural leaders fear Mr Bolsonaro's poor handling of Brazil's image abroad could hurt exports of soybeans and beef.

Some farmers have already urged a change of tone from the government. These are voices the president may be open to hearing.

How has Bolsonaro reacted to the fires?

Mr Bolsonaro has said that the country is not equipped to fight the fires. "The Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area?" he asked reporters as he left the presidential residence on Thursday. "We do not have the resources for that."

The Amazon rainforest covers an estimated 5.5m sq km (2,100,000 sq miles), about half the size of Europe.

During his campaign, Mr Bolsonaro pledged to limit fines for damaging the rainforest and to weaken the influence of the environmental agency.

He also suggested that Brazil could pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, saying its requirements compromise Brazil's sovereignty over the Amazon region.

Recently he has suggested that NGOs may have started fires as revenge for his government slashing their funding.

Asked on Thursday who was responsible, he said: "The Indians, do you want me to blame the Indians? Do you want me to blame the Martians?... Everyone is a suspect, but the biggest suspects are NGOs."

When asked if there was any proof of this, he replied: "Did I accuse NGOs directly? I just said I suspect them."

Mr Bolsonaro has further angered those concerned over the spike in fires by brushing off the latest data.

He argued that it was the season of the "queimada", when farmers burn land to clear it before planting. However, Inpe has noted that the number of fires is not in line with those normally reported during the dry season.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/17030/production/_108465249_brazil_active_fires_map_976-nc.png

It is not the first time that Mr Bolsonaro has cast doubt on figures suggesting that the Amazon is deteriorating rapidly.

Last month, he accused Inpe's director of lying about the scale of deforestation (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49052360) there. It came after Inpe published data showing an 88% increase in deforestation in the Amazon in June compared with the same month a year ago.

The director of the agency later announced that he was being sacked amid the row (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49212115).

Why is he being criticised?

Climate activists and conservationists have been scathing about the Bolsonaro government and its policies, which favour development over conservation.

They say that since President Bolsonaro took office, the Amazon rainforest has suffered losses at an accelerated rate.

Their anger was further fuelled by satellite data showing a steep rise in fires in the Amazon region this year.

Environmental group Greenpeace said Mr Bolsonaro's encouragement to farmers to clear swathes of rainforest led to two days of deliberate blazes nearly two weeks ago which are now out of control.

Forest campaigner Juman Kubba told the BBC that world powers had to stop trade deals involving countries in the Amazon region until the rainforest was protected.

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/9EDE/production/_108407604_brazil_annual_fires-nc.png


The figures and satellite images showing most of the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil, covered by smoke have shocked many Brazilians and triggered a global Twitter trend under the hashtag #prayforamazonia (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-49406519).

US space agency Nasa, meanwhile, has said that overall fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145464/fires-in-brazil) compared to the past 15 years.

What causes the fires?

Wildfires often occur in the dry season in Brazil but they are also deliberately started in efforts to illegally deforest land for cattle ranching.

"The dry season creates the favourable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident," Inpe researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters news agency.

Ricardo Mello, head of the WWF Amazon Programme, said the fires were "a consequence of the increase in deforestation seen in recent figures".

[Wind]

You may join our global meditation (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?101306-Sunday-Weekly-Global-Meditation&p=1311636&viewfull=1#post1311636) tomorrow and help with this problem.

[Matt P]

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/23/amazon-fire-history-since-2003/

“We are told that Amazon fires are at record levels right now. This is a blatant lie. The only “record” is that Amazonian fires have DECREASED over the “record”.”

Just for perspective....

[Isserley]

llegal logging operations in Brazil have also been known to start fires as a tactic to drive indigenous people off their land and to cover their tracks. The Amazon rainforest has experienced a record number of fires this year, with 72,843 reported so far. It’s an 84 percent increase over the number of wildfires at the same time last year.https://www.vox.com/world/2019/8/20/20813786/wildfire-amazon-rainforest-brazil-siberia

[RogeRio]

well, I can't shy away from participating in this discussion.

Firstly, it's important to know that "Pr Jair Bolsonaro" is Honest, and the subversive activism by NGOs, it's a fact knowed here by Left Rigging, supported by Geoge Soros, Rockfellers and their mobs. In previous Leftist governments, this NGOs was also financed by brazilian public funds, that the Bolsonaro government simply passed the scissors, as promised to do during the presidential campaign.

The real international question about protecting the forest has nothing to do with the green forest, but with the minerals that are under the Amazon rainforest. So, protecting the forest It is an excuse to preserve rich nature reserves, which Brazil will not be able to use until Globalism has taken over the country. This is the Agenda plan.

Anyone who has really studied the subject for the past 20-30 years has no doubt that the first thing globalists will do is remove the forest to gain access to the mineral riches below.

