Bolsonaro is clearly a far right wing nationalists working for the 0.01% oligarchs of Brazil and their counterparts in the United States. I call such people and their backers fascists.
In the meantime, the corruption grows ever deeper and the instability to the global markets, the climate and all else is heading towards a derivatives meltdown.
Now the DNC joins the RNC in its level of corruption as it voted nearly overwhelmingly not to allow a separate debate on the environment even as the fires of corruption and destruction blaze not only in Brazil but halls of the U.S. congress, with the cronies, rather than public citizens controlling our democratic process.
It is time to vote the cronies and paid-off oil soaked lobbyists who masquerade as "politicians" and "representatives" of the the people and the nation. Organizations like Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, and other distributed organizing efforts along with fair fight 20/20 represent what is necessary to save not only our country but the world.
5
For me, the word "denial" means greed. Bolsonaro, Trump (Mitch McConnell, Putin, etc.) deny global warming because any actions taken to decrease our oil consumption (higher car miles/ gallon, use of renewable sources - solar panels, for example) will decrease carbon product sales and any attempt to save trees - especially the Amazon - interferes with making money (cattle, farming, etc - on minimally productive land). Greed is being allowed to kill people, literally, and eventually our planet.
8
There should be no cattle ranching or farming in the AMAZON. A responsible cattle rancher is an oxymoron; they are environmental destroyers. Farmers may be poor but they are bad actors. The land is not suited to farming. It's a crime what they have done to the indigenous people who know how to live there. They are repeating our evils from the 19th century.
8
Bolsonaro and Trump rose to power by using social media to sow disinformation, to divide people into groups, and to appeal to extremes. I receive YouTube videos from other Brazilians dividing people into groups like "vegans who eat only vegetables" against "patriotic supporters of the Brazilian economy" (who deny climate change and deforestation), "defenders of human rights for criminals" against "good citizens" (who support torture, militias and dictators), "criminal immigrants" against "natives," (who discriminate against minorities), "communists" against "the right," (that slashes social programs) "them" against "us..." This is Bolsonaro's spiel. There is evidence that the Amazon is burning, but there are also Brazilians who deny it because they saw a video on YouTube, probably created by Bolsonaro's disinformation machine. Unfortunately too many people fall for click baits, are blinded by prejudice, believe in disinformation, and elect psychopaths. The consequences are dreadful.
6
I am so disheartened and devastated about this, and sadly what a pathetic global response so far. We have the worst possible leaders for a situation this grave. The most frustrating thing is, solutions to so many of humanity's problems exist but the Trumps and Bolsonaros of the world (and corporate/political machines who got them to power) have somehow made us forget our collective empowerment to even simply maintain a world we can survive in. And why? So they can cling to power and make their friends rich on a burning, lifeless planet? Onward, "free-market" capitalism, towards humanity's impending self-made demise.
4
How can a small handful of men be allowed to destroy the environment for the rest of humanity?
6
As a senior citizen, I didn't think until recently that I would ever be able to take consolation in being a childless old geezer when my time comes to shuffle off this mortal coil.
Or ever be able to understand what possible consolation the notion of imminent looming "end times" holds for those spooky charismatic people.
But there you have it. Never say never.
6
We can understand why Bolsonaro is called the South American Trump. The damage he is inflicting on climate is long-lasing if not permanent. And the people he is hurting is not only his fellow Brazilians but the entire global population---all of humanity plus all living things.
5
Why people vote for all those evil leaders?
6
Only a worldwide embargo on Brazilian goods can stop this horror.
8
Bolsonaro would not hold power in Brazil if not for the meddling of the US in their politics. Once again, our government helps a thuggish right-winger take control.
1
What does that make Vanessa Barbara? An important, interesting Godzilla? If a reporter can insult foreign presidents so can a commenter on your article.
I'll say it over and over: With or without the U.S. as a participant (as it clearly won't be a leader), an international intervention is immediately required; if necessary, a military intervention.
4
It's all about the supply of meat. The world wants to eat like us. That means more factory farming of beef, pork and chicken.
2
It will take a LOT longer to fix the damage done by a small number of leaders than it takes for them to do it. Some of it will never be fixed. Reminds me of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" where the world 'moves on'... to when no one recognized the ruins of an amusement park and when paper was more valuable than money.
Odd situation indeed. We can sit here and be outraged. But we also deforested our land and continue covering the soil with all manner of structure and concrete, or simply abandoning structures we no longer want. So if you are a Brazilian, it probably does seem condescending that North America and Europe can seemingly insist on no economic progress for Brazil because its forest is too important. Yes, it is absolutely clear the science says it is vitally important, and we all want to breath and keep the climate in some form of balance. But is it reasonable to insist that Brazil cannot do what North Americans and Europeans did in their own lands? Every Brazilian knows the value of the forest, but the need to grow economically crushes the collective ability to stop deforestation.
3
Meanwhile, in the US, Tom Perez just sank any hope that the Democratic Party will respond with appropriate urgency to climate change.
4
The good news, if any, is that tropical forests can regenerate pretty quickly if left alone or given minimal encouragement. So the job is to figure out how to get Brazil to encourage/require reforestation. Same for all tropical forests. Slash and burn agriculture is the norm all around the Equator.
4
Once again, the United States imposes moral and economic scolding on countries who seek to exploit their natural gifts. After we chopped down most of our native hardwood forests, slaughtered the American bison and Passenger Pigeon into extinction, polluted our rivers until they caught on fire and created the term "acid rain," we want everyone else to play nice. Of course, the time has come, but we need offer something more than a wagging finger
3
"Right now, Brazilians feel a collective, perplexed grief for everything we stand to lose ..."
Yeah, but apparently not enough to build any real Brazilian sentiment against Mr. Bolsanaro. After all, the Brazilian farmers see increased Chinese and European demand for their beef, pork and soy. They are now prepared to burn down the Amazon to get the land so they can meet that new demand. Why ought they to be concerned with the amount of later suffering they will cause themselves and their descendants? They and Mr. Bolsanaro will be long dead by the time the real suffering is on.
Each day I keep hoping for a few strategically occurring fatal heart attacks to rid the world of this latest set of authoritarian fools. And then I remember that when they are gone, there's about another thousand standing ready to succeed them. Lord, what to do?
4
If you didn’t know already, climate change makes it abundantly clear that citizenship demands a global worldview. Corporate power, profit-first capitalism, and disregard of “inconvenient” externalities, can’t be allowed to control the future. You can’t have a no-smoking section in a wide open restaurant. It all mixes together. The burning Amazon should be as concerning to Americans as it is to Brazilians. Current American leadership is miserably inadequate and incompetent. We need to do what we can now to attempt improvement.
8
Brazil , welcome to the group of anti-ecological Presidents that are backed by the 1% and big businesses interested in the profit made from raping the land . I was shocked at the election of Bolsonaro but it's not surprising ; it was a successful campaign , slandering, jailing the previous Presidents with false accusations and any politician with moral sense removed .We are fast reaching the point of no return if the rain forests burn ; ironically , these farmers and ranchers may initially make the fast bucks but what will happen when the drought begins because of climate change and everything dies off including the cattle . Death by greed and ignorance .
8
Thank you, Vanessa, for this really important and necessary piece. Our forest is burning and so is our country, as a whole. You are brave. I know that Brazilian journalists, writers, intellectuals and artists who speak truth to power are being persecuted and threatened by Bolsonaro's fascist minions. It is scary how quickly Brazil is spiraling out of control (rampant nepotism; violence against indigenous populations and minorities, including the LGBT community) . As a dual citizen of both Brazil and the US, the most effective way I can help save the Amazon Forest is by working hard to elect a democratic president in 2020. Without Trump to back him, Bolsonaro will lose his bravado and may not even finish his term.
4
It all boils down to the fact that the need for small wins beats the understanding of big issues.
Take BAYER for example. The creep that manipulated himself to the top job at the giant corporation could only do this by promising shareholders outrageous results. And these results could - in his mind - only be achieved with Monsanto. So against all better judgement this thing was pushed through so this little man at the head of the corporation could score a win.
Same in politics.
This tribe of greedy leaders needs to be opposed, opposed, opposed.
3
Capitalism is bad for forests. We proved it in the Pacific Northwest, now we are proving it in Brazil.
3
I do not like Bolsonaro.
However, he was elected because the previous PT government was the most corrupt government in the history of Brazil.
Do a search on "lava jato", "operation car wash", "mensalao".
I suppose the earthlings will have to eventually build a network of massive oxygen generators once they've burned off the lungs of the planet.
What can we do? I already support the major environmental, organizations? Trump is a waste of time...our EPA now actively attacks and degrades our environment. Looking for suggestions.
1
@jane allen Don't eat meat. Best thing you can do.
@jane allen Don't eat meat. Best thing you can do.
it should be automatic that if a country destroys valuable global resources that country needs to be globally and concertedly boycotted ..... the items usually behind clearing the Amazon rainforests are meat, as this burnt land is generally turned into grazing for hundreds of millions of cows destined for slaughter - Brazil has a flourishing meat export industry which needs to be seriously considered when destroying crucial global resources create this Brazilian industry ..... a complete ban on meat exports need to go into effect until the Amazon rainforest is globally protected as a global treasure and cannot be one twisted man's private project .......
3
@mintrose Better yet. Switch to a plant based diet.
To The Editor:
Reality shows, baseball, love interests. physical challenges, even political insults absorb the attention of us, the public.
Do we care that glaciers are melting and raising the ocean level around the world?
Do we care that temperatures around the world are reaching unheard of highs?
Do we care that most scientists agree that the changes are irremediable, our children and grandchildren will have to live with new difficulties in a dying world resulting from our indifference?
Do we care what our children and grandchildren will have to confront due to our consciously ignoring steps we could take NOW to reduce future problems?
Guess not.
Money motivates those in power.
Support for those in power comes from the powerless, made to believe their interests are supported. Ask yourself if you are lulled by such false assurances.
Ask yourself if you should ignore responsibility to save the planet for coming generations. Ask if you should act NOW to attempt to reduce SOME of future problems for the planet and its inhabitants. Ask yourself if you are worried and if you care.
If you don't care, go back to your electronic device and ignore the future your grandchildren will face. As conditions worsen your guilt will grow and it will be too late to remedy.
Sincerely Alarmed,
Carol Gilster
4
@carol gilster tragically the answer is NO to all the above. To most human beings the natural world is an afterthought.
The director of the national institute for space research firing, and the president's comments about being warned, were over June's numbers showing an 88% increase and not over July's numbers. The local firefighter offering water to an armadillo was in a completely unrelated (and naturally caused ) fire according to himself https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-49452846.
I get it that tossing these statements makes for a more dramatic punchline, but there is no need to garnish this story. Here in Brazil, as is the case in the US and many other places in the world, our government is acting in ways that suggest allegiance to some powerful pockets more than the people that elected them. We would benefit if our media sticks to actual data in as much rigor as possible than feeding them a line of reply by taking out of context photos or simply playing with words.
1
This requires the global community, all Nations and the global business community who benefit from deforestation in Brazil to impose immediate sanctions on Brazil and the businesses whop support this horrific behavior. This is a crime and if it continues the consequences will undoubtedly end the need for anything at all because we'll all be dead. Bye, bye earth. Those of use with a conscience and will to save the planet are very, very sorry. Profits over everything. :(
2
@LAS We support this behavior by our demand for more and cheaper beef.
The people of Brazil who are choking on the tears of the Amazon need to rise up and march like the people of Hong Kong.
4
“They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot”. Too true.
If the Amazon does indeed represent 20% of the world's oxygen producing green plants, the government of Brazil and Bolsonaro are committing an act which amounts to longterm genocide on the planet. The only governments protesting are in Western Europe and Japan while the rest of the world's democracies sit silently by with marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers. The U.S. is run by a President and a Republican Party that just doesn't care about the world's environment. Any thinking administration would at a minimum be offering fire fighting resources to assist Brazil. Our void in leadership is now negatively impacting the world.
2
The reason Bolsonaro was elected was because of the enormous corruption of the previous government.
See this New York Times article from 2015:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/business/international/effects-of-petrobras-scandal-leave-brazilians-lamenting-a-lost-dream.html
I have given up all hope that the world will not soon become a living hell, and that humans are headed toward an early extinction.
Bolsonaro was elected as a reaction to the corruption of the previous party.
See this article from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/01/brazil-operation-car-wash-is-this-the-biggest-corruption-scandal-in-history
@Independent SO WHAT? That has nothing to do with this disaster.
1
How such incompetent, pathetic little bullies like Bolsonaro or Trump end up in power is a testament to very very bad, tremendously bad education, the worst education anyone has ever seen, education like nobody knew could be so bad; such poor education of their citizens that they are easily duped by charlatan bombastic who promises to save them from their fears-- and then declare war on those same citizens and their children. For what? It's anyone's gue$$.
to gw
I am very busy. About two hours ago, I submitted a comment to this forum (and to the writer) expressing my deep concern for the tragic loss of this global treasure. It was not published. This past Friday, I was very active contacting my Climate Reality Forum, FB, Countable, and my two Senators. Later that evening I was thrilled to learn that two supertankers were on their way to help put out the fires. I remember thinking to myself it doesn't matter who gets credit for this quick response to a global emergency. What matters is that the people most affected are safe and can eventually rebuild, replant, and renew their hope in humanity.
One of the smallest and pettiest of men. There are several in the running at the moment, which means the chances of the US doing much about it is slim.
2
Two things: how heartbreaking that Ms. Barbara needs to make light of her mystical connection to the forests with, "Cheesy, I know". The root of this climate emergency is our spiritual disconnection to the land. It's pretty simple: you take care of what you love, and you love what you are concretely connected to.
Second, she writes that Brazilians are collectively grieving about the state of the Amazon. Some Brazilians are. Like Trump, wasn't Bolsonaro elected? Majority vote, or not. As has been mentioned before, these dangerous "leaders" are a symptom of a much deeper malady.
4
Unbelievable. I guess with a population this large humans will now eat our way through everything that isn't us, until we're all that's left, and then we'll go too. Seems inevitable at this point.
Every day I see things on facebook, elephant populations dropping, giraffe populations dropping, ape populations dropped. Every type of animal that isn't a principal part of the human food supply. I read feel good stories about this or that person who is trying to save a handful of some creature whose species is generally doomed.
I'm almost 50 and for 50 years celebrities have been raising awareness of all of this and non of this awareness has changed the trajectory.
It all feels so grotesque.
5
Yes, it is grotesque. It’s not that a “celebrity” is any smarter or more knowledgeable than anyone else in our world, but they have a pulpit to bring attention to these critical issues. Some use it very well - like Jon Stuart, others just take mindless photo ops by hopping on th train.
THE PROBLEM, and the disgrace, is as you say - PEOPLE largely fail to take heed and DO anything. “Oh how sad that Rhinos are going extinct”, “Oh how terrible that eagles are dying”, “Thoughts and prayers for our slaughtered children”. PATHETIC AND DISGRACEFUL!
The rich are deciding how to play the system, what new BMW or AUDI to buy; the poor are too busy trying to put food on their tables for their families in an economy THAT IS NOT GREAT anymore.
Our values have become perverse and corrupted, as have many of our leaders. This country needs a HUGE attitude adjustment and I hope China does it soon because we have little time to waste. THEY plan in decades and centuries, Trump plans his next Big Mac.
4
Big money projects like the plunder of the Amazon and the Indian coal port in Australia doom civilization and life as we have inherited the Earth. Economic growth of Asian countries and the billions of rising middle of the class consumers seal this bleak fate.
End game looms. Acknowledge that half measures will not reverse these trends. Fight back and dream bigger. Start near home, network, and act strategically. Now. Invent your own response. Don't follow leaders.
6
I read bout the ozone layer depletion, and the warming planet when i was in 6th grade. I am now 67. Do the math. All I can do is cry.
5
Goodness me. Don't you stupid people get it?
The public may care about vital issues like climate change, species extinction and food and water running out.
But those in the position to actually DO something about it will refuse until Manhattan and London have water in the streets because Antarctica and Greenland have melted.
All we read about is the importance of GROWTH to the world's economy. How we must produce more widgets this year than last year, using more raw materials this year than last year. How about making do with less stuff? If we already own a perfectly good cellphone, car, TV, 30 shirts and 20 pairs of shoes why do we need any more.
One day someone in power will care. But by then it will be too late and perhaps the only non so intelligent life in the universe will be gone.
So either stop complaining and resign yourself to it or march on the palaces of power and drag those scoundrels out.
10
Is there a Portuguese version of this column? I want to send it to a pro-Bolsonaro friend back in Brasil.
3
@del
Good for you.
