New satellite photos show Amazon deforestation exploding

[WhiteTara]

Source: McClatchy News Service

By Jack Chang | McClatchy Newspapers

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — New satellite photographs show that the destruction of Brazil's fragile Amazon rainforest has exploded this year, fueling fears that the government's efforts to stop deforestation have been fruitless.

Brazil's DETER real-time monitoring system found that more than 430 square miles of forest, an area a bit smaller than the city of Los Angeles, vanished in the month of April, while about 2,300 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware, were destroyed between last August and April.

That nine-month total surpassed the entire acreage in the Amazon that was destroyed over the previous 12 months, according to DETER data. What's worse, the satellites couldn't see about half of the forest in April due to cloud cover, suggesting that actual deforestation likely was much greater.

That's raised red flags among environmentalists, who say that soybean farming, cattle production and illegal logging are destroying the world's largest rainforest despite the government's attempts to halt the deforestation.

Chopping down and burning the rainforest releases tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change. Brazil is the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely because of deforestation, according to the U.S.-based World Resources Institute.

Worse is yet to come, environmentalists said.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/39634.html

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What does one say in the face of the end of the world? Without trees, we can't breathe

[PSPS]

1. They call the Amazon rainforest "the lungs of the world."

Soon, we'll be saying (gasping) "that's what it used to be called."

[Barrett808]

2. Worse than that, there's something like 90 gigatons of carbon sequestered there

A realistic scenario for the end of the Amazon rainforest is megafires. In a few weeks, all that carbon would be released...

[Baby Snooks]

3. Boycott the companies responsible....

Someone should compile a list of the corporations involved in this, quite a few of them American, and there should be a boycott of those companies. And then boycott Brazil itself.

Brazil has consuls throughout this country. Write letters telling them you will boycott Brazil and its products if Brazil does not stop this.

How many people buy the exotic woods that come from Brazil without realizing where the wood is coming from? The wood is coming from the trees in the Amazon. Enjoy your coffee table and your fabulous flooring. It has cost all of us a part of the rainforest.

I have a friend who has gone to Carnival every year for over 25 years. She didn't go this year. And she told everyone in Rio why. And said she will not come back until they demand the government stop it. Half the people who usually go with her joined in and didn't go either.

Look at a globe and spin it slowly and look at the green sections along the equator. Particularly the green section in South America. We cannot afford to lose it. The lumber industry claims it is reforesting. You cannot reforest a rain forest. Once it dies, it is not coming back because the ecosystem it supports and which supports it dies with it.

It is more than just the lungs of the planet. The Amazon is a giant air purifier. It takes in carbon dioxide and gives back oxygen. It and other rainforests help balance the enormous amount of air pollution that is enveloping our globe. Without it, the planet will not be able to breathe. And neither will we at some point.

[NickB79]

4. Think of this whenever anyone asks why the US can't be energy-independent like Brazil

The answer is pretty fracking obvious for those who have seen the damage uncontrolled expansion of biofuels can cause.

But I'm sure I could find plenty of people willing to clearcut entire forests if it would save them 10 cents on a gallon of gas.

[OzarkDem]

5. OzarkDemBoy just lectured me on this for the last two weeks

He's getting ready to do a grad school project on it, already taken his classes in Portugese. I'll take his word its not good
down there.

I realize you think I'm an old blue haired, cranky feminist breast cancer survivor , but I have done a good job of raising my boys. Touch them or criticize them and you die.

[depakid]

6. Every single person who eats beef or fast food contributes to this

Just sayin'

[cascadiance]

7. BOYCOTT any coffee now that isn't certified as "Shade grown"...

Coffee is the biggest commodity market in the world. If we all did this, we could send a stern message to multinationals and the governments down there that we won't accept them raping the rain forest to make coffee farmland.



http://www.motherearthcoffeeco.com/shade-grown.htm

[WhiteTara]

9. great idea n/t

[cascadiance]

8. You can also look for Fair Trade certified lumber too...

You'd be surprised how many outfits now are selling this. I believe that Ikea mandates that the lumber for their products is certified as such, though I'd need to check on that.

Even Home Depot, which has been notorious about some things, I think now has made efforts to get certified lumber.

Getting lumber with this certification is getting it from sources that makes sure to protect the old growth forest trees in maintainable quantities, and do more to effectively replace what is cut down without disrupting the environment drastically which has been done by other lumber companies in other areas that aren't certified.

Look for the label of the Forest Stewardship Council and the logo shown in the top left corner of this page on your wood...



http://www.fscus.org/

[darue]

10. depopulate the region, install hunter-killer robots to cleans the area of all humans

either that place lives or we _all_ die.

anyone want to fucking DO SOMETHING NOW!? it'll be too late in the blink of an eye...

fuck

430 square miles gone in APRIL - fuckit it'll all be gone in a few years, as ig the DROUGHT wasn't going to do it. we are a plague on the planet and are stupid and will die. if we won't/can't control ecosystem destruction we simply won't survive much longer.

[DCKit]

11. Lose enough forest cover and it will become a desert within a decade.

The Amazon's plants and trees create much of the Amazon's rainfall. Without critical mass, the forest will dry out and it will all be over.