This "Global" political attack to the Bolsonaro Government, has a very clear objective in forcing the president to use the Army to combat deforestation.

The Brazil Army in numbers is less than Colombia, has less than half of fighter aircraft and armored tanks than Venezuela, or in other words, they are testing the country's ability to articulate itself and to defend itself.

I remember here that the Bolsonaro government wanted to leave the Paris Treaty, but turned back in a gesture of approach to Merkel and Macron, whom are now trying again to say what Brazil should do, with fully support from the media (MSM) and the large global corporations.

The Bolsonaro Government is notoriously "Politically InCorrect" and so, does not fit well with the internal rigging that still exists in Congress and the Judiciary financed by globalism. But have support from the majority of the population and especially from the poor Armed Forces, which have been weakened since the Fabianist Fernando Henrique Cardoso. After more than twenty years of scrapping and losing Army Power and influence, Bolsonaro will have to solve the Brazil problems with the little is left of logistical resources to combat the deforestation.

Donald Trump and Israeli (zionist) groups already offered help to Bolsonaro. So, nothing new in the Front !

one of the political ideas that the this government defends is as follows:

We want them to buy from Brazil and not buy the Brazil.

Now, close look what Macron tweeted -- "Our house is burning"
of course, Merkel agree with French President, "naturalement, n'est pas ?"

Bolsonaro is not the best president Brazil has ever had, but it was the only one who in the last elections honestly pledged to fight everything that does not matter to Brazil major interests, especially the subversive spread of socialism in South America.

Merkel and Macron political notices doesn't matter, but even so, something will be done because the government has already mobilized all ministries in this regard, and gave publicly express orders for the military to engage in this matter directly.

we'll see ...

note - Of course forests oxygenation helps a lot, but much of the gas is consumed there, breathing, and decomposing animals and plants. The forest is there because the region concentrates rainfall. If you clear the forest, the rain will not change and the forest probably will recover itself in 10 or 20 years.

[prc]

I would like to comment on some issues. Mr. Macron is worried because if the Mercosul-EU commercial treaty is aproved he will not only have yellow vests to worriy about but he will have all the French Farmers protesting because since Brazil is the Farmer of the World, we are capable to produce 5 times more the quantity of the food that is consumed in our domestic markets here.
If a forest in Portugal catches fire, I don´t see European countries boycotting Portuguese Products because of that. They probably understand that months without rain can cause the plants to become so dry that fire spontaneusly happens. If Europeans and NOrth Americans want to help I would advise to boycott our agriculture products not because Amazon Jungle is on fire but because our President Bolsonaro has simply fast tracked aproval of 150 pesticides for farmers to spray our plantations and this food is being exported to your tables as well. Unfortunatelly eventhough we have protested against this pesticides it seems that BIG FARMA managed to buy our Members of Parliament.
Another thing to add is that we had recently a private company polutting with iron ore trash from mining activity an entire hydrographic basin in SouthEast of Brazil, there were no protest from Europeans and North American alike?? WHY is that?
Actually you are no interested in Environmental disaters, you are concerned about the Gold, silver, manganese, niobium and all the oil and other precious metal from Amazon. Thats what rich countries are concerned about oherwise you would be screeeming about our hydrographic basin that was destroyed not long ago by a Company that has the major capital bought by Mr. George Soros.

[prc]

No need to mention that these 150 pesticides that were added to the collection of more than 400 pesticides aproved in Brazil causes cancer.

[Melinda]

I drafted a post four A4 pages long for this, before rogparan posted. Then decided to keep it briefer.

rogparan makes (or leads into) some valid points that I'd drafted to post before, about the untrustworthy corporate media, big industry, the confusion created by 'controlled opposition' in the climate debate (among other debates), and the hypocrisy / deceitfulness of government leaders criticising Bolsonaro.

I don't know who started the fires. Could be corrupt NGOs or another doing some globalist bidding. Could be farmers, or big oil, or other industries wanting to send a message to indigenous locals and their helpers that no amount of fighting legally in the courts to protect their land will stop fire from spreading 'by accident.'

Etc.

But I'm not convinced by this claim :


The forest is there because the region concentrates rainfall. If you clear the forest, the rain will not change and the forest probably will recover itself in 10 or 20 years.

You cannot repair all damage caused or replace entire forest ecosystems, deeply ancient or otherwise, by simply replanting. It could take hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, to even try and recreate in some cases. But much will have been lost without hope of return.

There are thousands of species in old forests, both plant and animal life. And many are not even identified, so how can we claim to measure all populations? I also don't trust that any scientist could possibly tell us exactly what effect it will have on the global climate down to the last detail, but I believe that scientists, and local people who simply know the lands, are right when they tell us that deforestation affects the weather and the health of the ecosystems. As just one example, we know forests can prevent flooding and degradation of land. And some individuals who reforest areas can tell you how the weather changes once a forest matures.