I basically cannot refer to supporters of evil politicians and strongmen as friends, even if they used to be friends for a long time. My physical aversion tops hum etiquette.
If the 21st century. reactionary, regressive Brazilian Hitler wants to burn down THEIR Amazon, let him. There's NOTHING we can do.
And when mass starvation and deprivation hits Brazil, we need to make it clear that there's nothing WE can do.
2
@Moehoward
I'm afraid it would cause pains far beyond Brazil. Not just on the massive migration that would follow.
People forget, that Greece, North Africa, Middle East were covered in dense forests before humans cut it all down.
2
I tell my Brazilian family members that the similarities between Bolsonaro and Trump are, frankly, downright frightening. There's the hostility towards minorities and women. There's the hatred of science when it clashes with their ideology. There's the rudeness and crudeness not befitting heads of state. There's the nepotism. There's the attitude that government is an 'l'etat c'est moi" affair, separation of powers be damned. There's the corruption of department heads and ministers. There's their affinity for conspiracy theories and fringe "thinkers". To this incomplete list, we can now add backtracking on statements that were emphatically clear. After worldwide criticism of Brazilian inaction, Bolsonaro halfheartedly activated the military to step in and assist in the firefighting. What has not diminished is the chauvinistic, nationalistic petulance that comes with the whole Amazon-is-our attitude. You can add that nationalistic petulance to the list as well.
5
Let’s sob and cry and wring our hands some more. Ring the bell. Maybe throw some stark data out there. Get mad and then clean the house. Wait for the next election. Wait for the next apocalypse. Isn’t there something in the Bible about how humans love their apocalypse? Kind of a thing with us. Over and over. Good vs evil. Disasters. Massacres. Indescribable mayhem. Horrible leaders. Flocks of sheep. Bah.
Why is this story not the front page headline? Every single day? Every other story is minor in comparison.
7
I am disgusted by journalists serving the political service of the Brazilian left.
1
All this angst - and yet you will all do nothing but wring your hands and "protest" as the Amazon is murdered.
Truly humans deserve to go extinct.
1
Please, Mrs President, don't let all that's left of our green turn into ash gray.
3
Well you voted him in...
Dear Concerned Billionaires,
Please buy the Amazon from Brazil.
Kind regards,
ETC
3
We are doomed.
4
@Kanaka true. Let it happen. Humanity deserves extinction.
2
Thanks to the NYT and its fabulous reporting, I know the Earth is dying. Having a child today is like birthing them into a bonfire, it is cruelty at its core. Harry & Sparkle have decided to only have 2. Blessings to all
3
@P&L That's 2 too many. Life of privileges comes with heavy carbon footprint.
1
Just as with Donald Trump in the U.S. and Boris Johnson in the U.K., Brazilians knew what they were getting when they elected Jair Bolsonaro. There's no reason to be surprised. The necessary question is, why are people around the world voting for candidates who've said ahead of time that they're going to do harmful things.
7
The general population of the UK did not vote for Boris Johnston. only the members of the Conservative party1were allowed that honour
1
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."
3
Brazil has no right to burn the Amazon .
It must be stopped. We don't need cattle and soy. We need air and biological diversity.
What is wrong with these people like Bolsonaro and Trump , who exhibit such hatred for the natural world?
This is s crime against humanity and the world should intervene.
11
@Carla TRUE. It is as if Balsonaro, Trump and people like them know their end will come and if their decisions and actions leave nothing but scorched Earth behind, so be it. Absolutely no regard for the life that follows them and the natural world which supports it. Sad, so much so I would cry if I could.
1
@Carla
The poor people living there make a living from these big corporations.
What can we do for them?
How about a carbon tax to pay for the services of the Amazon?
I say that knowing it is complicated. Given corruption, how much money will actually go to help the little people.
1
Why did offering water to an armadillo provoke worldwide outrage?
A John Kennedy would have the lofty words that could shame Balsonaro into acting like an adult instead of a mean, petty hack. But our also mean, petty, and illiterate "leader of the free world" is in his camp. So expect things to get worse unless another JFK, here or elsewhere, emerges to take the reign.
1
Why are so many of the “smallest, dullest, pettiest of men” being elected, including our own version here? What is wrong in the world?
3
With an exponential population growth and increasing disparity between the rich and poor in the world, it’s hard to explain to the vast majority of the poor and unenlightened masses about the benefits of conservation, global warming , etc. BUT it can be done and should be done and I don’t think the masses are that stupid. However the populist politicians are taking the easy way out just to stay in power. And the elitist intellectuals lack the capacity to socialize and transmit their knowledge to the masses.
3
I recommend to all that you do as I have just done:
Step 1 - Read in the Guardian Jonathan Freedland's article under the heading:
ADDRESS UNKNOWN: the great, forgotten anti-Nazi book everyone must read (First published in 1938, US author Kathrine Kressmann Taylor’s forgotten classic is a devastating work of political fiction that still resonates today)
Step 2 - Order the book
On topic here? Yes. In Brazil and in the USA people who once professed a commitment to decency, openness, science, reason are quite capable of abandoning that commitment. So too as concerns people worldwide who abandon Amazonia.
Case in point: Read the New Yorker Interview 23 August of University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Amy Wax who must have once had such a commitment. She has abandoned all such commitments taking on the very position that the man in focus in ADDRESS UNKNOWN took, that only selected whites are sufficiently superior to run nations.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
@Larry Lundgren
I always like your posts.
Below is a New York Times article to help you understand how Bolsonaro got elected.
The previous government was the most corrupt in recent history.
Do a search on "lava jato", "operation car wash", and "mensalao" and see what comes up. There are articles from credible publications like the New York Times and the Guardian.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/business/international/effects-of-petrobras-scandal-leave-brazilians-lamenting-a-lost-dream.html
@Larry Lundgren
Thank you, Larry.
The interview with that Law Professor was indeed chilling to read.
Basically, the ugly truth of Trump and Bolsanaro and Johnson is this: to fulfill their evil, childish, petty power dreams they tell voters: the world is going to pieces, not everyone can be saved, but I can save you instead of that other guy over there, if you vote for me.
The blame lies squarely with the people who invented social media - for the lies that are spread do much more damage than the arguable good that come from calling attention to issues.
In the age of social media there has been more outrage about issues, but less action - because the next issue is right around the corner and we all end up exhausted.
Seriously? I'll put up our Trump against your Bolsonaro as the pettiest of men; you don't even need to limit the pool to those leading giant economies.
2
We as a people of the world have to WAKE UP! We persist in putting these horrible men in charge of our lives. Pay attention! Vote!! Stop this madness by putting these men - and let’s face it they are all men - on the street where they belong.
1
I reject your gender role that men are the protectors of Global events. No one is preventing you from gathering the money and personnel to protect the world. Good luck.
Maybe this cloud will have a silver lining by reminding people around the planet that small weak men have taken over and are trying to kill us all for their own twisted reasons. America, Brazil, most of eastern Europe, Australia and a host of other pseudo-fascist dictators think they're rulers rather than elected officials. Time for us humans to wake up and make the next year a possible defining time in our shared history. Time for these buffoons to go back under their rocks.
3
@markd
It all happened because social media got us distracted and ill informed and let us believe, sharing (via media) is caring. No - sharing material and emotional care is caring, joining action is caring, but not tweeting and signing petitions.
1
GREED is truly the most terrible challenge of our times, and capitalism is its tool, its means to power and more greed.
Greed is a (contagious) mental illness, an unfillable hole, a hunger that denies justice, a brutal expression of broken egos.
Greed is having a million times as much as the poor and still feeling you don't have enough.
Greed consumes the earth without respite, and is a cancer on humanity.
Greed destroys us and our children and their future.
Greed is death.
2
@William Indeed and it will be my friend.
1
pettier then trump? impossible.
1
Let’s vote the women into office to help Mother Earth. The men have done enough damage.
1
Let’s not mince words: If you eat meat, you are the problem.
5
The Brazilians voted in Bolsanero, their horrible version of a Donald Trump, and now the reality starts twisting. Unfortunately, the loss of the Amazon will profoundly have a negative impact on the world. Electorate stupidity has consequences.
1
He is not merely dull and petty. He is full on fascist and a ruthless puppet for the Brazilian oligarchy.
What is almost as sickening is how corrupt the DNC is showing itself to be. They voted overwhelmingly not to allow an "unsanctioned" debate on the climate.
I'm getting behind Justice Democrats and others who will throw these fake "Democrats" out along with the Koch lobby, which calls it self the RNC and the congressional members of the Republican party.
They are all pawns to the fossil fuel industry and while our planet burns, they are so petty as to do what the fossil fuel lobby suggests rather than acting with wisdom.
As for all of these barbaric, money soaked, corrupted and ugly beings, it is time for them to be voted out.
Petty, dull? Those words are not sufficient for a man who once told a respected public servant of Brazil that she is too ugly to . . . This horrifying monster is the servant of evil in my opinion. The human species is desecrating this planet and unless the corruption stops now, the mass extinction event will complete in the near term for many species.
5
@Tom Paine
All so those greedy Brazilians, who see themselves above the favela folks, can have snickering laughs at the expense of those less fortunate.
In South America Brazilians were never my favorite - the smaller countries have much more humanity. But now they are dropped bottom for empowering this man.
Look at videos of the victory parties of this man and become ill.
Given the leaders of Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, USA, China, Brazil, Great Britain, Israel, and on, the world is choking on. Today these leaders and their wealthy puppet masters who have facilitated their elevations to positions of power are wondering how all this can be spun, their political opponents are arguing hypotheticals, Evangelicals finds themselves Biblically challenged— waiting for God to step in with the big smote, The rest of us are clearly gobsmacked. All deer in the head lights of a 120 mile and hour automobile with artificial intelligence in control bearing down. Well at least the question has been answered as to exactly how Nero’s Romans felt at the time of the fire.
4
Here is an insight to sanctions. They are placed against various nations for political reasons. But there are no sanction placed on polluters. Today, if ever there existed a candidate for sanctions, it would be Brazil. Destruction of the Amazon rain forest does not impact only Brazilians, it impacts the world.
6
What are the limits of economic expansion and related consumption just to maintain steady employment and a reasonable standard of life for the planet's ever growing human population?
One way or another, nature will eventually correct things, and it won't be pretty - unless we do it smartly first.
2
It's the turn of the lowest to run things.
3
1. There are too many of us.
2. Mourning the death of a Koch brother? Read Bill Maher's comments on the death of that enemy of humanity.
3. What is on the earth belongs to all of us. That includes the Amazon rain forest.
4. Take from the earth what you need, not what you can grab.
2
As we found out in 2016, elections have serious consequences. Bolsonaro is the southern hemisphere's Donald Trump.
When he was elected in Brazil, Bolsonaro basically opened the Amazon gates and said go for it! Now it will be hard, if not impossible, to put this genie back in the bottle. Oh, well, who needs oxygen?
7
I noticed in another NY Times article that the Trump administration wasn't happy with French president Macron -- they "complained that the focus of the [G7] summit was more on “niche issues” than the global economic challenges facing their nations." Maybe *oxygen* is a niche issues to them, but not to me! ("The Amazon is often described as the Earth’s “lungs,” producing 20 percent of our atmosphere’s oxygen.").
4
"A global treasure lies at the mercy of the smallest, dullest, pettiest of men."
—Just like the United States.
1
"And I shall put to death those ruining the Earth" Rev 11:18. There is not a better set of leaders today to really make this Scripture stand out. The end of this system of things is very near.
@DG: The infantile projection of human nature onto the physical universe will be the death of us all.
1
How do these small minded, purposefully ignorant men come to power? What forms their worldview that anything and everything is worth sacrificing to molify thier base, appease their corporate benefactors and, establish and build that power?
The destruction these men promulgate must come to an end. And the only way that will happen is if voters actual go out and vote!
@DCS: They're all enabled by failure to enforce strictures like "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
4
Along with Trump, Bolsanaro and all the other climate change deniers, this abject psychopathy would not be destroying our biosphere if these planet destroying madmen didn't have support. Just as I do with Trump, I blame the destruction of the Amazon on all the clueless people who continue to support these right wing psychopaths. The susceptibility of supporters being conned by these men is absolutely astonishing. Right wing supporters are like sheep being led to slaughter and we ALL get slaughtered right along with them. It is maddening!
3
We need to resist everything that is from Brazil and force Brazilians to exercise democratic processes to rid their strong man, and bring Brazil back to the league of concerned nations.
No more samba for me.
3
So, what was once considered the "lungs of the earth" is now being deliberately -- defiantly -- deforested, so farmers can survive -- temporarily.
Ronald Reagan's "decade of greed" in the 1980s saw this trend beginning. Now we have this.
It's beyond time to get really angry.
FEAR is a terrrible thing and causes people to do really stupid things.
Stupidity is something else, and it's all around us.
Our Con-man-in-Chief is once again silent -- speechless on this -- because he is defenseless.
When it comes to the battle of wits, Trump is unarmed.
2
This is horrifying. The Brazilian president seems to be Trump's twin...outright hatred for the environment.
2
Isolate Brazil. Cut off its trade. Then let the good citizens of Brazil deal with Bolsanaro the way he deserves.
2
We should take Brazil over and occupy it until global warming is no longer a threat.
I am of opinion that internal issues of a country should be solved by its nation. Issues like homelessness, manufacture of agrotoxics, and so on.
Deforestation is an issue that frequently has been used against Brazil in recent international negotiations.
That said,
I welcome current move from Macron and likes because Bozo (Bolsonaro) is a drag for Brazilian people and he should be dragged out from his position by Brazilian electorate.
1
We need to look in a mirror. If we as Americans didn't have such a hunger for red meat, the economic incentives to burn thousands of acres for pasture wouldn't exist. Yet we unconsciously consume red meat both at home and at the thousands of burger chains and steak houses. How is it that Five Guys and ZinBurgers are popping up on every corner when we are in crisis? We point the finger at Brazil but we have enabled this to happen. It's time for sweeping changes to the American diet.
4
The Amazonas belong to the World, not Brazil and the world needs to step up and protect it
3
Where is the leader who would command respect and understands science enough to convince the world that its orgy of populism is leading us to a form of suicide by ecosystem destruction? Are there enough U.S. citizens capable of mustering the reason needed to elect a candidate who can lift us above our ideologies and tribalism to be such a leader? I don't see evidence supporting a "yes" answer.
2
if you eat beef you do not care about the amazon rainforest.
Trump and Bolsonaro are from the same mold.
I have the highest respect for the brave protesters taking to the streets to try and make a positive change in their country.
It's so disgusting how many politicians and corporations worldwide who just don't care at all about our planet.
3
“Smallest, dullest, pettiest of men”! We are living in a nightmare created by several of the smallest, dullest, pettiest of men. Let’s all hope our house is still standing when we awaken!
2
The Amazon is also at the mercy of anyone who insists on eating beef, knowing that pristine rainforest is continually being razed for cattle.
1
Vanessa Barbara has eloquently avoided the main cause of global heating, the rich. They are vastly more responsible for the CO2 in the atmosphere than the average or poor.
Interestingly, when I type in "classism", the NYT spell check underlines it -- as if it were not even a proper subject for discussion. How can we avoid it when it so central?
Global heating is causing the deaths of more than a 100,000 each year, and is expected to get worse. Since the rich are most responsible for global heating, we are morally required to administer the correct penalties to them, which could easily require the death penalty. This has the side effect of whittling down the worst cause of this dire crisis facing humanity.
(Comment on the effect of classism on global heating)
7 a.m. pacific time
3
Believe it or not, the earth will outlive humans; it was here before us, it will be here after us. Forrests will grow again, the ice caps will reform, and new species will thrive. All of this, however, may have to wait until man-kind is gone. The earth will punish us for what we have done to her.
4
Vanessa Barbara, a very courageous journalist, denouncing a 'crime' being committed by a vulgar bully, by choice ignorant, hence, malevolously arrogant. When you began this story, by depicting this global treasure, the Amazon, being at the mercy of 'the smallest, dullest, and pettiest of men', I thought you were referring to Trump, the vulgar bully of the United States. But then, the real culprit became clear, another brutus ignoramus named Jair Bolsonaro, who could give a darn about nature's wonder, part of the world's 'lung', to diminish the impact of climate change on our well-being, let alone our survival. As to why we keep electing these 'thugs' to the highest office of the land, tells you we have work to do, educate ourselves in what's going on...and hold our unscrupulous leaders' feet to the fire.
1
djt is strong competition for world's pettiest of men.
If there was ever a situation screaming for UN intervention, it’s this one...
