Here's what you can do to help the burning, ravaged Amazon rainforest

[Mike 03]

Spoiler alert: There's not very much we can do, but this is a pretty frank article:

The Amazon rainforest is on fire.

This year, between January and August, almost 73,000 fires have been recorded, which is nearly double 2018's total of nearly 40,000 fires. It's a record high. Since Thursday, almost 10,000 new fires have started.

One of the reasons for the massive increase in fires is human activity, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro does not care. Dismissing concerns about the amount of fires in the Amazon, he said, "I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame."

He said it was just the time of the year when farmers use fire to clear land. Since taking power, Bolsonaro has also hampered what government agencies can do to protect the rainforest.

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1. Educate yourself and others

You can learn more about the crisis from official sources and educate friends and family on all the details. The more people know about how serious the crisis is, the more that can be done.

For those who can read Portuguese, there's Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, which uses satellite imagery and records the number of wildfires. Otherwise, InfoAmazonia has a map showing fires that are burning in Brazil. Another feature it offers is a map that lets you compare your location with the Amazon deforestation.

The other suggestions are:

2. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
3. Donate to Charity
4. Volunteer
5. Make your voice heard

Some good info at link: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-help-amazon-rainforest-what-charities-to-donate-to-2019

I've read a lot of articles about this, and the one thing I haven't seen in any of them is information about whether or not anybody is fighting the fires. Does anybody know?

[applegrove]

1. Boycott.

[Mike 03]

2. I'm in. Whatever we need to do... We have to do something. nt

[applegrove]

3. I think the UN is working on something too.

[Mike 03]

4. That's good. I'll try to figure out who is worth writing to. The article

points out that even though Brazil is another country, it is still worth expressing outrage to our congresspeople.

These are farmers, so maybe we can organize a boycott of produce from Brazil. ON EDIT: Or maybe they grow coffee.

[applegrove]

7. Norway and getmany i think were giving money to Brazil for the rainforests.

Turned out the Brazilians were giving the money to industry. So Norway pulled out. Just a mess autocrats are. And nihilistic.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Germany and Norway are withholding the financial aid they usually give Brazil.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment-norway/norway-stops-amazon-fund-contribution-in-dispute-with-brazil-idUSKCN1V52C9

[Mike 03]

6. Oh! Thanks! nt

Bolsonaro is exactly like tRump:

Bolsonaro reacted angrily to the suspension of funding and said Brazil would not take any lessons from the donor countries.

“Isn’t Norway that country that kills whales up there in the North Pole?” he told reporters. “Take that money and help Angela Merkel reforest Germany,” he said.

[applegrove]

8. That's just sick.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. What's sick?

[applegrove]

11. Sick that President of Brazil wants to undo money coming for free to do someting good.

Sick that there are suddenly so many fires. Sick that autocrats are ****ing up the planet purposely. Canadian news had that the Brazillians had diverted the german and norwegian money to Brazil industry.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Bolsonaro is Trump-lite.

The idiot is turning down a shit-ton of money because he doesn't want it to go to the anti-deforestation project that's been at work for over 10 years. From the linked article:

Norway has worked closely with Brazil to protect the Amazon rainforest for more than a decade and has paid some $1.2 billion into the Amazon Fund, to which it is by far the biggest donor.

But the government of President Jair Bolsonaro unilaterally changed the fund’s governance structure and closed down the steering committee that selects the projects to back, making no formal proposal for the composition of a new committee.

Deforestation surged in Brazil’s Amazon since Bolsonaro was elected last year, and his plans to develop the Amazon and moves to weaken protection of the rainforest have alarmed environmentalists.

The aid that Brazil receives depends on the results of work to curb deforestation and for 2018 the funding would amount to about 300 million Norwegian crowns ($33.27 million), but Norway will not proceed with the payment, a ministry spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters.

[applegrove]

13. CBC News had that the money was diverted. Don't know all the pieces

yet. Bolsonaro claimed fires were set by NGOs to make him look bad too. Think Progress had this:

https://thinkprogress.org/brazils-bolsonaro-makes-a-baseless-conspiracy-claim-about-who-started-the-amazon-fires-21fbc85184e0/

[Mountain Mule]

10. Brazilian President Bolsonaro claims his government has no resources to fight the fires

From the BBC:

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said his government lacks the resources to fight the record number of fires in the Amazon.

And he again suggested that non-governmental organisations had started fires in the rainforest, but admitted he had no evidence for this claim.

He added that his government was investigating the fires.

Earlier, Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles was heckled at a meeting on climate change.

Conservationists have blamed Brazil's government for the Amazon's plight.

They say Mr Bolsonaro has encouraged the clearing of land by loggers and farmers, thereby speeding up the deforestation of the rainforest.

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

What exactly did Bolsonaro say?
Answering questions from reporters on Thursday, Mr Bolsonaro said the government couldn't simply get the ministry of the interior to send 40 men to fight a fire.

"Forty men to fight a fire? There aren't the resources. This chaos has arrived," he said.

On Wednesday, the president had suggested that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could have started fires as revenge for his government slashing their funding.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49433437

[mopinko]

14. i asked in another thread about regenerative ag groups.

if anyone can find people working on sustainable ag, or even poverty reduction/empowerment, like heifer, at least that is reaching to the roots of what is happening and needs to happen.


eta- i just went to look at heifer to see if they are there, but they are not in brazil. they are in bolivia.
i love this org. it is doing all the right things to build communities.
http://heifer.org

[Duppers]

15. As you suggested here...

Get the UN involved.

The UN should call a special session NOW in order to address this.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127131079

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Stop eating beef, especially hamburgers.

Cattle ranching is the biggest driver of Amazon deforestation.

[Beringia]

17. I think not supporting laggard companies re Palm Oil

is one thing that can help. Supposedly the forests are often burned to grown Palm Oil and many companies do not follow a sustainable Palm Oil Plan. I read this on a Rainforest Action Network. I notice some organizations like Rainforest Alliance don't mention palm oil in saving the Amazon. So I don't understand why all the rainforest supporters don't have the same message about palm oil. Also I read that palm oil is used for biodiesel fuel, but don't see the amazon forest supporters talking about this.

Rainforest Action Network mentions these:

Laggards Palm Oil

Pepsico, pepsi, doritos, Lays, Quaker oats, tropicana, cheetos
Tyson
Toyo Suisan, Maruchen Ramen,
Nissen Top Ramen

https://www.ran.org/sf20scorecard/


https://amazonwatch.org/news/2019/0821-amazon-rainforest-has-been-on-fire-for-three-weeks-heres-why-youre-only-hearing-about-it-now

A two-year-old article from The Guardian pointed at corporations like Pepsico, Unilever, and Nestlé playing complicit roles in illegal deforestation. These companies don't explicitly state they encourage deforestation, but they quietly benefit from the plantations that spring up after the space is cleared. These plantations grow ingredients, such as palm trees used to make palm oil, that are a part of the companies' products.

Then there is Friends of the Earth who say there is no such thing as sustainable palm oil use

https://www.foei.org/press/archive-by-subject/food-sovereignty-press/certified-palm-oil-not-a-solution