Shamans and the psychically sensitive naturally go deeper. They know many of the trees are ancient sentient beings. But how many of us care about that? Just one more genocide to add to the history of human actions. No amount of technology can ever replace the ecosystems we are 'hardwired' by our nature to exist in.

Animal agriculture is reportedly the cause of the vast majority of deforestation, and the demand for soy products is apparently an increasing issue. Mining for oil and materials needed in smartphones, computers etc is also a cause of degrading the environment in many countries. Even food and wood product companies who tell you they farm / buy from sustainable sources are probably, some of the time, lying or deceived.

Meanwhile, the technologies that would make destroying the environment (for economic gain) obsolete, are kept under wraps. And many humans seem more excited about gadgets getting smarter than people getting wise.

As best as I can tell, we need a clean energy culture, beyond the hardware-heavy tech of existing solar, wind or tidal (etc), that can underpin increased individual independence and benign creativity / recycling, etc. Not more tax, austerity and control measures from corporatocracies, or hidden governing hands, that will diminish our freedom or quality of life in the name of protecting the environment. (If they cared about that they would have made changes to our energy culture eons ago, from foods to fuels.) But how we can get to a clean energy culture when many are too mired in slavery to raise their level of thinking, and feeling, I won't claim to know.

There is so much I want to say around this topic. But I'm going to zip it.

I may go to a local street festival tomorrow to rejuvenate. Each year I go, just to dance and to meditate amidst the chaos. It's just hard to feel like dancing when you're told the forests are burning. I may go meditate with the earth instead.

Meanwhile, here's this. Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words :

https://i.imgur.com/XUfmBYc.jpg

[Yetti]

You right PRC, and also the fires didn't rise as much coverage than the cathedral in Paris burnong, must be a dark agenda behind all this, Is my personal opinion, , specially I just finish watching Spectre The 007 movie, and is SOO DARN ALIKE what happens in the movie contrasted with our reality, I seriously doubt is mere coincidence.

[prc]

Since this thread is concerned about Amazon, I will offer some more information about currentl affairs regarding Amazon Jungle. Recently (one week ago) Norway and Germany decided to stop sending money to Amazon Fund, a Fund created to monitore and prevent deforestation because they did not agree how our newly elected President Bolsonaro wants to spend the money. But the same Norway that sends money to protect Amazon, holds 30% of shares on a mining company located in Amazon region that was forbidden to operate by Brazilian Authorities because it has contaminated with lead some rivers in the Amazon Basin. Germany sends money to protect Amazon but polutes our river in the city of Guaratingueta city with a BASF Factory there.
check out the links with articles on this subject:
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-43162472
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-40423002
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundo_Amaz%C3%B4nia

[prc]

Now I would like to correct some facts about fake news regarding the fires in Amazon region, Holywood celebrity Leonardo diCaprio posted a photo from amazon on fire that was taken before 2003, year that the photographer that took the photo died. Mr. Macron and Gisele Bunchen decided to use the same picture. Cristiano Ronaldo posted a picture of alleged Amazon Jungle on fire in his tweet account but that picture belongs to the TAIM ECOLOGICAL RESERVE located in the Rio Grande do SUl South STate of Brazil. Be aware of the fake photos from celebrities.
https://g1.globo.com/fato-ou-fake/noticia/2019/08/22/veja-o-que-e-fato-ou-fake-sobre-as-queimadas-na-amazonia.ghtml

[amor]

Although I only speak English, many of the words in the above posts of Brazil's language are close enough to Spanish and English that I can get the idea of Billionaire owned Corporations who are mining in the Amazon, polluting the earth, rivers, etc., there and twisting the arm of the Brazilian government to have their way.

The other item is that when you destroy a rainforest as large as the Amazon, the amount of moisture and other gasses rising in the atmosphere are no longer there. This release of moisture is returned as RAIN! No forest, no rain. No forest, less to no oxygen. There are valuable, unique plants put there to heal us and the rest of the animal kingdom. Also, Earth's creations are not by accident. I believe they are like an equation, and if you delete parts of it, balance will disappear. Eventually, you will have a biological stocking with a run in it which will keep going until everything is unable to survive without the missing parts. No amount of industrial creations are of any worth to a dead human and animal system. If the greedy dogs want more minerals, let them go into space and mine the asteroids. Also, plans should be devised to recapture the natural resources of manufactured products for reuse.

As to raising cattle at the expense of Earth's biological balance, we have the brains to grow cellular protein and make it edible. Is meat necessary for us to live and thrive, really? There are huge plains in the US and Argentina if grazing is required.