2
Bolsonaro campainged on a promise to plunder and pillage the Amazonian forests and murder indigenous people who have proteted it. Now, after sacking the head of the National Insitute for Space Research, after he released data showing a 278 jump on deforestation in July compared with the same month the previous year, Bolsonaro is complaining that "he should have been warned about such evidence, which could cause the country great harm internationally," suggesting that "the agency could be lying to make the government look bad." In the age of social media and mass manipulation, like Trump, Bolsonaro used fake news to inflame and radicalize the right to win the election. Now he is using it to try to confuse people, telling the world how concerned he is about the rain forest burning out of control. There is no punishment that is fit enough for this kind of criminal.
2
If he is so bad, why did Brazilians elect him?
@Ron...mystifying, isn't it. A lot like the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Critical thinking seems to have eluded at least half the human race here in the 21st. Two world wars with millions of human lives lost in the last century didn't seem to be enough populist idiocy to take hold in the psyche. Maybe extinction is exactly where we SHOULD be going....
3
At this moment in history, Americans have no right to complain about Brazil’s (Brazilian First” policies.
The American electorate encourages this type of “here and now” thinking and behavior.
If air quality diminishes, be rest assured the rich will be taken care of. Will you?
2
" ... at the mercy of the smallest, dullest, pettiest of men."
It's nearly always been this way about everything, has it not? Earth is dying. Nothing else really matters.
As a species, in Amazonia and elsewhere across this once verdant planet, we are committing ecocide—which means we are committing suicide. As the haves, in all their greed and short-sightedness, plunder what's left of the Earth's natural resources, the have-nots can only gape in stunned disbelief at the scope and import of the destruction. It is beyond horrifying.
We are at a point where nothing short of a global revolution may save us, where political coups to oust reckless and feckless fools like Bolsonaro and Trump may become necessary. If we cannot rise up and defend the only home we have ever—and will ever—know, then we are truly doomed. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a despoiled world and face unimagined deprivations. How can we do this to them? How can we do this to ourselves?
5
I never imagined during my long life the world's lungs would be plowed under thus paving the road where we all struggle to breathe and many millions of us die. Perhaps we are too stupid to be thought of as a long lived species despite those beautiful Gothic cathedrals. Beyond sad.
Maybe a Majority of Brazilians who voted Jair Bolsonaro for president should bare some of the responsibility for what has been happening in Brazil.
1
how incredibly sad. bolsonaro's portrayal here is accurate. one wonders how people turn out as he has. what insecurity does the electorate have in voting for these types, as he and trump share many personality traits?
The populists and uneducated elected the morally bankrupt, intellectually challenged and narcissistic Bolsonaro, much as ours did Trump here. The people who elected them (and the world, sadly) are now paying the price. They must vote them out, rectify the systemic wrongs, or face dire consequences. I am not hopeful.
2
"A global treasure lies at the mercy of the smallest, dullest, pettiest of men."
And, you forgot to say, American assets.
When will people realize that it takes only a handful of sick evil men to take down all life on earth?
Twisted megalomaniacs abound in this world they can be found running sweatshops in Calcutta to running rifle associations in the US. The danger and epic tragedy that awaits the entire human race can not be understated when one of these men runs an entire country. They are few in number but they will get us ALL killed with the aid of the stupid and greedy.
The U.N. needs to establish a fund yesterday and have a pool of money earmarked to just pay off or buy these farmers who are starting the fires for planting crops, even if the "farmer" is a company; just making it illegal is not enough. And it should include all forests in danger from logging etc. - after all we pay subsidies to farmers not to farm in the states, this would take it to the world stage.
"This is how the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper" T.S. Elliot
These "Hollow Men" who run the world would each one burn the earth just to declare themselves King of the Ashes.
2
Funny how the US will regime change a country loaded with oil but here we have Brazil, a country ready and willing to force mankind over a cliff for greed and short term profit and it's "nothing to see here folks" with the boys in the CIA.
1
A global environment protection force. I am CERTAIN this will be a Very Popular Idea.
Destroying a portion of our planet's lungs? Call in the EPF. Running a business that produces more environmental liabilities than benefits? Call in the EPF.
The EPF is the generation coming up now and it's their lives on the line. They have many avenues of defense -- stop buying things for one; get loud, louder, and deafening. Replace all these politicians who are sending you all to an early, resource poor, miserable grave.
Do it! No one can save you but yourself!
1
The New York Times has already reported that most of this land that is burning is already agricultural land that the farmers are preparing for harvest. There was a map that accompanied the article. Not sure what all the outrage is about.
Barbara has joined the "flock syndrome". Everything is Bolsonaro's fault. He is not the best person that we would like as president. But what has happened that all miseries have just occurred in the last few months? Where were the environmentalists when the fires were way over this season's fires during the leftist administrations, that fueled the largest graft corruption in the world? Why are France, Germany, Norway, and other nations only now worried about the "world's lungs"? There are always hidden agendas, and most journalists only worry about them when they hitch a ride on them unknowingly. Most of the figures that Barbara mentions are pure lies, and at least, highly disputable. She fails to approach figures of past administrations. Europe has just closed a deal with the Mercosur block and the rural groups in Europe, having always had massive gonvernment funding, are against opening the European market to lower cost South American dairy and farm products. However, what if the leftist candidate won the presidential election? They caused the largest recession in Brazilian history, and grafted billions of USD corrupt dictatorships and companies around the world. Why does Babara not mention this? The NYT should open its pages to both sides. The world's black sheep is at least trying to fix the economy and to get thieves in the Congress and in the Supreme court behind bars. The USA caught Al Capone on his income tax, never managing to prove any of his other crimes.
1
Mr. Bolsonaro has reported spent his evening watching a stand up comic who's specialty is bathroom humour. Seems about right for a guy who is rapidly becoming the most dangerous character around in a world filled with credible pretenders to that very same highly dubious honour.
Dear Vanessa, I live in Brazil and I'm in the middle of a cross-fire of false information, coming both from the left and the right. Thankfully I don't consider myself a right-wing voter (I don't like Bolsonaro or Trump) nor left-wing (I don't like Lula or Bernie). I much prefer people from the center, which I consider much more in equilibrium. As a reporter, I pray that you are also a centered person. I already read some of your articles criticizing the current right-wing government, criticizing the fires in the Amazon forest (which unfortunately have been happening for decades) and also criticizing the Car Wash operation in Brazil. Unfortunately I couldn't find any texts from you criticizing the leftist governments that Brazil had from 2004-2016 (Lula/Dilma) that robbed U$ billions from the people and from the country, nor have I found any text criticizing the Amazon fires which also ravaged during these same governments. Please tell me that you are an apolitical reporter and that you also wrote texts criticizing the leftist governments that we had....
1
It is the end of the world.
1
The lungs of the world are dying of smoke inhalation, and who does Bolsonaro blame? Why, NGOs, of course.
It's reminiscent of when Tom DeLay blamed school shootings in the US on the fact that evolution was part of the public school curriculum.
Strange notions of causality conservative politicians seem to have, regardless of which country they call home.
Maybe its.time to talk about the world taking the amazon forest away from Brazil for safe keeping.
1
The difference between burning down the rain forest and recent EPA deregulation in this country is one of degree.
For some reason, the right wing believes in destroying the planet for short-term profit. That's not politics, It's greed.
2
Worldwide people are mourning your tragic loss; as part of the Laudato Si' pledge we must all bear the responsibility of caring for our common home. As Pope Francis says, "the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all." I am praying for all the people involved in the overwhelming task of putting out the fires to save this "monumental universe!" Thankfully the two Supertankers that arrived yesterday may be helping to get the job done.
Humans are turning out to be one of the worst species to ever
evolved. We have increased our number to the point of being out of control. The Earth will survive us in the end but we will end ourselves in the meantime.
1
The issue is the growth economic model. Whether on the micro level where every business is measured on their growth, or lack there of, to national economies, to world living standards. It is relatively easy for those in the US to say that the emerging market peoples are going to have to accept a lower standard of living to save the planet, while the mature market regions of the world have already established the infrastructure to maintain a higher one.
How do we equalize? Short of revenue sharing, which we can’t do in this country, let alone globally, we are doomed. A model that could/should be looked at is the NFL. Whether you like professional football or not, the NFL realized that to have a successful league all of the teams had to be viable and have a chance to win regardless of if you were in a small market or a major one. Think Green Bay and Dallas. The profit from the sale of every Tom Brady shirt, is distributed to support the competition.
Sharing is difficult as it counters our primal nature to maintain our advantage over real or perceived rivals. It has worked in the NFL to all of the owners and fans benefits and we have to apply this knowledge to the global stage.
I know that this will not be easy the those who will have to make the largest sacrifice how impressive access to power, but unless we are willing to end the growth model and share the wealth of the world we can not survive.
2
This essay reminds me of a definition of homo sapiens found on an Internet page. "Homo sapiens: species of ape of African origin that devastated the biosphere and thereby drove its own extinction." Author was not identified in the search results. The thought clearly puts humans in the animal kingdom. We must never forget that these leaders and policy formulators are simply animals. They can't help themselves. They are limited by their animal nature. They put humans into the list of endangered species.
2
@Michael Edward Zeidler: But they pretend to know what an infinitely wise all powerful immortal thinks about human affairs, and they stockpile guns to enforce the will of the superman they project.
Anyone who has experienced the glory of an intact primary rain forest both feels and knows the critical importance of that ecosystem..
Our atmosphere, it’s climate, and our destinies are inexorably intertwined, like the lianas now burning in Brasil.
4
Rainforest Trust has a five of five star rating on Charity Navigator.
2
Reading about what is being done to the Amazon Forest is heartbreaking.
Irreplaceable flora and fauna are being forever destroyed for the aggrandizement of Jair Bolsonaro, a tyrannical autocrat who makes Nero and his legendary fiddling while Rome burned seem innocent.
Because the United Nations is essentially toothless, the world's nations should join together to form a new council constituted with inherent power and authority to enforce protection of resources and sites that are vital to the world as a whole but are threatened by countries bent on actuating their own selfish, destructive policies.
4
@SC Reader: The Republican Party of the United States, acting through the radically malapportioned US Senate, has consistently sabotaged US contributions to establishing a world government of governments.
Never, never, never vote Republican until the party’s complicity with environmental destruction comes to an end.
R.I.P. John McCain.
3
The cancer continues to spread and weaken the host. If only by some miracle of microbial evolution the host could put the cancer into remission.
2
The fires are historically at average for the time of year according to historical data that tracks recent years. Its worth mentioning, one would think: https://www.globalfiredata.org/forecast.html#elbeni
2
is it enough that I haven't eaten meat in 40 years?
probably not
3
It has been proven that rainforest soil is NOT great for raising crops. It is thin and low nutrient. So, farmers have to artificially add nitrogen which then leads to run-off and toxic algal blooms along the coast, in ponds and rivers.
Now, we can't even swim in our oceans, walk the beaches without risk of all sorts of nasty, killing bacteria from the toxic water. How unromantic, huh?
Remember those cases of brain eating macrophages from getting water up the nose?
We've burned down rainforests all over the world for products for human food.
Pretty soon, we'll have zoos so we can go see a tree, let alone any wildlife.
2
As I watch greedy individuals whose lives last at most a century destroy the earth's treasures—treasures that took tens of millions of years to develop and that, once ruined, can never be restored—I wonder about the whole notion of private property. Who is so arrogant to claim they own anything on this globe? What hubris leads us to believe that we—creatures of a mere instant—have the right to destroy these irreplaceable works of nature, created over millennia, existing long before us, and vital to the health and happiness of whatever comes after us?
We are vandals, who desecrate the earth's past, destroy its present, and deprive its future.
5
@617to416
Bless you.
We all live on wounded knees, now.
2
Trump and Bolsanoro are cut from the same cloth. If you own land, you have an absolute right to destroy it and everything on it in search of profit. We cannot say to the Brazilians -oh no you can't do that to your land, you need to stay broke and leave it pristine, but we can do it to our land and get rich. WE ALL HAVE TO CHANGE.
Interestingly the native Americans didn't "own" the land in our narrow minded way. The land was a common good that nourished everyone. They didn't "sell" the land for beads or anything else. We need to reconsider why we let some people destroy land to extract (short-term) profits even though it hurts ALL of us in the long run. These are the same mendacious manipulators who thought we could throw trash in the sea forever and it would just "disappear"...
4
Koch brothers, Trump, Bolsonaro--these are obscenely rich and/or overly-powerful men who can literally destroy the world with their greed and corruption. The fact that they can rig the political process to get whatever they want is a travesty of justice to the 99.999999999999 + percent of the 6 billion people who share the world with them.
2
Maybe Jeff Bezos should try to help instead of escaping into "outer space."
The name of his company is certainly glib enough to prompt such a question.
4
In future history books, when they seek to determine the turning point of when the heating of our planet became irreversible, it will hinge on three political factors operating behind the scenes.
1. Corporate interests continually fighting with the benefit of huge sums of money expended to protect their narrow self interests and increasing their bottom line at the expense of the environment.
2. Leaders in major countries who are shills for these corporate interests shredding environmental protection laws.
3. Ignorant voters who worship at the shrine of capitalism not caring for the long term damage done to their environment and the consequences to generations to come.
In America socialism is a dirty word while rich corrupt capitalists are extolled. What a sad tragic joke for all of us.
3
Can't we simply remove this man from office out of sheer preservation?
1
I wonder if Bolsonaro plays the fiddle?
The sixth great extinction is already happening. There is only one question now. Will rapid destruction of the environment do less damage than slow? I think there may be a blessing hidden in human stupidity, namely, if collapse is fast there may survive islands of other species to repopulate the planet. A slow, methodical use of all resources may just leave a dead planet behind.
2
Bolsonaro already has sent the army to fight wildfires.
500,000 hectare of forest have been burnt in Bolívia to increase coca production and nobody says a word.
There are even bigger wildfires in two countries in África and nobody says a word.
The wildfire is huge in russian tundra and nobody says a word.
Macron doesn't want EU-Mercosur agreetment and that's all.
France has made more than 100 nuclear tests in Polinésia and nobody says a word.
Greetings from Brazil!
3
Grief!
That seems to be all what is left to the global community since the psychotic deception of reality and its threats have come to power.
Grief about all the life destroyed in the fires and those doomed to die in the aftermath of that.
Grief!
2
the fires in Central Africa are ten times worse than those in Brazil yet get no mention. Why?
1
I am doing all I can to save habitat locally. It's like a full-time job. Then I read something like this and want to weep. I can't do it all. Where is everybody?
At this point there are only 188 comments to this op-ed, which is pitiful to begin with. Worse yet, most comments just say "I hope" or "perhaps someone....." or complain about the Brazilian president or Trump or something else that promises no personal action. The worst are those that just give up on this living planet, saying it is hopeless, spreading toxic de-motivation.
No, it is not over. That's just an excuse to do nothing. My generation of Baby Boomers, blamed for the state of the planet, are mostly retired, have time for activism and could be a powerful force for good. Giving up is just lazy.
So please quit hand-wringing. It accomplishes nothing. You are personally capable of a lot more. Those of us already involved are stretched to our limits, picking up the slack for those who only say they care. You are one you've been waiting for. Get busy.
156
@gw
Thank you for calling out the apathy. Us older readers bear so much of the brunt of the responsibility. We have lived for years with the comforts that so often come at the expense of the environment. We need to lead, not just bemoan the losses. Might I suggest that one way to lead is to vote for a Green New Deal?
21
@gw: We learn about or directly experience horrors like this every day now; I can sometimes barely imagine how things could get worse. Climate change, habitat destruction, hatred, homelessness, willful ignorance and greed; so many mass shootings and other violence, all almost beyond comprehension.
If I thought it would help save the rain forest, I would go down to Sao Paolo and set my hair on fire outside the capitol. But it wouldn’t help, and I honestly don’t know what to do.
But I do know that if we care, the first thing we must do is take back the Senate and get this gang of deranged, evil people out of the White House. Hate and stupidity are clearly contagious, and they have traveled all over the world like an epidemic.
27
@gw
The best thing that can happen to this planet is the extinction of humans, and we're well on the way to providing this gift to mother Earth. The planet has been around for billions of years and will be around for billions more. Humans have been but a mere flash along that timeline. Once we're gone, she'll recover.
16
Sadly, there is a relationship between Trump's Trade war, China buying more soybeans elsewhere ( Brazil) bankrupting our own farmers and the deliberate burning at night of the Amazon.
The international community needs to do two things. First, politely suggest to Bolsonaro that he accept the help of fire fighters from around the world and planes to help put out the fires Second offer positive financial incentives to Brazil (not just threaten sanctions) for protecting the Amazon, which would clearly be in their own interest as it is essential for rainfall within Brazilian cities like Sao Paulo themselves (just one of many reasons to protect Amazonia).
Bolsonaro feels Brazil has a right to deforest and exploit the Amazon for agriculture as early settlers in America and Europe did. This is true, but times have changed. Let's help Brazil feel more a part of the world community. For example give them a seat on the Security Council at the UN vs.just feeling isolated and sanctioned because of these fires. They are a great country and Bolsonaro needs the world's support to do the right thing now.
2
Perhaps its time for the defenders of life on our planet to consider creating a defense force with some real teeth? What if reason alone is not enough to persuade those who would defend the burning of fossil fuel, and the continued extraction of this fuel, with armed force?
1
The New Yorker did a piece on this recently and I recall a statistic about Brazil's recent most productive years of agricultural output coinciding with years when deforestation was at its lowest. The forest and agriculture do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive if managed intelligently.
And I know some people don't like it when this point is brought up, but the forest is being cut down in response to market pressures for commodities demanded by our ever-expanding, too-large population (e.g., palm oil, grazing land for cattle). There are too many mouths to feed on the planet. Overpopulation is driving climate change and environmental destruction.
5
@Aaron
Well, you know who they will decide are not deserving of life, don't you? It's becoming pretty clear
@Southvalley Fox Or maybe just stop having so many children.
Our CIA has overthrown many governments because they were hostile (not subservient) to American interests or corporate profits. Isn't the survival of the planet an "American interest"?
2
Would there be similar outrage if our government...
1.) Added a surcharge of 40% to beef and dairy products in the US?
2.) Removed tax benefits for more than 3 dependents?
3.) Gave a tax break to those that had no children?
Thought so.
41
@JeffB,
we probably should do maybe not those exact things, but in some way, shape, or form.
4
@JeffB Make it more than two dependents, and, yes, my wife and I would appreciate a tax break for consciously choosing to not have children; we have an exponentially smaller impact on the environment around us than these grocery-gobbling broods rolling around in SUVs.
8
@JeffB: The USA and the other advanced nations have already reached negative population growth if you discount immigration. We need figure out how to get those parts of the world who haven't yet done so to do it. The current model is to make them prosperous and they will do it on their own, but our model of prosperity has too big a footprint for that to work. And we have to figure out how to keep an economy healthy with a shrinking population and the inevitable gray wave.
1
Bolsonaro, another "profit over people" "money above all else" leader. We incorrectly think that the influence of Mr Trump is limited to our own shores, but we are wrong.
3
@Lawrence
Hilary is right...it IS a "Vast, Rightwing Conspiracy"....spreading all over the world, blaming the wrong people and dividing us
Just as depressing as the fires in the Amazon is the fact that Bolsonaro was elected, and by a wide margin, having made it clear during his campaign that one of his priorities would be to replace the rainforest with cattle ranches and soybean fields. There´s no surprise here, no betrayal. He´s doing what he said he would do. As long as we keep voting for the Trumps and the Bolsonaros, this jewel of a planet, and the life it supports, are doomed.
2
@Julia
Julia,
I watched that "election" knowing the damage he could do. It was VERY close and largely due to him imprisoning his opponents
1
Insatiable human greed fuels the monster of unregulated capitalism that has become an unstoppable juggarnaut that will end human civilization. That great accomplishments of humankind that we witness today, will topple from the destruction of the very earth that has made our success as a species possible.
When resources are exhausted and the environmental quality too low to sustain high civilization, what will remain. I can not understand those who value crass material riches over love, beauty, knowledge, and naturing communities that enrich everyday lives and make our human experience worthwhile.
2
The issue is not Trump, the Green Party or anything else that is American-centric. The issue is Bolsonaro and his disregard for the Amazon rainforest.
2
Bolsanaro and Trump -- two dictators who, through sheer hubris alone, deny climate change, when all the scientists disagree with them.
Bolsanaro and Trump disdain their people, the planet, the law. Each of their dictates never comes from a place of reason or kindness. They take pleasure in causing havoc -- a pride in how much distress they can create.
I am not familiar with Brazil's election system. It's clear Bolsonaro let clearcutters burn the Amazon-- perhaps he owns, or has shares in, or was bribed by corporations which will benefit from razing the Amazon. He doesn't care that 20% of the world's oxygen comes from there. He needs to be voted out of office.
Trump, likewise. He preens while bragging about destroying unblemished U.S. natural lands with open pit mines, tracking and oil drills.
He relished killing the Clean Water and Clean Acts, ensuring that no American was safe from industrial pollution.
The largest lobbying organization in D.C. is that of the oil-rich Koch family. They are also huge Republican campaign donors. Along with Russia.
These two men never wanted to help people, or make the world a better place. They, indeed, have made it a more rotten place.
They must be voted out.
3
It is truly heartrending. It is also now thought that at the time of the conquests the Amazon was inhabited by millions and that the distribution of edible fruits,nuts,etc. could not happen just thru nature.As in North America the land was inhabited and nutured. These peoples faded from exitence the same as as other indigenous peoples from disease. The only way the Europeans succeeded in the conquest was because the people were dead. To see the river near Manaus run to different colors for miles is one of my most profound travel experiences. It hurts to see such ignorance and depravity in a leader{NOT]
1
Sadly, it is all about the money and human greed. The rich just want more and more and the poor just want to find a way to survive regardless of the cost to the rest of us. Both are ruining everything.
2
It's as if Bolsonaro and in a different way Trump, are intent on wreaking a terrible vengeance against the environments of their respective countries. It is not clear why. Greed? Ignorance? And outsiders can't do a thing even though in the case of the Amazon, they will be affected too.
This doesn't bode well for the human race. The environment will come back, but by then, thankfully, humans will gone.
2
Jair Bolsonaro is just another corrupt, self-serving, Trump-like "populist" who will bring nothing but misery to his people. It's too bad all that damage, rather than raining down on everyone, doesn't fall exclusively on those who empowered them. Would that it were so.
If only we could divide this country in two.
In one, we would have universal healthcare, free college tuition, reliable infrastructure, sensible gun-control, equality of opportunity and equality under the law, environmental protection, reliable news outlets, one person one vote, reasonable tax laws, a balanced budget, an embrace of social safety nets and the social contract, and a view of other fellow citizens that is informed by caring, empathy, and compassion. In other words, everything Democrats stand for and strive to achieve. A land of shared responsibility, and peace and prosperity for all.
In the other, they would have astronomical heath care costs, prohibitively expensive education, crumbling infrastructure, open carry military assault weapon laws, polluted air, water and food, endless propaganda, endless wars, rigged elections, open racism, an official state religion, no taxes on the wealthy, massive deficits, a government ruled exclusively for the 1%, and a "get off my lawn" "you're on your own" "winner take all" approach to everyone. In other words, the Dickensian nightmare every Republican stands for and strives to achieve.
Alas, political decisions don't only effected those that make them.
3
It is just another case of lemmings crushing a whole ecosystem. Without the trees to recycle rain, the whole basin will become arid, like the Sahara.
And what country supported the coup of the Brazilian 1% that illegally forced Roussef and Lula out? This is not new. Go back and read the history of the US violent dominance of Central and Latin America since the inception of the Monroe doctrine.
Only the US HAD the ability to lead the profound transformations needed to avoid the extinction of civilized life on earth. Instead. we pursue the opposite, across the board. In its 500-page assessment, the Transportation Administration estimates that by 2100 the global average temperature will have risen by 4 degrees Celsius, twice the limit the UN report on global warming warns we should not exceed. It concludes: "Why bother to limit CO2 emissions from cars?" What an admission!
1
Ms. Barbara,
You should understand that Mr. Trump thinks that the Amazon is a large property (akin to Mar-a-Lago) owned by Jeff Bezos.
Of course, he won't do anything to help his archenemy.
This is heartbreaking.
I'm glad I am not young.
I'm glad I did not have children.
There are so many horrors on the horizon and it will only get worse.
We are a tragically flawed species. Perhaps we deserve extinction.
2
The catastrophic threat to all life on Earth by severe climate change requires that such wanton, large-scale destruction of the environment be treated as a crime against humanity, an injunction enforced by UN peacekeepers be immediately issued, and those responsible speedily brought to trial by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
2
It isn't the Amazon that is at the mercy of the pettiest men — it is all of humanity. We do not have the will to save our children and those of us who are adults today apparently don’t think we will live to see the worst . . . So why care?
1
No, the Amazon, and the rest of the world, are at the mercy of the pettiest species. Perhaps, like Trump, Bolsonaro's brazen ignorance can begin to show where we all fail, but his existence is only another step towards the end we have all willed together.
1
Destruction of the rain forests of Amazonia is a crisis of worldwide proportions, and we all should be outraged by the fact that imminent loss of this treasure is unnecessary and solely the result of greedy people in search of a quick profit.
Beyond the fact that the rain forests are a key moderator of the climate of our planet, the ecosystem of Amazonia contains plant life which probably includes undiscovered and untested species with enormous medical benefit to humankind.
Brazil holds the responsibility to protect the rain forests, and nearly every government over the past few decades has failed miserably in that stewardship. Political corruption has been the rule, not the exception.
Current President Jair Balsonaro, a retired military officer, is a climate-change denier and served under the military dictatorship which ruled two decades until 1985 and which tortured Dilma Rousseff, who was later elected president and impeached at the urging of Balsonaro’s rightwing colleagues. His choice for Minister of Foreign Affairs calls global warming a “plot by cultural Marxists.”
Balsonaro admires authoritarian leaders, such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. It is no surprise that Balsonaro is a big fan of Donald Trump and wants his inexperienced son, Eduardo, to be Brazil’s ambassador to the U.S.
Trump and Balsonaro have suggested that the recent fires were set by leftwing critics of Balsonaro. In fact, they were set by large agricultural companies to clear and create fields.
95
If there's a silver lining of this horrific tragedy, it will be in also drawing attention to the other fires burning forested watersheds throughout the world.
Set the fires. Cut down the remaining trees. Sell them for lumber or firewood. Grow coffee, corn or beans. Start another fire when the thin layer of topsoil is washed down the mountainside. Sell plots of land on steep slopes for building homes with a view.
It's a vicious cycle. But one that can easily be broken, especially when the alternative is no water.
Yes, Ms. Barbara, your awe and connection with the universe upon experiencing the Amazon Rain Forest is real. President Jair Bolosonaro's unreal legacy to the world is that Brazil's Amazonian rain forests must be burnt down to provide land for farming.
Bolsonaro's environmental people insist that the fires are just "slash and burn" fires readying the land for planting. That the fires are being overrated by the world, and that Brazil is being unfairly treated as a pariah.
The Amazon forest fires are now a global crisis. All the flora and fauna of that vast refuge of carbon-dioxide breathing, oxygen-producing lands will die when the forests die.
Our president calls climate-warming "a hoax", and is in Bolosonaro's nationalistic corner against environmental concerns for our planet. The subject of Brazil's rain forest fires was brought up at the G-7 Summit in France today. Mr. Trump's people complained and called it "a niche issue".
Today, the fires are our existential crisis on Planet Earth. Some "niche issue"!
75
Slash and burn at one time was the way humans established growing lands, used them up, and then moved on to start over. They saw how the great forests took back their abandoned lands. Humans were so few and the forests so vast that the idea of people affecting nature was mad.
That was then. Now we are altering nature and making it unlike that which humans have known for the history of our species. Destroying the Amazon has catastrophic consequences. Ignorance is no protection from those consequences.
7
If you want to save the rain forests of Brazil a great way to begin is to buy local. We in North America are forcing farmers into debt so they can compete with global markets that include soybeans. They are clear cutting the Jungle to grow soybeans among other things. The only place to get to that President is Brazil's wallet. The everyday conveniences we have and are used to otherwise known as consumerism is wiping out small economies and the environment. Instead of being loyal to these consumer brands shift your budget to a local grower you can boost and sustain a local community economically. This method keeps a part of your budget locally invested. You can literally see the direct result. We have more than enough land when used properly to feed ourselves and sustain economies in North America.
One should stop complaining about the cost of local food while you have a five dollar cup of Starbucks in your hand.
2
THIS is the real story...not the latest tweet from the unstable person who is shamefully our president. Or Brazils for that matter. I am glad Bernie Sanders is at least taking on climate change as a real issue - as it will soon make all over issues moot.
4
There are several points that are contributing to the problems. The US tariffs on China have led to Chinese purchases of soy and beef from Brazil resulting in a need to expand production and take advantage of the windfall. The price of oil has declined impacting the Brazilian economy significantly. The poverty level in the Amazonian regions is tremendous so the government wishes to find ways of improving the economy in the region and agriculture is a way to do so since it is not a favorable environment for other industries. Yes, it would be great if it could be a wild preserve. But how will the people there survive? There is a reason the indigenous people there had a historically low population. The forest does not support large numbers of people. Yes, Bolsanaro and beef ranchers deserve some blame. However, we must realize the economic and social forces at work. Does anyone have a solution for economic development in the region? I have never heard a good one. Maybe the area needs to be depopulated. Who will accept the refugees? The EU? The USA? Canada? BTW the same goes for Venezuela of course they don’t have anything we want anymore.
2
As usual with the latest warning-du-jour about the growing climate disaster that we're creating, we read commenters who wring their hands and cry crocodile tears about the awful things that are happening in (fill in the disaster of your choice), pointing blaming fingers at Them, wondering why They don't do something.
Then we Fossil Fuel addicts go about our wasteful ways, driving here in our urban 4WD diesel pickups, flying there for our badly-needed long weekend vacations, overheating and overcooling our under-insulated McMansions, mindlessly wasting half of the food and 2/3 of the energy we produce. How many even know their individual Carbon Footprint, or how it compares to that of more responsible global citizens like the Swiss, who create 1/4 as much GHG/capita as do we.
15% of the world's citizens (including virtually every American) consume 80% of the world's resources. We will not reverse our race to Climate Disaster until each of us cares enough to make essential changes in the way we overconsume and waste fossil fuels.
9
Who cut down the last tree on Easter Island that ensured the extinction of the humans living there? I am sure Trump would have happily done so if it made him money. Thank goodness for Macron and the EU who threatened “Trump-like” to cancel economic ties with Brazil. This caused Bolsonaro and his administration to reverse course and try to extinguish the fires. Whether it will slow the deforestation has yet to be known. A big factor in this are Trump’s tariffs on China which resulted in Chinese tariffs and abandonment of American beef and soy. China is now turning to Brazil for beef and soy. So of course there is a rush to increase production which requires more land. Hopefully American farmers will know this story when it comes time to vote in 2020.
3
Just a thought - why don't the "enlightened" billionaires of the world - I'm talking about people like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett (I'd leave Elon out of the mix right now, as he has enough problems of his own) - simply get together to form an international real estate company and purchase large parts of the Amazon from the Brazilian government? Bolsonaro's petty, primitive capitalist instincts would be satisfied, and then all the billionaires would need to do is to simply leave their new property alone - no development, no deforestation, nothing. Just leave it to nature, and to posterity. What better way to invest the billions that you have earned in your lifetimes from the world's consumers? What better legacy to leave to posterity? Come on guys, we're counting on you.
7
Because it is not for sale. Like Greenland. Also, ownership will not prevent the illegal deforestation that is occurring.
4
@Andy - what about the indigenous tribes who have lived in the Amazon for millenia?
1
In addition to (and in support of) all the comments about the substance of the article, let me just add that this was a beautiful piece of writing. I especially liked the continuing comparisons between Notre Dame de Paris and 200 foot tall trees burning in the Amazonian jungle, and the return to the thirsty armadillo at the end of the article.
8
So when the US or Saudi Arabia has a resource (oil for example) that is of vital interest to the whole planet, we get to sell it at a profit and become rich.
When Brazil has a resource which is even more vital for the whole planet, they are expected to provide it out of the goodwill of their heart, even as many of their people live in poverty.
I fully agree with everything Ms Barbara writes, but let's not look on like we are helpless bystanders. We in the rich west could offer tangible compensation (cash) for every acre of amazon that is not burned and continues to supply us with Oxygen.
Obviously right now this isn't going to be led by the US, but maybe the EU could take the lead until the US elects someone competent. It's just too easy to complain and blame with words that cost nothing - if we really care, let's actually show we care in tangible ways.
10
If the U.S. had a decent president pressure would be brought to bear regarding this horrendous situation. But right now we don't.
Imagine if in 2016 to so called "Green" Party didn't act as pawns for Republican operatives and Russian secret services.
Imagine if in 2000 the so called "Green" Party didn't put W. over the top in Florida and we could have take serious steps to combat climate change instead of starting two catastrophic Middle East wars and doubling down on carbon-based energy.