I have another thought that these Corporations may be using the same satellite system of lighting fires from the sky as has been used in California. In this way, they plan to FORCE Brazil to allow their mining.

[Fellow Aspirant]

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/23/amazon-fire-history-since-2003/

“We are told that Amazon fires are at record levels right now. This is a blatant lie. The only “record” is that Amazonian fires have DECREASED over the “record”.”

Just for perspective....

Not so, say scientists who have been monitoring the condition of the rain forest for many years. The rate of devastation is unprecedented:

The Amazon Is Burning at a Record Rate, And The Devastation Can Be Seen From Space
AYLIN WOODWARD, BUSINESS INSIDER
22 AUG 2019

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-amazon-is-burning-at-a-record-rate-and-parts-were-intentionally-set-alight

The "lungs of the planet" are burning.

As thousands of fiery infernos rage across the Amazon rainforest, tropical vegetation, trees, and the fauna they house are being razed. Since August 15, more than 9,500 new forest fires have started across Brazil, primarily in the Amazon basin.

This year so far, scientists have recorded more than 74,000 fires in Brazil. That's nearly double 2018's total of about 40,000 fires. The surge marks an 83 percent increase in wildfires over the same period of 2018, Brazil's National Institute for Space Research reported. The largest state in Brazil, Amazonas, declared a state of emergency on Monday.

Already, 2019 has the highest number of fires observed in a single year since researchers began keeping track in 2013 – and there are still four months to go.

'The sky randomly turned dark'

As the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon plays a crucial role in keeping our planet's carbon-dioxide levels in check. Plants and trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the air in their process of photosynthesis.

This is why the Amazon, which covers 2.1 million square miles, is often referred to as the "lungs of the planet": The forest produces 20 percent of the oxygen in our planet's atmosphere.

Typically, the Amazonian dry season runs from July to October, peaking in late September. Wetter weather during the rest of the year minimizes the risk of fires at other times.

But during the dry season, blazes can spark from natural sources, like lightning strikes. Farmers and loggers also purposefully set fire to the rainforest to clear swaths of the Amazon for industrial or agricultural use.

The fires raging in the Amazon now have widespread effects on the rest of Brazil. The smoke plumes from the blazes spread from the state of Amazonas to the nearby states of Pará and Mato Grosso, and even blotted out the sun in São Paulo – a city more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away.

'Setting the Amazon aflame'

This week of fires comes on the heels of another worrisome milestone for the world's largest rainforest. The month of July set a new record for the most deforestation ever in the Amazon in a single month, The Guardian reported.

The Amazon shrunk by 519 square miles (1,345 square kilometers). That's more than twice the area of Tokyo.

Data from Brazilian satellites indicated that about three football fields' worth of Amazonian trees fell every minute last month. The total deforested area in July was up 39 percent from the same month last year.

The deforestation is directly linked to fires in the Amazon, since farmers sometimes set the forest ablaze to make room for livestock pastures and crop fields. These purposeful burns can then get out of control.

Brazil controls a lion's share of the Amazon. However, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has indicated that protecting the rainforest is not one of his top priorities. Bolsonaro supports development projects like a highway and hydroelectric dam in the Amazon.

His administration has also cut down on the seizing of illegally harvested timber. In 2018 (under the previous administration), 883,000 cubic feet of illegal timber was seized. As of May 15, Bolsonaro's government agencies had seized only 1,410 cubic feet, Pacific Standard reported.

What's more, between January and May, Bolsonaro's government lowered the number of fines it levied for illegal deforestation and mining (down 34 percent from the same period in 2018) and decreased its monitoring of illegal activity in the rainforest.

On Tuesday, when Reuters reporters asked Bolsonaro about the record rate of uncontrolled fires in Brazil, he pointed to the fact that it's a time of year when farmers purposefully use fire to clear land – a seasonal cycle called "queimada."


So, you can call the scientific surveys and experts liars if you want, but I believe the facts produced by those who have no financial stake in this situation - not the settlers and big business interests that support Bolsonaro. And for Bolsonaro to claim that NGOs are the cause of it is typical of the 'gaslighting' that the alt right uses to turn arguments inside out. It's the worst kind of lie.

When he points out that this is the regular fire season in his country, he is using the same kind of "it's just normal patterns that have always existed" argument; he is utilizing the same kind of reasoning used by climate change deniers who claim that the heating of the planet is just one of the historical swings that have existed since the earth cooled enough to have oceans. And he's just as wrong.