Just image how much better off the world would literally be without the demagogues known at the "Green" Party.
Their name is a cruel, heartbreaking irony.
147
@Will.
The only irony here is you blaming people who didn't vote for Trump, for Trump. That's not how elections work. You live in a democracy and citizens can vote for who they want; you don't have to like it, but that is part of being a citizen in a democracy.
The Green Party in Europe are essential parts of numerous national governments and in my own country are represented at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.
Your anger is highly misplaced. How about placing it with those actually causing the devastation.
32
@Canadian Roy
You fail to understand our political system. In Canada and Europe you have a parliamentary system so a party like the Green Party though small can be a part of a coalition government. Not so here in a presidential election. A third party will always take votes away from one of the two major party candidates. It’s not blame but responsibility. If you vote for a candidate that has no realistic chance of winning then understand the implications of what you’re doing.
66
@Will.
A critical piece of news that most people missed this week is that the 10th Circuit Court ruled that electors in the Electoral College are not bound to vote for president based on the popular vote. Another nail in the casket of our "democracy".
47
The Amazon lies in Brazil but it’s needed by the entire world so what Brazilians do with it affects mankind. That kind of fact is very frustrating for any country with a sense of proprietary rights over the territory it inhabits but it’s just a fact. No body owns the air and water and the biosphere which supports life on this planet, it belongs to no people, in fact.
We have the most powerful means to know the natural world with our brains and our scientific culture. We can act reasonably to direct our efforts purposefully. Is there any reasonable justification for allowing this to go on?
121
@Casual Observer
Being that North America was once tree-covered and we despoiled it for our development how do we now intervene in a sovereign country's affairs? Worse we have placed a climate-denier in our own office of the Presidency; a man with only superficial knowledge, if that, of anything.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had science and scientists in more politically powerful positions around the world?
Someone needs to deliver a clear, concise, and ubiquitous message to the people of the world.
And, the common folk around the world may not like elites, but for everyone's sake, they'd better listen to them.
31
@Greg Smith
I'm not sure you are correct about our forests. Yes a lot of forest growth was cut down starting in the 1600s, but in the U.S. forest growth has exceeded harvest every year since the 1940s.
One example I found in a simple search was on the "forestry facts" page on West Virginia's government forestry page (wvfa.gov) which states that in WV alone, there are 7 million more acres of forested land than existed in 1910.
Overall, according to the U.S. Forest Service, as of 2000, 749 million acres in the US are forested, compared to an estimated 1 billion acres that were forested before European settlers arrived. That's only a 25% loss over 400 years, with the last 50 showing continued growth through management. East Coast forestry management, much in private hands, is the reason for the overall growth in forests in the US.
Not bad, given the concomitant population explosion over the same time period.
14
@Greg Smith
The British Isles were also covered in trees. However, it seems that the result of removing trees for farming and grazing in this part of the world had a negligible effect on the environment when compared to what is happening in the Amazon. Some parts of the world's ecosystem are apparently much more vital to its health than others.
11
I totally subscribe to Vanessa Barbara's points. Mr Bolsonaro, who himself violated environmental laws fishing in a protected area ,was fined and had the fine cancelled once elected. He had an environmental official fired for confiscating tractors and bulldozers used for deforestation, then ordered the equipment returned to the loggers.
In Brazil, many of us fear Bolsonaro has barely begun to stun the world with his toxic policies of weapons for everyone, the right for police to shoot without being investigated, his insistence at appointing inept people to critically vital positions, like naming one of his sons to become ambassador to the USA, simply because he lived there for a while when he was young and worked for a hamburger franchise.
The president of Brazil is burning out of control and the firemen brigade is divided on what to do over there in Biarritz.
154
@Marcelo Brito
There is a word to describe people who act in this manner. The word is evil.
6
@Marcelo Brito but you voted him into power. Why
1
@Vincentpapa, in Brazil we have a system with a lot of political parties and presidential candidates. Bolsonaro was elected by fewer than half our population, while the rest of the population was divided among a number of candidates. Besides, he was the candidate who promised to put an end to criminality, and in Brazil we reached a level of criminality that made people simply desperate.
3
Bolsonaro was elected through a series of corrupt legal maneuvers. But he is not the problem as an individual, terrible as he may be. He has been backed by US and Brazilian mining, logging, and agri-business interests. It's not coincidental that he and Trump admire each other, nor is it simply a question of personalities. Climate change denial and agri-business expansion, to supply the consumption of meat in the northern hemisphere and legitimated by the assault on indigenous and afro-brazilian communities as backward impediments to progress, are crucial parts of this crisis.
116
@Julie
That is not true. Brazilians went to the polls to wrest power from a corrupt political party that had a grip on the country for over a decade. The last president before Bolsonaro was impeached and had to resign. The president before her is in jail. So, no, there was no "corrupt legal maneuvers", Brazilians just got tired or seeing the country founder, no jobs, businesses closing, high crime, poor health services, poor infrastructure... you name it. If you have evidence of these "corrupt legal maneuvers" I suggest that you take them to the authorities. No one should be quiet about corruption, ever.
2
Thank you for appropriately using the word "awe" to describe your experience of being in the Amazon forest. You reveal your reverence for nature and all the creatures that go with it.
First Mr. Trump, then Mr. Bolsonaro emerge into the international arena as deniers of the impact of humans are having on the natural environment. Curiously, the share a common style of rhetoric that uses lies, blame and deflection to avoid discussing the harmful impact of the loss of nature.
Shame on them, and shame on the cattle ranchers who pursue profit over ecology and planetary well being.
We are witnessing the worst form of irreverence with the annihilation of the Amazon; and as others have remarked, it sickens me to witness.
I hope the Brazilian people do unto Bolsonaro as I hope 'we the people' do unto Trump; either impeach or vote out of office, so the responsible people can get back on track for setting things right with the natural order by limiting human activity in areas that need to be preserved.
86
@Chuck. Love to know the names of the responsible people who can get back on track
2
Yes, this is a tragedy of monumental proportions. We need international cooperation to completely reform how humanity uses land on this planet, especially in the Amazon. And we need business to work with governments, farmers, communities.... fossil fuel use must be taxed, tariffs imposed on polluting firms and firms that engage in deforestation....and we better get on with this fast. For this we need transparent supply chains and politicians who understand these issues and act with courage.
2
We really need to listen to the science and the scientists who know with much greater clarity, the perilous fate of the planetary ecosystem and the danger to future generations. Scientists need to speak out more loudly and the non-fake news media must report on more of what they are saying. Uncovering truths with empirical data is of little value if the powers that be including the media do not heed the warnings.
61
Why are so many leaders determined to go for the quick money despite the environment? Development is one thing, but destructive rather than sustainable development is wrong. Such deliberate malfeasance should be made an international crime.
He can cry about Brazil's sovereignty, but there is so much value being destroyed for short-term gain that no such excuses matter. CO2 from the burning, then from the cattle farms is not development, it is desecration.
189
@Speakin4Myself
Yes, at least the end of civilization as we know it (I hope I am exaggerating) would be less embarrassing if our public servants didn't sell us out for such small amounts of money and power.
Come on Guys, at least sell The Will of the People for a respectable price.
[This comment is just gallows humor. Yes Donald, I am sad. However, I bring joy to my organizing!]
9
This is so frightening. Under normal circumstances, one would expect the United States to a lead an international effort to put pressure on Brazil to contain these fires. With the Trump administration's evident disdain for environmental protection there is little hope for positive action. The Amazon rain forest is a global preserve of immense importance for the health of the planet. Hopefully, some solution from othe sources wll present itself.
350
@Ronald
'Under normal circumstances, one would expect the United States to lead an international effort to put pressure on Brazil to contain these fires.'
I'm not so sure. Absent a Democratic administration, a governmental response to a rainforest catastrophe would probably be tepid. We’d probably have seen something more along the lines of ‘thoughts and prayers,’ even if normal conservatives were in charge. (Obviously, Donald Trump is far from anyone’s idea of normal.)
Republican administrations have always been much more business friendly, sometimes with strains of environmentalism. But starting with Reagan they were much more interested in rolling back protections.
James Watt, his Interior Secretary, and Anne Gorsuch (yes, mother of that Gorsuch and perhaps coiner of the term, 'nothingburger'), his EPA administrator, were notorious anti-environmentalists more in favor of anti-federalism, deregulation, and government downsizing.
And then Charles and David Koch, empowered by their billions and supported by fellow conservative billionaires, dramatically escalated their self serving, libertarian agenda. ‘Limited government' was essentially translated into heaping portions of dark money mainlined into the body politic, global warming denialism, and gutted environmental protections.
30
@Ronald That's why we should all be grateful that Europe has taken such a strong lead on the issue.
23
Somebody's making a dollar ? Get Trump and the rest of the Republicans down there right away, to help these fires burn faster!
6
The world needs to protect the Amazon and the best way to do this is to pay up. Instead of subsidizing fossil fuels let's subsidize the rain forest. I am in.
2
Maintaining the Amazon is critical, we can all agree.
Europe and America economically benefited from the industrial age, before we knew the impact on the environment and later global warming. Though Brazil is being short sighted, we cannot blame them for wanting a piece of the economic pie. We share the responsibility of the need to maintain the Amazon ecosystem. We need to pay up - it is too short sighted on our part to set an expectation for others of what not too do, when our economies didn't have such expectations in the past.
1
@Jesus
I disagree. We can blame Brazil. They are, or should be aware of the impact they are having on our planet. The burning must end now.
Reparations, economic assistance, and other alternatives can be pursued but we cannot dither while our house is burning down.
Picking on Brazil?
I believe that Vladimir Putin should be labeled a war criminal for launching nuclear powered missiles which spread radioactive material over our planet.
I believe that if he threatens Europe with nuclear missiles he, personally, should be eliminated, by any means possible.
I believe TEPCO, the company responsible for the Fukushima nuclear accident should be dissolved and the executives responsible for the disaster put in jail.
1
When balance and rule of law has been restored to the US govrnment, I believe that serious discussions need to be initiated with our southern neighbors regarding stewardship of our planet and environmental brinksmanship.
According to Wikipedia, "As a matter of interpretation of the word "person" in the Fourteenth Amendment, U.S. courts have extended certain constitutional protections to corporations. The basis for allowing corporations to assert such protections under the U.S. Constitution is that they are organizations of people, and the people should not be deprived of their constitutional rights when they act collectively."
Since we have bestowed these protections on corporations, it is only logical to extend the same rights to our planet. And even to all non-human residents of our planet.
Oh, mankind will still be able to eat it's way through other species and plunder where they are allowed to do so, but it will be regulated and sustainable destruction.
But, if any country decides to create chaos and environmental or species terrorism by burning a rainforest out of existance or eating evey last whale on the planet, they should be prepared for military intervention and, if needed, regime change.
3
I hitchhiked from the southwest corner of Brazil to the Capitol, Brasilia back in 1979. My backpack turned a permanent red from the dusty clay road. I slept where ever I could and ate huge meals at little truck stops. I watched some truckers in horror as they shot up but later found out that the medicine was anti-malarial. The insects were horrible , life was hard and nary a dentist could be found but the vastness of the green sea and the beauty of the majestic trees stays with me as does the realization that the jungle and myself are fundamentally connected. My dusty back pack hung out in the garage for twenty years. It felt like that was part of me too.
9
Bad news for Americans in many ways. I flew over the Amazon a decade ago and, even then, one could detect numerous large rectangles cut into the green canopy...for soy bean production. I was told by a Brazilian on the plane that the crop would be sold to China.
Today, because of the Trump tariff war with China, American soybean farmers are losing their most important market. To be filled by--you guessed it--soybean farmers in the Amazon.
16
@Richard
Frightening to realize just how much damage Trump can do. The man has a talent for destruction. God help us.
The ultra fetichisation of the American way of life is part of the problem. Perhaps one day, brands like McDonalds and Burger King will disappear, people will stop eating beef in excess and we won't need to import soy from Brazil. We have been conditioned by years of advertisement to consume with greed and irresponsibly. Today we have no more excuses. We need to read the labels before we buy anything and think of how it was produced, what resources were destroyed for it to be produced, and what waste it will generate. It is our duty to consume with restraint.
18
I love the clear writing of Vanessa Barbara. She has a gift with words. I also agree with everything I've read from her. I wish we could see more from her on these pages.
The Amazon is important enough. The huge society of Brazil is important enough. The political problems there are both important and carry lessons for our own problems of parties owned by big money, that offer only bad choices.
However, from what I've read of growing violence in Brazil's political world, I do hope she is being careful. What she says is dangerous to say, as much as many who are acting in China. Yet in Hong Kong they see it necessary to wear masks and take precautions.
Do be careful.
15
How could Brazilians feel a "collective, perplexed grief" when most of them voted for this guy?
16
@gregorito3
That is her take on it, not of the millions of Brazilians who voted for him to remove from power one of the most corrupt political party ever. Ever since he was elected there has been a steady campaign to portray him as the worst person ever. We know he talks too much and some of the things he says should best be left unsaid. But, I subscribe to the theory that others (and we can guess who they are) are doing their best to disrupt his government and discredit him and the attorneys who are investigating the corruption and putting the corrupt people in jail. So, the Amazon has been ravaged for many decades and it is only now that is an international outcry? Where was everybody before? Why only now?
2
@gregorito3 Fifty five percent voted for him. The other 45% of us have been in grief ever since the election, and each show of incompetence by the current administration has peeled off support from those who initially supported him. For the many who voted for him, it is a frightening realization that there IS something worse than the Workers Party, and that they DID have something to lose by voting as they did. The local saying that there is nothing so bad it can't get worse was never truer. In the first year of the new administration, the country has dropped into recession, been humiliated and isolated internationally, crime has worsened with each new big city neighborhood taken over by militias and small town ravaged by drug dealing, basic services have stopped. Throughout this, the president's main focus has focused on the pettiest of issues, from elevating one of his sons to the US ambassadorship to canceling minor government subsidies for gay-positive short films. THIS is what Bolsonaro voters are grappling with and so yes I understand that they feel perplexed grief at the consequences of their actions.
5
@gregorito3
And most of them are regretting having done so. I know this anecdotally, because in my Brazilian family, those who supported him are bitterly disappointed, and some of them ashamed. I wish the same would happen to the Trump supporters.
Why are progressives so focused on the Amazon when the cities that they have controlled for 20 years like SF and LA are rapidly becoming environmental disasters that we have not seen since London during height of pre-sewage systems.
Focus on what you can control and thus make the environment cleaner for all of us.
@Dan
Dan of St. Louis is half correct that we should focus on things that we can control. But we should not *only* focus on things we most directly control, lest our silenced voices fail to support those who have greater control of that which we do not.
A cancer victim can do little to affect the course of their own disease by theirself ... perhaps only by changing their diet or guessing about the proper treatment. If that cancer victim speaks out about their disease, others can aid their plight. Doctors can proffer their own treatments, and politicians can discuss legislation to address potential environmental causes to reduce the chance that others might suffer a similar fate.
Admonishments to tend only to our own garden can be destructive advice. If there is a pest or fungus spreading, it takes a community to battle it successfully.
12
Come now Dan.
Isn't that a stretch? Linking progressives to the environmental damage of cities is conspiracy thinking at its best/worst.
Put the blame where it needs to be. Denial of global warming, deregulation of industry are due to right wing thinking.
1
@Dan...move beyond the political nonsense and false equivalencies —please! The Amazon is 20% of the lungs of the planet. Air doesn't just magically reproduce, just as carbon doesn't just magically disappear. doesn't Yes, cities are filthy, but your assertion is lamenting a skin legion while ignoring lung cancer. One-ups and gotchas are a large human part of the problem—not a solution. Satisfying the immediate tendencies of the ego is EXACTLY why humanity finds itself where it is...
1
When this is over, and, I hope it's soon, nobody, I mean nobody should buy Brazilian soybeans.
16
The Times needs my voice. Well, here it is. First, sadness; then, anger; then, rage. The mystery concerns who should be the major target of the rage: the Bolsonaros. the Putins and the Trumps of the world or the people who cede their power to them?
Whether the malign charlatans or their mindless voters, Ms. Barbara is correct in calling them the "dullest, pettiest of men."
54
Brazilians and Americans share a dismal bond. We have both somehow managed to elect the worst possible leaders at one of the most perilous times in human history.
173
@Eric
Very well put. And true.
6
Well we had better plant trees while we can still grow them in our environment. If you are surrounded by trees you will have your own oxygen, and so will all the rest of the local life that needs oxygen. The extra carbon dioxide will feed the existing plants and make them grow larger and stronger. The planet will work to balance itself by killing a few more humans off from starvation or resource wars. We are in the age of rapid adjustment, too rapid for many species to survive, and one of those species may be us. What happens when all the ice melts in the arctic? Does anyone know?
10
@joyce The answer to your question about ice melting in the Arctic is not as simple as it might appear to be. What happens when all the ice in your drink melts, even if you have not taken a sip? The answer is: not much. When ice floating in water melts, the glass never overflows because the volume of the ice is always greater than the water it melts into. I suspect nobody truly knows the answer to your question, because nobody knows how much of the ice at the poles is already in the oceans.
1
@James Ricciardi That's just wrong. If the ice in Artic melts, it means the ice in Greenland will melt as well. If all the ice over Greenland melts that will increase sea level by 23 feet.
13
@James Ricciardi most of the ice in greenland and the antarctic is over land. when that ice melts, sea levels will rise. estimates vary, up to about 9 feet. warmer water takes up more volume, and, so, will also contribute to sea level rise.
4
I've been all over the internet looking for a list of products to boycott. Not just in general terms, but specific names and brands. So far I've been unsuccessful.
But nothing is accomplished by wringing hands and hoping someone will do something. We have more power than we use. The American people are the biggest consumer force in the world. The market creates these travesties, our rejection, shame and condemnation should be exerted to stop them.
Please, someone, post a list of name brand products we can boycott.
23
@gw Good comments GW but why continue waiting for another list telling us what to do? How about we start by just using less of everything, and also not throwing away 40% of the food we purchase and don't consume....that's the average waste of food per person in the USA.
9
@rickob
Bravo!!! I totally agree!!
@gw
Fast food burgers. Start there.
There are a lot of comments from environmentalists -- people lamenting the loss of the "lungs of the Earth", the jungle, plants, animals, birds -- but I haven't yet seen any recognition of the genocide that is occurring as a consequence of the decimation of Indigenous lands.
The lives of the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin are so completely dependent on their environment that when forests, plants and animals are decimated, so too will the Indigenous peoples suffer extinction. It appears this is an intended result as Bolsonaro is not only an enemy of the environment, but is known to be a racist with a well-documented hatred of the Indigenous peoples of Brazil.
The environmental destruction and genocide occurring in Brazil is not an anomaly. These are consistent and intended outcomes of colonialism as it has been visited on South America, North America, Africa, and much of the rest of the world. Eliminate the Indigenous peoples and you clear the path for resource exploitation.
As long as we blithely ignore the unsuitability of those we vote for, then we will continue to be impotent when such crimes are committed by our governments. As we are now.
68
I am Brazilian and some things need to be clarified.
Bolsonaro is ignorant when it comes to environmental protection, including environment minister Salles, who never stepped into the Amazon before taking office. He doesn't even know who Chico Mendes was.
2 - But other governments, especially the ultra-leftist Lula and Dilma, of the disastrous Workers' Party (PT), were equally irresponsible, such as the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant and the breaching of the "Vale" and "Mining Dams". Samarco ", releasing toxic waste in several cities due to lack of regulation.
3 - Germany, Norway, USA and other countries are boycotting their contributions to the preservation of the Amazon, and these same countries benefit from deforestation.
A little hypocritical the position of these countries, creating an "environmental alert" to sensitize society.
4 - It is winter in Brazil, a very dry season and a favorable climate for large scale burning in its forests. And agribusiness groups and others opposed to Bolsonaro are suspected of causing much of the burning.
Brazil needs to greatly improve its environmental policies, but destruction in the Amazon is the responsibility of all who exploit it.
It's our responsibility to get away from fake news, get your butt out of your chair, let go of laziness, and SEARCH if you want to do your part in sharing true and well-grounded information with historical data mainly.
Please, share these informations, make your part and don't just complain!
2
Thank you for the beautiful article. It's heartbreaking that such treasure is treat with such disdain by that clown in Brasilia.
21
neither bolsonaro or trump are clowns - they mean and plan to do what they do and they do it and find a way to convince many it is simply clown stuff
@Syl And that clown in the White House, and the millions of his mindless minions who see nothing wrong in destroying the environment.
2
I’ve been traveling deep into the Amazon on fishing expeditions
every year for the past decade and a half where I have had the good fortune to experience first hand, the wonders and peoples of that magical place. After scores of years of a vicious dictatorship followed by decades of unbridled and unfathomable
corruption I guess now they decided to bring in the clowns to finally ruin it
15
Sadly, it is borderline impossible to wake up Trump as to just how serious a problem this is. He would be unable to draw a circle on a blank world map to show where Brazil is and just how much is covered by the forest. There is no money for his pocket or narcissistic glory, so he could not care less. Bolsano and he are peas in the same pod. Both are low-life criminals. And history will remember them as such.
35
Sorry Vanessa, but the president of Brazil isn't dumb. He knew exactly what was going on. He looked at Trump's despicable enviro record and rightfully assumed that Trump would not interfere like Obama would have.
And he was right. When the free world is held hostage by a delusional president who weakens EPA rules, who rolls back emissions standards, and does everything he can to benefit the extractive industries, Bolsonaro rightly assumed Trump would do nothing.
Fortunately, the Europeans are more responsible. They recognize that the loss of 20% of the planet's source of oxygen is more important than increased land for cattle growers.
If Climate Change is to be addressed, the place to begin is the immediate removal of Trump, not waiting for 2020.
The people of Hong Kong are demonstrating how to accomplish that urgent task.
35
And all because modern day political Pharisees are having their heyday all over the planet. The time has come for caring members of the human species to put a stop to the current madness decimating our beautiful home called Earth. As simple as that.
22
Brazil had a tough political choice to make when electing its President this time around - Bolsonaro or Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), Lula's hand-picked stand-in. Environmental issues were not considered by many voters, while corruption was, which is why Bolsonaro won. When the PT held power from 2002-16, deforestation in the Amazon reached its peak around 2010 - see the NYT satellite maps accompanying its news article today. PT also supported destruction of indigenous rainforest lands to build hydro power dams. People forget that now.
In other words, no apologies for Bolsonaro but the alternative would have probably also been very bad for the Amazon + added corruption.
Paying off people not to commit environmental crimes has a sour odor. On the other hand, if the Amazon is the world's 20% oxygen lung and other countries are benefiting from it in various ways, then assistance in keeping it healthy should be in everyone's self-interest.
6
@PM So just what is wrong with the political processes and social thinking in Brazil that a better candidate did not come forward? Are there no alternative political parties, not committed to corruption and destruction? Why don't decent Brazilians step up to an obvious opportunity to change things for the better?
@Jamyang Brazil has a Presidential election run-off system. There were plenty of party candidates in the 1st round but since no one got a majority, the election went to a 2nd round pitting the top two 1st round vote-getters. Brazil has a very different multi-party political election system than the US, which would take too long to explain here. Suffice it to say here that in the final round, Brazilian voters were, as the ancient Greeks would say, trapped between Scylla and Charibidys, or as we Americans like to say, between a rock and a hard place. PT massive corruption was too much for the voters to stand this time and Lula's stand-in Haddad lacked his appeal with voters. So Bolsonaro won.
4
@PM Brazil's deforestation peaked in 2004, and was reduced by nearly 80% through 2012, mostly thanks to policies put in place by Marina Silva, minister of the environment through 2009, and a member of PT at the time. It is a sign of the state of Brazil's priorities that PT sabotaged her presidential candidacies in 2010 and 2014 using fake news, leaving her just shy of making the run-offs, and that she got a mere 1% of the vote in 2018. Yes, there were better, more honest, more reasonable, less autocratic alternatives in 2018.
4
The anthropologist Loren Eiseley, one of the masters of English prose once referred to humanity as 'a slime mold' creeping inexorably across the face of the earth. So few question our right to do what we like with the only home we have. But the most frightening thing is the message we are sending to our children and theirs, down the stream of time. "We don't care what kind of world we leave you, just so long as we got what we wanted from it." Who are we to make a decision like that for them?
19
@James Quinn
To bring a child into this world is torture, imho.
1
At some point human beings will die off because the planet will be uninhabitable. Machines with artificial intelligence are the next evolutionary step.
7
I'm really not sure how AI is going to handle the old "energy in, something out" process but you are definitely in good company with your point. James Lovelock, scientist, explainer and proponent of the term "Gaia", just turned 100. His forecast for humanity? AI.
2
And what would be the point or purpose of AI, or will it also have the overwhelming drive to procreate itself out of existence?
@William Thomas: Will machines bury the last human beings or, like human beings, be indifferent?
And yet the people of Brazil elected this guy, knowing exactly what he was like and would do.
Can someone explain why? One theory I have seen is to increase the opportunity to grow soy beans, to replace US farmers who are cut out of China.
6
@Jamyang Agribusiness was one of Bolsonaro's big supporters during the campaign, and he did in fact promise to reduce regulations, monitoring and fines to support producers. Nonetheless, the reasons for his election are complex; needless to say, not all Brazilians work in agribusiness given the country is 85% urban. The Worker's Party's (PT's) corruption and general mistrust of the political class led many to choose an outsider. There are also ideological and demographic factors: Brazilian society is quite polarized between progressives and conservatives (not unlike the US), and conservatives (especially nationalist populists) have been experiencing a resurgence, following a general worldwide trend (Trump, Brexit, Salvini, Orban, Kaczynski, etc.) inspired by discontent with the uneven results of globalization and with recent changes in social mores (political correctness, women's empowerment, cultural relativism, secularization), and fueled by networking and marketing on social media, and a fair bit of fake news, lies and exaggerations. Some people thought a radical solution was necessary, and surely some others just wanted to watch the whole system burn, although some are certainly "true believers" who consider him a Messiah and take his word as scripture (these people call Bolsonaro "the Legend"). So people chose him consciously, though not necessarily because he promised to loosen environmental regulations.
3
@Stephan thank you for the detailed explanation.
We are inching ever so closer to the Great Filter.
9
The way to save the wilderness is the same formula for saving the globe from dangerous warming. So seldom is this very simple solution spoken, it almost seems taboo.
Stop crowding out the rest of life off this planet with more and more human beings! Please. We don't deserve all of the space here and even if we did, we need all the other beautiful life forms to keep it healthy enough to support us.
Are we addicted to an ever increasing human population to satisfy an economic ponzi scheme? Or is it the idiocy of religious superstitions that went haywire when we created an abstract god that resides somewhere beyond our mother?
It is time to once again begin worshiping "her".
16
@alan haigh I agree with you 100%, but just try to find a politician who will take on this issue. In the land of the free, overpopulation is a dirty word.
8
@alan haigh Most of the overpopulation occurs in the poorest countries with little economic opportunity. Children, or at least sons, are seen as an old age social security. The root cause of their poverty lies in backward religious ideas and social customs from the dark ages. Those people won't be reading columns in NYT or its comment pages.
Boycott JBS’ hamburgers - half the total sold in America. When McDonald/Burger King stop buying Brazilian JBS hamburgers things might change.
7
@Anthony Knopp For the sake of the planet and the nonhuman animals who exist on it. why not just forego meat?
12
@Mary
I have since 1993 - but the pushback one gets, still today. And I'm not a radical by any means, more like a green social democrat.
1
What Bolsanario is orchestrating is the environmental equivalent of a war crime. Certainly some smart international lawyer can figure out a way to put a price on the damage he is doing and sue him and his associates for damages. Even if the law suit failed, it might get through to enough Bolsanario supporters to doom him to electoral defeat. His predecessors have been prosecuted for lesser crimes than he is committing.
8
It is heartbreaking that at this critical moment in history (at the edge of irreversible climate change) the people in charge are the likes of Trump and Bolsonaro.
16
Things are moving fast, blink and a glacier disappears and where once a rainforest stood there’s savanna and neither is coming back.
8
Bolsonaro is using cynical political ploys, trying to absolve himself of responsibility for the catastrophe in the Amazon. He suggested that the fires were set as a conspiracy to make him look bad (gee, who does that sound like?) and expressed umbrage that the situation would be addressed at the G7 this weekend.
Unfortunately, our one planet has no use for theatrics and lies. The environment on which we all depend will continue paying a price long after he, and other irresponsible leaders, have come and gone from power.
13
Capitalism turned the world into our personal landfill for the sake of industry profits and cheap toys for the rich.
Want to blame someone for the burning rain forest?
Look in the mirror.
We all deserve what's coming for us.
16
It is good to see the justified outrage at the situation in the Amazon. Apart from our vote, perhaps the most direct impact we can each make to try and prevent this is to look at our plate. If this horrifies you, think about your food's supply chain. As the author said, land for cattle is a root cause of the fire as is global warming (also caused by animal ag).
7
Humans when organized at the level of countries, humans are increasingly either ignoring global warming or actively working to increase it. Brazil and the United States are excellent examples. Perhaps some some future exobiologist from a remote planetary system will find the Earth to be an interesting case study of self-destruction.
16
How far does a nation's soverignty extend? Does it include 60% of a forest that produces 20% of the earth's atmospheric oxygen?
Brazil contains within its man-made political borders 60% of the Amazon rain forest. The forest is called the "lungs of the planet" for its enormous contribution in the creation of the oxygen every one of us and virtually the rest of life on earth must have to exist, to live.
Should Brazil exclusively, because of antiquated agreements made by past political adjudicators, possess sole say about the Amazon rain forest? It should not.
Is the duty of Brazil's government and people solely to improve the economic status of its citizens at the expense and risk of the earth's liveability? No.
Likewise, the United States and China, the two most polluting nations on earth, do not possess sole say about its use of resources when they contribute huge and adverse climate altering gaseous pollutants into earth's atmosphere.
When will we learn that the earth and its ability to produce and sustain life, all of life, cannot be at the whim, capriciousness, and self-serving attitudes and behaviors of individual parts of arbitrary, political entities that exist on its surface?
Earth's peoples' must work together to preserve life-sustaining treasures and necessities such as the Amazon and its rain forest.
15
@Bruce Stern -- We've been there, tried that idea, and it didn't work out well at all. The problem with over-arching government is that people like Trump and Bolsonaro can get control.
The Wars of Religion and Thirty Years War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia that established separate sovereignty, resolving the Reformation and Counter-Reformation as each sovereign nation governing itself.
If the good people writing these comments had the ability to constrain sovereignty, things would be better. However, the larger parts of the world are now controlled by Trump, Bolsonaro, Putin, Xi, Modi, and others who would not run it that way.
Remember that at the G7, Trump Admin officials complained that Macron is avoiding their trade wars and sanctions in favor of the "unimportant" "climate change, income and gender equality, and African development."
We must instead look to what smaller nations can do with their sovereignty, including persuading and/or enticing others.
We must also clean our own house.
I've read that the CO2 problem could be resolved with the planting of 1 trillion trees. That number seems absurd, until you do some division and see it is 125 for each of us, and you see all the land logged over and abused which could be planted.
There are things we should be doing.
3
Brazil aspires to be a developed country. As many commentators have pointed out, all developed countries achieved that status by deforestation, which creates jobs and wealth.
Brazil will follow that path, because it has no alternative. "Sustainable" development that eliminates deforestation, or at least diminishes it substantially, requires advanced technology, which Brazilians simply don't have. Developed nations have it, but they're not handing it out free.
So, what is Brazil to do?
@frugalfish
It is simply not true that Brazil has no alternative. Deforestation has always been an extremely inefficient way to generate jobs and wealth, and it brings neither to the actual local inhabitants. Brazil is in a position to pioneer carbon pricing, offsets, and many other approaches with potential to monetize the protection of forests. Brazil has all the technology needed to follow that path. It showed successfully over the past 2 decades how to reduce deforestation rates in the Amazon. It worked, but Bolsonaro turned his back on that success in his small-minded haste to embrace the ranchers and soy barons who want to live in the destructive Brazil of last century. They will fight a green future for the Amazon every step of the way, but many other Amazonians have an alternative vision for the living forest that sustains them. And it doesn't require advance technology.
12
@frugalfish it's a fact that most, if not all, countries have achieved an unprecedented growth throughout deforestation. But at what cost?
Species like fish, birds, plants, mammals and countless others have gone extinct due to loss of habitat. Furthermore, it is not mentioned in the article, but the Amazon plays a vital role in maintaining the water cycle by producing large quantities of rainfall. Not to mention that if the entire Amazon were to burn, this would pave way for an entire savanna. This would emit up to 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide we produce today.
As an ecosystem, we depend heavily on the Amazon, and it's disappearance would be followed by unimaginable consequences. I can understand how you feel Brazil has no other solution, but trust me, the deforestation of the Amazon is not the solution.
9
@frugalfish
What makes you believe that without destroying the environment, which we depend on to survive, we cannot have development and quality of life for society?