Bolsonaro promised, during his campaign, to open up the Amazon forest to Brazilian citizens (native tribes do not count in his estimation). Upon his election, he quickly set about easing regulations prohibiting illegal cutting of forests. Not fast enough for some, other farmers and ranchers began setting fires to more quickly remove troublesome forests for their crops and cattle. Native tribes, who had long resisted encroachment and the destruction of their homes, have been overpowered by the sudden and deadly assault -they are powerless to stop it. This is about greed and runaway capitalism and 'civilized' people who have no respect for aboriginals or nature. They have elected a leader who has sanctioned what is now a threat to the quality of life on the entire planet - they constitute crimes against nature.

B.

[Hervé]

From Jim Stone:
FIRES IN BRAZIL ARE NORMAL THIS YEAR (http://82.221.129.208/.wd1.html)

Earlier I posted that the fires in Brazil were not doom. At that time I did not realize that they were actually slightly below normal compared to previous years.

Here is what happened:
NASA posted a picture of the fires in Brazil that looked doomy, and they did not clarify the fact that the fires were actually normal to below average this year. Then, the MSM decided to hop on the topic due to the doomy looking picture, and they dredged up tons of Amazon fire pics from previous years, all the way back to 2003 and said they are happening now. So the topic took off huge, and now NASA has come out and said "wait a minute, these fires this year are not out of the ordinary".

I figured they might be above average but was not concerned. As it turns out, they fell within the low side of average. My post on this topic is close to the top of this page. NO AMAZON DOOM.
Related:


Wildfires scorch Africa but world’s media stay focused on Brazil’s blazes (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?106876-Keeping-an-eye-on-Africa&p=1311735&viewfull=1#post1311735)

[Matt P]

Fellow Aspirant falling hook, line and sinker for alarmist fake news me thinks.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/08/24/amazon-fires-are-in-the-amazon/

By the way, the site I’ve posted links to is run and populated by actual scientists. If you doubt their science you need only make a comment with your disagreement and they will respond in kind.

Matt

[RogeRio]

https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iFx9d4896n5Q/v0/600x-1.png

More Fires Now Burning in Angola, Congo Than Amazon: Maps (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-23/more-fires-now-burning-in-angola-congo-than-amazon-maps)

to Melinda (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/member.php?11515-Melinda)
the (forest) green cover doesn't need reforestation, which obviously can be improved with planting.

you can check this in two famous big regions in Africa (Serengheti plains and Okavango delta), that become completely dry and arid annually, but when the rain starts again supplying water, the green cover grow fast and attracts the largest herds of wild herbivores on the planet to feed (wildebeest, zebras, antelopes, gazelles, giraffes, elephants).

where there is a lot of water, there are vegetables (green cover) and if there are no long periods of drought it becomes a rainforest.

BTW, please, see that I referred to the Green Cover, not the fauna or other native species.

--edit1--
the Air Force sent four firefighting aircraft C-130 (hércules) to Rondônia

83pH3bUDCXM

--edit2-- (Aug-26)

General Attorney of the Republic, agreed with suspicions of the President Bolsonaro. (https://sustentabilidade.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,dodge-ve-suspeita-de-acao-orquestrada-e-pede-investigacao-sobre-queimadas,70002983502)

" There is a suspicion of orchestrated action, a suspicion of acting that has been long cultivated to achieve this result. There are elements that justify opening investigations to punish violators. ”

--edit3--(Aug-27)

https://cdn.oantagonista.net/uploads/2019/08/trumprtweet.jpg

[Iloveyou]

An interactive fire map shows the locations of actively burning
fires around the world on a monthly basis, since 2000.

Would that put things a bit more into perspective?

https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/globalmaps/data/MOD14A1_M_FIRE/MOD14A1_M_FIRE_2000-03.JPEG


https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MOD14A1_M_FIRE

[Matt P]

Last but not least, lets let James Delingpole put the nail in the coffin of this FAKE NEWS STORY.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/26/delingpole-amazon-fires-big-fat-nothingburger-fakenews-scare-story/

I’m not trying to be rude. We all fall for it occasionally. We love our planet and want not to hurt it so it should make us happy that the stories being put forward by the corporate press are lies in this case.

[frankstien]

FYI--

Amazon fires nothing but another hysterical scare story from the fake news media; in truth, the number of fires is FALLING
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-27-amazon-fires-another-hysterical-scare-story-from-fake-news-media.html

Tuesday, August 27, 2019 by: Ethan Huff

(Natural News) By now, you have probably encountered at least one or two headlines from the mainstream media warning about the allegedly out-of-control fires that are supposedly devastating the Amazon rainforests of South America. But there is just one problem: Most of these fires are completely normal, and occur every single year as part of controlled agricultural burns.

Though it certainly will not generate as many article clicks as all of the fear-mongering is, the truth is that the Amazon is not burning to the ground, nor is one of the world’s “lungs” at an impending risk of failure, despite what celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna are now claiming. Instead, it is just business as usual down south – and also business as usual from the mainstream media.

As it turns out, the number of fires in the Amazon is actually declining, as evidenced by historical MODIS fire data released by Global Forest Watch. In fact, in some areas, the ...

full article here--
https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-08-27-amazon-fires-another-hysterical-scare-story-from-fake-news-media.html

[Fellow Aspirant]

Well, thanks for your attempts to make me feel less like we are accelerating the burning of our planet, mpennery, (however condescending your tone) but there are too many parts of these events that point to willfull destruction on an unprecedented scale. The sheer number of fires has already outstripped anything in Brazil's history, and with the "fire" season just underway, all signs point to monumental catastrophe by year's end. Yes, I'll admit that my point of view is many kilometres away from the actual devastation, but If one puts out a big enough net for information, I am of the opinion that I can get a fairly accurate handle on it. To begin with, I would not put any credence into the views of a columnist for Breitbart, discredited as they are by their backing of the white supremacist cause. They can be counted on to back whatever strongman is currently attracting negative publicity however, and in this case it's Bosonaro.
And that's why I am so concerned about this problem - there is too much political impetus behind it. Why, for example, would Bolsonaro ignore the offer by Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau of $15m (CAN) worth of aid? Because dragging his heels helps him to meet his goal, which is to open up and exploit the Amazon for the betterment of his country's farmers who put in ground crops, his ranchers who want grazing land, and his mining interests who want access to the minerals that the jungle sits on, and impedes exploration with its nasty jungle growth. Such were the stated aims of Bolsonaro during his campaign, and now he is delivering on his pledge. For example, he has carved away regulations regarding illegal logging (which had significantly slowed the cutting of trees, to the frustration of the farmers et al.) Brazil, like most developing countries, still uses primitive methods like burning off old crops and downed trees.

Tragically, it has been demonstrated for many decades that the land the farmers are now burning off, after the clear cutting, has very poor soil (the jungle/forest root systems are shallow because of this, but they have evolved to be able to thrive - most of the life forms in the Amazon forests are in the canopy) and cannot sustain more than two or three seasons of crops, after which the amount of fertilizer required makes farming cost prohibitive, and more forest must be cut and burned.

And if Bolsonaro was serious about his concern for the fires, why would he reject France's offer of millions of Euros to fund fire fighting? Stalling, again, while he irrationally attacked Macron for his 'colonial' attitude. There is an irony here, in that it is Bolsonaro who has himself adopted the role of the colonialist: the power elites that he fronts for are now forcing the indigenous peoples of the rain forest into a genocidal nightmare. The people of the Amazon are not seen as being Brazilian, but brute impediments to greed. So instead of thanking Macron for his offer, he rejects it and then ups the ante by taking a shot at his wife's appearance, making an unfavourable comparison between their spouses. Is this the behaviour of a rational man? Only if you see him as operating within the boundaries of the machismo that drives the ego of strong men everywhere.

And this is the crux of the problem: the male ego. More than merely the outcome of bursting hormones, it has established itself as the core of cultures around the globe and throughout history with its aggressive actions and cock sure (pun intended) attitude that might makes right and that nature is everywhere an entity to be conquered and made to submit. Such is the energy that drives the backlash against the evolution of our cultures, so that push back against "political correctness" manifests as protests featuring hordes of angry young men marching with arms raised in the Nazi salute. Its belief system is used to make war and is perverted by marketers who manipulate us with the "You deserve this!" messaging.

It's time that our culture's reactionaries got over themselves to see that life on this planet does not revolve around them; they are a minor feature of an ecosystem that sustains all of us, one that is threatened by our actions -actions that we perform on a grand scale because they make us feel good.

Our earth cannot survive at the hands of machismo-enthralled leaders.


Meanwhile, there are dozens of legitimate journalists covering this Amazon story. For a good overview I recommend the one below.
Brian

link: https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20836891/amazon-fires-brazil-bolsonaro-rainforest-deforestation-analysis-effects

Everything you need to know about the fires in the Amazon

Why are the fires burning? And why is it such a big deal?

By Justine Calma@justcalma Aug 28, 2019, 3:33pm EDT


Record-breaking fires are ripping through the Amazon — an ecosystem on which the whole world depends. The Verge will update this page with news and analysis on the fires and the effects that could linger once the ash settles.

Table of Contents:

Why is the Amazon burning?
Why is this a big deal?
Why is this a hot topic politically?
How are the fires being fought?

Why is the Amazon burning?

An unprecedented number of fires have raged throughout Brazil in 2019, intensifying in August. There have been more than 74,000 fires so far this year, the most ever recorded by the country’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). It’s a roughly 80 percent jump compared to the number of fires the country experienced over the same time period in 2018. More than half of those fires are taking place in the Amazon.