Who told you that?
4
Brazilian settlers have never received land from government. When land was initially allocated it went to powerful nobles and the church. Land redistribution is now necessary but impossible to do without civil war. Consequently settlers take land in the rain forest. Should we Europeans and North American stop them? A similar problem would arise if our government ordered that we re-forester land used to grow cotton, sugarcane, grain and vegetables. That would be quite a hard sell. The problem of the disappearing rain forest is not simple. I'm sure there are solutions but they require costly compromises especially on our part.
3
@Daniel Masse
Stop population growth. Stop growth in general. Stop rising prices. And stop consumerism.
That would help a lot already.
If you have been to Brazil you be appalled with what trinkets people fill their shopping carts.
"And yet, what hurts me most is the bare idea of the millions of Notre-Dames, high cathedrals of terrestrial biodiversity, burning to the ground; all those layers of 100-year-old chestnut trees, vines, rubber trees, palm trees, banana plants, orchids, bromeliads, passion fruit flowers; the macaws, toucans, capybaras, sloths, jaguars, anacondas and ants that called them home. All the thirsty armadillos. A monumental universe. . . "
I cannot stop the tears I have been shedding since I first saw this unspeakable story. I heard on the news today that there have been 80,000 fires in the Amazon since the beginning of the year. I don't know if that number is true and if yes, how there has not been a global cry, plea and begging for assistance. Maybe there has but is no one listening or caring or helping?
Millions and millions of dollars were committed to the relief and restoration of Notre Dame, but it truly seems as if barely a country is batting an eye as to what is happening NOW - especially the U.S. I have never been more ashamed nor disgusted as I am today.
All of those creatures - suffering, terrified and dying. How could anyone's heart NOT be broken by that information?
It's moments like this that I sometimes wonder if I'm living on an alien planet because the humans and countries I know would be racing to this fire, figuring out a way to put it out and then to help rebuild the magnificent rain forest.
30
@Marge Keller
This is a side note. As far as I know, as far as I have read just this last week, all those billionaires who said they were donating to Notre Dame's refurbishment have not come up with a Euro yet. The funds are from small donations.
8
@Marge Keller Thank you for your words. I'm actually nauseous from reading this. We are insane and may no longer deserve to be stewards of the planet..if indeed we were ever meant to. George Carlin always believed the Earth had mechanisms to protect and purge itself of unwanted toxins and dire threats. Hmmmm
11
@Marge Keller
Marge, I see your tears, and in your tears I see the whole world weeping.
I can weep no more. Speaking only for myself, I have found solace in the understanding that man is simply part of nature. If nature evolved a species with a brain capable of adapting its environment to such a degree that it grew to dominate the entire planet, yet with a mindset that prioritizes immediate gratification above long term survival, then it is for me to accept that fact.
Nature keeps lifting up new and different life forms. 99% of them have gone extinct. I can't imagine that homo sapiens will be an exception.
If we hasten our own extinction using the very brain that led to our success, then I have nothing to grieve for, for such is the Circle of Life.
4
Capitalism is not markets and markets are not democracy.
Socialism is not the opposite of capitalism. Capitalism is a perversion of markets.
Capitalism is the constant demand from the owners of capital, especially through their largest corporations, for constant favors from the government. (Controlling shares in nearly every large business being held by a few thousand people that claim to own HALF OF EVERYTHING),
Capitalism is market interference. Businesses are given different tax treatment than their employees. Then they always want a tax cut. Supply Side Economics says that we should give extra money to capital with tax cuts. The Corporate corporate rate was 50% 40 years ago. Now it is 20%. That is market interference. Subsidies for capital are interference. Wars to open markets or control resources for corporations are market interference.
Even the corporation itself, is a market interference. Government charters a fictitious person called a corporation. It shields the owners from the actions of the business. This is a major interference on the side of capital.
The Right also spent 50 years demanding "unbridled free markets" for global billionaires moving our productive capital to other countries so they could give our jobs to people making $6 a day, at that time, and still far less than us now.
OPEN BORDERS for CAPITAL is bad for workers. Capital is allowed to pollute.
We are being REPLACED by corporations and their robots, which We subsidize with Our Productivity.
15
The author says Brazilians feel heartbroken and overcome by grief because of these fires. I'm assuming that she is talking only about the Brazilians who didn't vote to elect a guy who basically promised to turn over the whole forest to development. And I'm assuming that that would mean that somewhere UNDER HALF of Brazilians feel the perplexed grief that she describes.
I know. The rest of the world could say the same for us. Except, because of our antiquated elections process, here it would actually be 3 million LESS than half who are responsible for the global disaster that is our president. But still, that's a lot of people. And that's a lot of people in Brazil who are responsible for a president who doesn't care much at all about the "lungs of the planet."
24
@VPM
Those of whom you speak "voted" for him because he promised to carve out some sort of civilized order among the teeming, lawless favelas (i.e. SLUMS) that surround and intimidate every civilized spot in Brazil. But his type of "law and order" means summary executions and thus could entrap anyone and everyone that the "authority" deems "the enemy."
The new farmland that is created will grow plants that provide oxygen. A major benefit for Brazil is that the soybeans and farm animals can be easily sold to China to replace what used to be purchased from the USA.
1
@Richard Wright Pastureland is a major source of greenhouse gases, like methane, especially compared to forest or jungle. Obviously, the purpose of ag land is to fix carbon for human ingestion, which is turned back into CO2 almost immediately compared to tree trunks and roots.
5
@Richard Wright your statement is not exactly correct. Old growth trees provide exponentially more oxygen and absorb exponentially more CO2 than fields of crops. The creation of more farmland in no way justifies the mass destruction of old growth forest that is home to more biodiversity than the rest of the planet.
8
@Richard Wright
"..be easily sold to China to replace what used to be purchased from the USA."
That image takes me straight to Twilight Zone time. I have always feared that Donald Trump would literally destroy the world with nuclear bombs.
Instead, if in any way this burning has been motivated by Chinese markets coming open, he ends up destroying it with tariffs.
1
"A global treasure lies at the mercy of the smallest, dullest, pettiest of men."
I wasn't surprised to read the headline, giving Trump's ravaging of the Migratory Bird Treat Act, the Endangered Species Act, and all out attack on the environment, conversation efforts, and everything that is good and pure in the world, seemingly.
I read paragraph after paragraph, waiting for the Trump's name to appear.When I reached the end. I realized that I'd missed Trump's name, somehow, and went back to scour the article. Still, I could not find it.
Baffled, I wondered if that the author had felt no need to name Trump, given that smallest , dullest , pettiest of men."
have become synonymous.
Finally. I realize that that Ms. Barbara had been referencing Brazilan President Jair Bolsonaro.
I would not have thought that the day would come when anyone could have snatched the " smallest, dullest, pettiest of men " crown from Trump, but it seems that Bolsonaro has bested Trump , or "worsted " him.
This Opinion Piece was heartbreaking.
Who will save the world from all this evil ?
47
@DJS Nobody will. They are too busy being politically correct, trying not to "trigger" anyone", and seeking consensus.
1
This is a disaster, really, beyond words.
The base, prehistoric mindset that contributes to this existential threat is an indictment to the human species: To be more specific, the triumph of greed over sanity.
I continue to maintain some hope. Maybe that's just the survival instinct kicking in. Perhaps, we're just doomed to be the agents of our own destruction.
16
Words seem impotent in the current world order. Protest placards have become trivial. Debate futile.
Boycotts seem to impact the poor not the rich and powerful.
Perhaps the time has come to take action.
7
@Alix Hoquet
Boycotts are action. And they get corporations' attention better than any other approach. I'm not sure how you can claim they don't impact the rich and powerful.
We could start by boycotting soybean merchants like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill if they insist on buying soy from Amazonian sources.
1
'A monumental universe, turning, as I write this, into pasture and soy.'
Brazilian farmers see a potential bonanza. They now have an immense opportunity to sell soy beans to China, replacing American farmers cut out of the trade by Trump's moronic tariffs.
And it doesn't stop with soy beans. China is also our top export market for feed, animal hides, and alfalfa. They're our second biggest market for hay; our third biggest for dairy and poultry; our 4th biggest for processed food, pork, and beef; and our 5th biggest for wheat.
Once Brazilians, and other countries, become established international suppliers for products formerly exported by our farmers, I'm guessing most Chinese buyers won't risk re-establishing US trade relationships. Even if Trump goes away, Trumpism, or similar insanity, is just one presidential election away.
As for the rainforest, Amazon (the US company) will probably sell oxygen over the internet.
15
I should add that around 70 percent of the world's soy is fed to livestock, and only 6 percent is turned directly into human food. That conversion of soy protein into animal protein wastes about 90% of the original feedstock relative to its value if directly eaten by humans.
Our inexorable population growth and over reliance on animal protein may well lead to environmental collapse.
6
"“This is not a posture from a Brazilian, someone who wants to serve his country and is concerned about Brazil’s businesses,”" Mr. Bolsonaro said. He suggested that the agency could be lying to make the government look bad."
It looks to me that Brazil has their own Trump. The world is burning down, but all they can be concerned with is their own political image.
20
@Dr. Girl Bolsonaro is Brazil’s Nero - we have our own who laughed as California burned.
Forget politics, forget economics, and forget political ideology. This right here represents the greatest existential threat to the fate of the planet and humanity. Unless we as a species rethink our impact on the environment, our indifference, if not outright hostility, to Green Energy, and our rampant consumption, all other issues are inconsequential.
Environmental protection and conservation are the two more important global issues facing the world today.
19
The world, via the UN, should offer to buy the Amazon rainforest, with some of the proceeds used to hire/pay the farmers and ranchers to protect and care for the forest instead of burning it.
15
I find it more than ironic that the richest man in the world owns "Amazon" - while the real Amazon is obliterated.
29
"Pettiest of men" is unfair because it minimizes what Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un or Rodrigo Duterte are doing to the world. As terrible as what they have done to the institutions of their countries, or to their own people, some of this is policy and can be undone, On the other hand, what they have done to the, water, soil and natural environment cannot be easily reversed. We know that science and facts have a "liberal bias," but scientists are telling us the earth's balance is at a tipping point and these men are increasing the destruction of the planet at a record pace. They are all "cut from the same cloth" but please don't call them "Petty," for there are other more appropriate words for tyrants.
21
"The Amazon" is not "ours" therefore there's nothing "we" can do.
If Brazil wants to be the "Great North African Desert" of South America, so be it. It won't take more than fifty years for total desertification to take hold and after it does, nothing can stop it.
The only option is invasion. And that's not going to happen.
4
@Moehoward: Did you miss the reminder that the Amazon is responsible for producing a fifth of all atmospheric oxygen?
4
"When asked about the fires, the president suggested, with no evidence, that nongovernmental organizations could have started them to generate negative attention toward his government."
Bolsonaro, Trump's twin separated at birth, down to the "with no evidence" part.
Today, I heard that all the criticism is getting to him (Bolsonaro, not Trump at least, not that I heard) and that he was going to take some action, albeit limited, and quite a bit too late.
Anyone so much in favor--even simply by complicit silence--of farmers' efforts to destroy the earth's lungs hasn't a clue what it will feel like when he can no longer breathe.
19
The, "It's my land and I'll do what I want with it," is not unique to Brazil. Aside from countries saying it, and most having done it in their histories, including America, America is also covered with people spouting exactly the same thing about their personal acreage, often to the misery of their neighbors. With the world getting more and more crowded it would seem that a whole new perspective of civility is needed, and taught if necessary; one that includes being caretakers of the land on which we rely on to survive, and not just those people we live next to.
20
I agree with the author's sentiments, but the article amounts to a fallacious appeal to emotion.
Bolsonaro can counter by saying that he is allowing free enterprise and maybe point out that developed countries owe their wealth to devastating nature.
5
@Ambrose Sovereignty has obligations as wells as rights. Sure, in the past, you could wipe out "the natives" and burn and chop, enslave and whip to your heart's content, move any border if you were strong enough. But that's past, at least, we're trying to make it past. Just because Cecil Rhodes or Genghis Khan once did something doesn't make it right for now.
@Ambrose, we are allowed a little show of emotion at the thought that we may soon not be able to breathe freely.
The United States no longer has a leader who knows how to deal with a crisis but instead creates them (Iran's nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement nixed, N. Korea's nuclear program allowed to grow, Putin's interference in the worlds elections unchecked, etc.). Other nations must step up and show the Trump of the Tropics that his ignorance will not be allowed to destroy the planet. Boycotting goods manufactured or sold by Brazil and making them off-limits to every major country that they depend on for income is a start. It must be done by world leaders who can rationally evaluate the danger that is being created in Brazil. If that doesn't get Bolsanaro's attention then countries can stop the travel of Brazilian businessmen and politicians to make sure that they understand the world is holding them responsible for Bolsanaro's actions. Forty years ago I worked in Brazil on a screenplay about the destruction of the Amazon which a brilliant French director initiated because he feared that the wealthy in Brazil were eager to destroy anything that slowed their ability to get richer, including killing indigenous people. The people of Brazil have been overwhelmed for decades by corrupt useless governments. They need all of us to help rescue them and confirm that the citizens of Brazil have billions of friends who are going to fight along with them to make this nightmare in the Amazon not possible by making it economically unfeasible for Bolsanaro’s plans to continue.
25
@Michael your comments are well meaning,but impractical. Who will volunteer to be perceived as a neo colonialist who knows better?
220 million Brazilians have been thrown into a deep economic crisis for the past 7 years. They elected an unlikely president on the fallacious premise that he'll restaure economic growth. You should know how this plays out...Haven't the American voters done something similar back in 2016?
1
Pasture and soy. Yes, all that life and history reduced to those two words, essentially forever, as much of the N.A. Great Plains have been converted from grasslands to farmland. Here at least livestock grazing can fit in with prairie conservation, a sustainable alternative to the soy/corn farm model. I must say, to be on open prairie on a spring morning is to feel that awe, that sense of connection that the writer describes.
I wonder what pressure there is from China for increased feed grain production here and elsewhere in the world, Africa...
7
The life cycle of a tree is pretty simple. As a seed, it soon sprouts. Then grows, based on the local climate and it's genetic code, into a tree,
One day it dies. Whether by saw, insect, lightening, human activity or old age, it stops absorbing carbon from the air. It then transforms it's carbon self. If by flame, the carbon is smoke. Or, the carbon is transformed in the digestive tract of and insect. It may slowly decay on the forest floor, slowly releasing the carbon into the atmosphere. The carbon will stay fixed in the wood, if the tree is used for furniture, in a building or some other man made contrivance. Rest assured young one, the carbon will one day come back to the air, where it will reabsorbed by another plant. This is the circle of life.
Feel better?
1
No.
Because millions and millions of trees lost in a few weeks cannot compare. Let alone the devastation to the countless species that dwell in the Amazon.
What a banal comparison.
23
@Mike - what's with this "young one" condescension? It appears you know zip about the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon is an astonishingly rich ecosystem of over 40,000 plant species, more than 1500 bird species and 10% of the known species of the world existing in an inter-species balance evolved over millions of years. But you can't see the forest for the trees.
12
@gw She appears young. And, she may be unfamiliar with the circle of life. Or, in a less Disney framework, the process by which molecules move through the universe.
In the end, mine, yours, ours, what appears to die, simply transforms it's appearance. The carbon molecule is reborn, out of our sight.
If and when that transformation stops, then, there is a problem.
One really has to start wondering if the human race even deserves to continue on.
Humanity's despoiling of the planet not only degrades the environment of all living things, it doesn't even allow for the its own continuance.
This constant emphasis on ever increasing growth has a counterpart on the individual organism level--it is the mentality of the cancer cell. And we all know how that turns out if not eliminated.
39
Well said, but I’d add that while the cancer cell kills the host, and ultimately itself, mother earth is entirely indifferent and once we’ve destroyed our own habitat, she will go on without us, either hospitable to other forms of life, or not.
17
@Brian Cornelius
Yep, ..the "Biological Imperative" diligently churning onward...
1
Brazil could be handled with trade sanctions from its global partners. I know we've had a lot of that lately, but that would really be the only way to pound into the president's head the seriousness of what's happening. Also, buy Brazil nuts.
2
The term "climate change" is shorthand for a pervasive evolutionary crisis. Is humanity going to prove capable of responding effectively to a global crisis that threatens its existence? Or more to the point: how severe and calamitous must the crisis get before necessity simply forces unified action to occur?
The politics of denial seems to have peaked and now is beginning to recede. Its purveyors are increasingly being exposed as unstable and irrational actors in thrall to fear and unfettered greed. Intellectual defenses of climate change denial have become harder to maintain.