Experts say deforestation and a practice called slash-and-burn are to blame for most of the flames. People cut down patches of forest, allow the area to dry out, then set the remains ablaze to make room for agriculture or other development. They might also set fires to replenish the soil and encourage the growth of pastures for cattle. Brazil is the world’s top exporter of beef, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

“There is no doubt that this rise in fire activity is associated with a sharp rise in deforestation”

“These are intentional fires to clear the forest,” Cathelijne Stoof, coordinator of the Fire Center at Wageningen University (WUR) in the Netherlands, tells The Verge. “People want to get rid of the forest to make agricultural land, for people to eat meat.”

“There is no doubt that this rise in fire activity is associated with a sharp rise in deforestation,” Paulo Artaxo, an atmospheric physicist at the University of São Paulo, told Science Magazine. He explained that the fires are expanding along the borders of new agricultural development, which is what’s often seen in fires related to forest clearing.

President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, which had pledged to open up the Amazon to more development, has sought to shift attention away from deforestation. Bolsonaro initially pointed a finger at NGOs opposing his policies for allegedly intentionally setting fires in protest, without giving any evidence to back his claim. In August, he fired the director of the National Institute for Space Research over a dispute over data it released showing the sharp uptick in deforestation that’s taken place since Bolsonaro took office. On August 20th, Brazil’s Minister of the Environment Ricardo Salles tweeted that dry weather, wind, and heat caused the fires to spread so widely. But even during the dry season, large fires aren’t a natural phenomenon in the Amazon’s tropical ecosystem.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, August 2019 CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images

Why is this a big deal?

Everyone on the planet benefits from the health of the Amazon. As its trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, the Amazon plays a huge role in pulling planet-warming greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Without it, climate change speeds up. But as the world’s largest rainforest is eaten away by logging, mining, and agribusiness, it may not be able to provide the same buffer.

“The Amazon was buying you some time that it is not going to buy anymore,” Carlos Quesada, a scientist at Brazil’s National Institute for Amazonian Research, told Public Radio International in 2018. Scientists warn that the rainforest could reach a tipping point, turning into something more like a savanna when it can no longer sustain itself as a rainforest. That would mean it’s not able to soak up nearly as much carbon as it does now. And if the Amazon as we know it dies, it wouldn’t go quietly. As the trees and plants perish, they would release billions of tons of carbon that has been stored for decades — making it nearly impossible to escape a climate catastrophe.

Everyone on the planet benefits from the health of the Amazon

Of course, those nearest to the fires will bear the most immediate effects. Smoke from the fires got so bad, it seemed to turn day into night in São Paulo on August 20th. Residents say the air quality is still making it difficult to breathe. On top of that, a massive global study on air pollution found that among the two dozen countries it observed, Brazil showed one of the sharpest increases in mortality rates whenever there’s more soot in the air.

And because fire isn’t a natural phenomenon in the region, it can have outsized impacts on local plants and animals. One in ten of all animal species on Earth call the Amazon home, and experts expect that they will be dramatically affected by the fires in the short term. In the Amazon, plants and animals are “exceptionally sensitive” to fire, Jos Barlow, a professor of conservation science at Lancaster University in the UK, said to The Verge in an email. According to Barlow, even low-intensity fires with flames just 30 centimeters tall can kill up to half of the trees burned in a tropical rainforest.

Why is this a hot topic politically?

When Jair Bolsonaro was campaigning for office as a far-right candidate, he called for setting aside less land in the Amazon for indigenous tribes and preservation, and instead making it easier for industry to come into the rainforest. Since his election in October 2018, Bolsonaro put the Ministry of Agriculture in charge of the demarcation of indigenous territories instead of the Justice Ministry, essentially “letting the fox take over the chicken coop,” according to one lawmaker. His policies have been politically popular among industry and agricultural interests in Brazil, even as they’ve been condemned by Brazilian environmental groups and opposition lawmakers. Hundreds of indigenous women stormed the country’s capital on August 13th to protest Bolsonaro’s environmental rollbacks and encroachment of development on indigenous lands. The hashtag #PrayforAmazonia blew up on Twitter.

Indigenous women take part in a protest against Bolsonaro’s environmental policies on August 13th, 2019 Photo by Tuane Fernandes/picture alliance via Getty Images

About 60 percent of the Amazon can be found within Brazil’s borders, which gives the nation a massive amount of influence over the region. Not surprisingly, the fires have called international attention to the plight of the Amazon and have turned up the heat on Bolsonaro’s environmental policies.

French President Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to call for action, pushing for emergency international talks on the Amazon at the G7 summit. On August 26th, the world’s seven largest economies offered Brazil more than $22 million in aid to help it get the fires under control. Bolsonaro promptly turned down the money, accusing Macron on Twitter of treating Brazil like a colony. Some in Brazil, including Bolsonaro, see the international aid as an attack on Brazil’s sovereignty, and its right to decide how to manage the land within its borders.

“Letting the fox take over the chicken coop”

President Donald Trump, on the other hand, congratulated Bolsonaro on his handling of the fires. “He is working very hard on the Amazon fires and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil,” he tweeted on the 27th.

Bolsonaro has since said that he’ll reconsider the deal, as long as Macron takes back his “insults” and Brazil has control over how the money is spent. On the 27th, Bolsonaro accepted $12.2 million in aid from the UK

How are the fires being fought?

On August 24th, after weeks of international and internal pressure, Bolsonaro deployed the military to help battle the fires, sending 44,000 troops to six states. Reuters reported the next day that warplanes were dousing flames.

“It’s a complex operation. We have a lot of challenges,” Paulo Barroso tells The Verge. Barroso is the chairman of the national forest fire management committee of the National League of Military Firefighters Corps in Brazil. He has spent three decades fighting fires in Mato Grosso, one of the regions most affected by the ongoing fires. According to Barroso, more than 10,400 firefighters are spread thin across 5.5 million square kilometers in the Amazon and “hotspots” break out in the locations they’re unable to cover.

“We don’t have an adequate structure to prevent, to control, and to fight the forest fires”

Barroso contends that they need more equipment and infrastructure to adequately battle the flames. There are 778 municipalities throughout the Amazon, but according to Barroso, only 110 of those have fire departments. “We don’t have an adequate structure to prevent, to control, and to fight the forest fires,” Barroso says. He wants to establish a forest fire protection system in the Amazon that brings together government entities, indigenous peoples, local communities, the military, large companies, NGOs, and education and research centers. “We have to integrate everybody,” Barroso says, adding, “we need money to do this, we have to receive a great investment.”

Barroso and other experts agree that it’s important to look ahead to prevent fires like we’re seeing now. After all, August is just the beginning of Brazil’s largely manmade fire season, when slashing-and-burning in the country peaks and coincides with drier weather.

Military firefighters in Brazil, August 2019 Photo credit should read SERGIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images

Controlled burns are also a popular deforestation technique in other countries where the Amazon is burning, including Bolivia. There, the government brought in a modified Boeing 747 supertanker to douse the flames.

Using planes to put out wildfires in the Amazon isn’t a typical method of firefighting in tropical forests, and is likely to get expensive, Lancaster University’s Jos Barlow tells The Verge. He says that large-scale fires in areas cleared by deforestation “are best contained with wide firebreaks created with bulldozers — not easy in remote regions.” If the fires enter the forest itself, they require different tactics. “They can normally be contained by clearing narrow fire breaks in the leaf litter and fine fuel,” Barlow says. “But this is labour intensive over large scales, and fires need to be reached soon, before they get too big.”

Fires that have been intentionally set, as we’re seeing in Brazil, can be even more difficult to control compared to a sudden wildland fire. “They’re designed to be deliberately destructive,” says Timothy Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology and research associate at the University of Oregon. Slashing before burning produces a lot of very dry, very flammable fuel. And at this scale, Ingalsbee calls the fires “an act of global vandalism.”

Barlow says, “The best fire fighting technique in the Amazon is to prevent them in the first place — by controlling deforestation and managing agricultural activities.”

WUR’s Cathelijne Stoof agrees: “Fighting the fires is of course important now,” she says. “For the longer term, it is way more important to focus on deforestation.”

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Amazon fire ‘lies’ are ‘designed to feed climate alarmist movement’

This is stunning, coming from the lips of a Mainstream Media news anchor himself, Alan Jones, from Sky News Australia. Heroic, honest, and brave reporting in my opinion, not a sliver of whose qualities are anywhere evident in the bought-and-paid-for talking head media whores that fill the cesspit of lies that is the UK MSM. This clip may not last long (unfortunately like Alan Jones's job).

Sj215wMUwTY

[mountain_jim]

https://grrrgraphics.com/the-facade

Speaking of the Climate Alarmist Movement...

https://gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/008/384/221/original/ea5dccc27e8adda0.jpeg?1567100058



I’m not a ‘climate change denier.’ Climate does change and it has varied widely during the Earth’s long history.


My objection to the climate change narrative from the left is that it’s not honest. We know scientists can be purchased by the elite to produce whatever dire warnings based on skewed data that is desired.

In 2007, the global warming hustler Al Gore predicted the north polar ice cap would vanish by 2014. It didn’t. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has given us a few more years, but she’s simply drumming up doom and gloom in the hopes we will destroy our economy and replace it with her ’New Green Deal,’ that includes globalism, socialism.