But we still have a long way to go before a global consensus for an effective ecological program can emerge. The current trend is away from total and toward partial climate denial: in other words, the existence of the problem is being more widely acknowledged, but with most elites continuing to insist that relatively painless solutions will suffice. The notion that basic change to the global capitalist paradigm will be required is still regarded as radical heresy.
A critical factor will be the degree to which human awareness of the ecological crisis operates as a negative as well as a positive force. We proudly assume that human intelligence is the key to the solution. But when fear and greed are added to the mix, human intelligence degrades to mere cleverness and rationalization, making solutions more difficult to find. A first step is finding the courage and clarity to see things as they are.
12
@woofer
I agree with all that you are saying, and to answer your question, is humanity capable of changing our destructive behavior? The answer is 'no'. To illustrate, have you stopped driving your car? Or stopped buying food or products that were not made completely locally? Or stopped flying on airplanes? Humanity is addicted to cheap energy from fossil fuel so no wonder we will never get off of it. This is not the fault of oil companies, it is the fault of all of us.
10
@Scott Werden
The urge to prioritize immediate gratification runs deep, Grasshopper.
The frontal cortex is a marvelous thing, but our limbic systems run the show.
2
@Scott Werden
I can say yes to two of your questions and a cut down by more than half to the third.
We can do it.
But why is Bolsonaro the major bad guy? We are too. We burned off our forests, and dammed rivers, and farmed to become more prosperous. The climate accord nations could, and should, get together to pay Brazil to maintain what is the responsibility of all of us. Pointing fingers should not replace helping hands. If the Brazilian government doesn't want to work in this direction with strong support from other nations, then that is another matter. There are signs that they are not receptive to this. But we should redouble our efforts and our offers and try to find a real solution.
10
The US was substantially deforested in the 19th and early 20th century, but then the planets entire ecosystem was under far less stress. The Brazilian rainforest has now become critical because its become so rare and so essential. We should be aggressively re-foresting the rest of the world right now. You can start in your own backyard.
18
@Jones. Because we know better now than we did then.
3
@Seri
I agree. But try this argument in India - and you get the same answer as in China and in South America. It is our time now to get rich.
Disgusting.
I experience the connection of which you write in any forest, including those conifer-aspen forests bordering the high desert. If it's only the destruction of the Amazon that seriously bothers us, I'm afraid we're missing the point about the crucial importance of the forest biome and indeed all highly integrated ecosystems. Sadly, one need look no further for a major source of climate change inertia than this failure of Homo sapiens to see itself in those integrative contexts.What folks in their formal schooling learn about natural systems is s pitiful.
9
@Vincenzo So the US population’s silence as our own right wing government wants to permit more off-shore drilling, permit fertilizers that cause our red tides here in Florida, permit the destruction of the Alaskan wilderness, and more gives us the right to criticize Brazil? Never would have guessed!
As quoted in the article, Claude Levi-Strauss who, at the twilight of his life and upon being asked to reflect upon the current state of the world spoke eloquently about "the internal poisoning" that characterizes those times we live in.
Again, according to him, this had something to do with a general movement headed towards the foundation of a monocultural society, (meaning, the exclusion of all others).
For having conducted his anthropological studies about the indigenous tribes of South America, in the face of it all, he surely expressed there the full measure of his disenchantment (to say the least) concerning the present world when, past having witnessed, in the course of his lifetime, so much of the biodiversity and pluriculturalism being wiped out of the surface of the Earth by profiteers of all stripes.
In the light of such news, a world he wouldn't like much. Triste Tropiques 2.0.
6
Didn't read the word GREED in your title. It's not just a dictatorship here or there, there are big global business- and political forces behind this. As long as they get the change to grab what they want and the majority of the global population does not act against this- for many reasons- this will go on.
Don't forget the ongoing devastation of Indonesia's forests due to create (cheap) palm-oil plantages, same on Madagascar. It's unbelievable what is already destroyed , in many cases for ever.
Currently there are massive wildfires in Siberia too, a real threat too to global biodiversity and the balance of Earth's temperature.
10
@Sas,
yeah, why is this still happening if cargill says they won't buy it? Maybe cargill is telling the "farmers" another story.
Clearing land to grow soybeans. Anytime a human being can get something for free they're going to steal it from the environment. Wii did the same thing with our forests, our great redwood trees.
11
@Steve I eat soy, sometimes. I'm a tree-hugger by temperament, my nearest neighbors are trees, but I have to presume that my store-bought sustenance is extracted from our environment. Where else?
1
@doog - Let me correct the "Wii" to "We", sorry for the misspelling. In the Amazon the "farmers" are taking the land from the natives who have survived in that environment for hundreds of years. And they've cleared the trees to plant soybeans to sell to the Chinese (is my guess). Free land, stolen and destroyed.
1
With all what is said here, yet, no one cares. For those who do not care, this is another piece of dry land burning.
The Amazon holds so much richness. It is not just a mass of forest land. Researchers and Biologists will tell us what the Amazon is to the whole wide world. That is what the President of Brazil should be telling the world, and do what it takes to preserve this natural treasure.
3
It is never the wrong time to go vegan. We have all seen that one can be an NFL star or a senator and presidential candidate as a vegan, so odds are it is not going to hold you back on your life goals.
Politicians seem incapable of resisting industry propaganda or telling their voters hard truths. Waiting for them to act decisively is just another form of inaction.
Your Telsa is not going to save the world, but your diet just might.
12
@Alan
I occasionally eat grass fed beef from small family ranches in my town. The cows turn food we can’t eat into food we can.
Contrast that with a vegan’s winter meal of crops grown on ex rainforest and shipped half way around the world.
What matters most is not what you eat but how what you eat was grown and how far it travelled to your plate.
11
@Erik Frederiksen
And how macabre that we use so much land in the Midwest to grow cattle feed, or a legume that we use little of directly as food... instead of growing food for ourselves.
Yes, I know not everything can grow everywhere, but my comment still holds. We may end up starving, but at least we had ethanol in the meantime!
2
@Erik Frederiksen
This is pointless. People who don't eat animals and animal products are just as capable as those who do of eating food from local sources, and are just as capable of avoiding foods that have been transported long distances. Yes, even in winter.
3
Imagine, The Amazon river, flanked, as far as anyone can see, on both banks, by seemingly endless, parched desert.
Think I'm joking? Take a look at The Nile river today.
Yes it can happen. And Brazilians simply don't care. And there's nothing the rest of the world can do to make any difference.
In the words of Hampton Garmeny Bridwell III, "...spraying alar is beneficial because it helps me sell more apples, never mind that it makes apple consumers sick. When I sell more apples I make more money. "
Brand Amazonia, if only to lay waste to any worth it once had.
6
The Amazon forest is burning? The future of the Amazon?
Brazil might be the first country in the 21st century to be responsible for stimulating a quite shocking line of political/economic thinking which will become widespread the less able humanity is to combat the multiple challenges on the horizon such as overpopulation, resource depletion, technology which appears to cause more harm than help, WMD, etc.
When we consider the behavior of the Brazilian people and weigh that in the balance of the importance of the Amazon, we have to ask if the Brazilians deserve to run their own country, whether the political/economic/cultural entity called Brazil deserves to continue in the future when compared to the damage it causes and its benefits offered to the rest of the world.
The greater the world population, the more the world shrinks by everything from communications to disease to WMD threat to resource depletion to environmental degradation, the less right nations have to run their own affairs unless they can prove themselves worthwhile citizens of the world. Today we seriously call for regulations of businesses within nations. Tomorrow, massive regulation and intervention in nations themselves.
People have objected to the U.N. along lines of it trying to be the world's police, that it's biased, inefficient, incompetent, etc. but it seems to me it has to grow only more powerful and competent and just and become a vast system of stewardship of planet and humanity.
19
@Daniel12
"we have to ask if the Brazilians deserve to run their own country"
That's entirely the wrong approach. It's no more (and no less) Brazil's responsibility to protect the rest of the world from the ramifications of what Brazil does with Brazil, that it is for the US to protect the world from the carbon we dump with our massive over consumption.
As far as that goes, who do you think is buying the steaks that come from Ex-Amazon cattle lands?
Do we want the world telling us we can't have our cars?.... that we don't deserve to run our own country because of the pollution our cities produce?
4
@Daniel12
I'm sorry, man, but I really broke out laughing when I read your post.
'....... unless they can prove themselves worthwhile citizens of the world.'
Prove it to who ? The US ?
'Tomorrow, massive regulation and intervention in nations themselves.'
Your 'tomorrow' has been tried yesterday already. All over the globe. Has it ever worked ? I didn't think so either. There is no country, no people, currently living on this planet who are qualified to hand out such a moral judgement. Least of all the US.
How much income value does this land have when used for timber or cattle grazing? It can't be THAT high on a per acre basis.
Is anyone aware of any proposals to pay Brazil for maintaining a healthy forest? Use the profit motive as incentive to keep the Amazon safe and healthy. Just as we pay farmers to grow crops and livestock, why can't we pay them for growing, and maintaining, healthy trees?
Other nations have oil to sell the world, some have mining resources, or this resource, or that resource..... and they extract it, and sell it. Instead of penalizing or shaming Brazil for selling timber or creating cattle land, make the live tree more valuable than either.
32
What do you think we've been doing to our forests? How much of the forests in Finland were turned into Ikea furniture?
4
@ImagineMoments
For those who might think my comment folly... Consider that we have just spent the last week discussing the president's proposal to buy Greenland. How many trillions would that be?
Pay them for farming trees, incentive for healing and growing the forest.... or let the world lease the land, guaranteeing income for Brazil and a future for humanity.
8
@Steve
You're point being? It's a good idea for mankind to keep doing it?
The reality is human beings will do nothing to stop the Amazon from being eradicated making climate change inevitable. Our fate is sealed and our outcome is bleak. To stop our fate is going to take leadership and consensus and right now there is neither. Sounds pessimistic but when the inevitable stares you in the face you need to have a look.
26
@James - stop encouraging negative defeatism. Some of us spend our lives fighting for this living planet and will never give up. The people we need to join us is you.
2
The fire in the Amazon is a global crisis and it requires a global response. In the absence of American global leadership, I am hoping that the Europeans can step up and help lead a response to this crisis.
28
There is global leadership in America. It isn’t absent. Its sleeping.
Wake it up.
Wake it up.
What is it worth to the rest of the planet to conserve the Amazon?
Shouldn't we pay Brazil for producing 20% of the oxygen, and for the carbon capture? Compensation in lieu of development.
66
@David How about just invading Brazil, putting the loggers and the President to the guillotine, and establishing a policed reserve? Half measures will not work.
How might such a program work? No mechanism appears workable. Good suggestion, though.
The Amazon burning finally disgusted me enough to give up beef, and cut down on the rest of my meat eating as well. The Amazon is the world's richest ecosystem. It produces 20% of earth's oxygen, its vegetation growth is a mighty carbon sink, and it's the largest expanse of indigenous territory on earth. And it's being destroyed, essentially, to make hamburgers. If too much of the Amazon is razed, it's game over for all of us.
The fires are an international emergency. What Brazil does with the Amazon should not be considered a matter of national self-determination. It's too far-reaching. We need to call on our respective nations to coordinate to save the Amazon. The goal should be to allow much of the thousands of square miles of forest that's been lost in recent years to regrow.
In the meantime, beyond Bolsonaro, the blame for the conflagration should be placed on the international meat production industry, including JBS, Cargill, Tyson Foods, and Smithfield.
Luckily, protests worldwide, including one today in Bryan Park which attracted hundreds, have put the Bolsonaro government on the defensive. We can't let these actors continue with their ecocide. Stay angry.
41
@Ted B
Instead of blaming Smithfield, we just gave them some of the farm subsidy money intended to offset Trump's tariffs.
Even worse, Smithfield is owned by China.
7
@Ted B Beautifully said!
We're still in the mindset that nature and animals, the Earth itself, are here just for humans to exploit. (Ergo Trump wanting to buy Greenland for its resources.)
This isn't just about more fires being set in the Amazon; it's about how humans see the world. If we don't change, we'll exploit ourselves right out of a planet soon.
54
@Lori
You make a profoundly important point. Humans have forgotten that we don't just exist with nature, but we ARE nature. But we have become detached from this reality; no wonder so many people feel ungrounded and lack meaning in their lives. A rejection of nature is a rejection of our true selves.
Every time we exploit the earth and its living things, we are putting another nail in our own coffin. A mindset of love and reverence for all of nature can be the path out.
1
@Lori The planet will be fine; don't worry for her.
It is humans that will soon be gone.....
America cannot officially condemn Brazilian deforestation and its aftermath because our representatives, the Republicans in charge, ignore the climate criminals in our own country, the big donors who fund their campaigns in return for a hands-off policy. America cannot safeguard its own citizens against persistent polluters, let alone take a leadership role internationally. We have lost our moral standing to take a leadership role on any issue as Republicans sell their votes to the highest bidders.
30
In my opinion, the burning of the Amazon is far worse than the burning of Notre Dame cathedral. Yet with the cathedral burning there were immediate donations of millions of dollars.
What is there for the Amazon? What is it worth to us? If we sit with our grief, we recognize that the natural world is worth everything. Without it, we are nothing.
130
@the quiet one
Yes the earth's crust and its atmosphere are thin. Most people refuse to understand the precariousness of our position.
In the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a story about a machine that shows you exactly how incredible and pathetically tiny you are compared to the vastness of the actual universe. (Of course Zaphod Beelblebrox and Donald "the chosen one" Trump emerged unperturbed.)
People need to realize that we cannot just dump unlimited amount of random poisons all over the world, plus far more carbon than is natural, without destroying the very environment we depend on.
If humans didn't put filters in fish tanks and change them the water would become unlivable.
There are no gods willing to filter our air and reduce the acidity of our oceans, or replace the coral reefs that make the fish.
We have to actually perpetuate the cycle of life that was left to us by previous thousands of generations and is supposed to be left to thousands of more generations, which our Constitution calls Our Posterity.
Our posterity is not measured in quarterly reports, it is the world and infrastructure that we leave for new generations.
The Right keeps demanding we go back to ancient systems of looting nations and communities for fun and profit.
The left is trying to build complex solutions for complex problems in a form of radical compromise called consensus.
Consensus brings all stakeholders to the table and hears all voices, in order to invent win/win solutions.
10
@the quiet one I would be glad to cut a small check to save the Amazon forest. But to whom do I send it? I'm not a wealthy person and many large charities have come under scrutiny for misuse of funds. I want my money to actually do some good. But can it with Bolnosaro in charge anyway?
4
@the quiet one, I’m a Brazilian. Saving the Amazon is not a matter of donations. Who would you donate the money to? To Bolsonaro, so that he can continue the destruction of the Amazon and also have some more money in his pockets? How much money would satisfy his greed for power? Besides, he is allowing the destruction of the Amazon so that others can profit (and in the process he is getting money under the table, for sure). How do you put a stop to this with donations? What we need is for other nations to put sanctions against Brazil. It’s in the power of other nations to stop this insanity by making it NOT profitable for Brazil to destroy the Amazon. We need the whole world to put pressure on each government so that they in turn will put enough pressure to make Bolsonaro — and all the other Brazilian politicians — stop this insanity.
5
If the entire Amazon Rainforest burns, perhaps at a rise in temperature of 3 degrees C over preindustrial times, it would add enough carbon to the atmosphere to raise temperature another 1.5 degrees C, pushing us well into a 4 degree world.
That would be a slate wiper for us.
32
I feel so bad for the animals being horribly burned or displaced and the indigenous people of the Amazon who had learned to live there in a reasonable balance with their environment. But I don't feel sorry for the people of Brazil who freely elected a monster and I suggest avoiding Brazilian products. But underlying this is the word's desire to eat meat which requires feed and grazing land, and the world's refusal to deal with skyrocketing population growth adding to the demand for everything, which in Brazil's case has gone from about 123 million in 1980 to 212 million now in less than 40 years.
51
@Barry Schiller. I feel sorry for all of humanity whose future is being destroyed as we watch.
@Barry Schiller Exactly. Apparently much of this is driven by the potential of soybean exports to China. But not for people in China to eat, for pigs to eat. When we eat lower on the food chain (such as us eating the soybeans and not the pigs), it doesn't use up so many of our natural resources.
1
This is what tariffs and sanctions should address.
18
I'd like to hear from a scientist as to what will happen when the rainforests are gone. Will the atmosphere eventually have only 80% of the O2 that we live with now? If so, what does that mean for all sorts of life on this planet (including humans)? Can humans live with only 80% of the current O2 levels?
13
Saving the Amazon rain forest is critical to mitigating climate change. I understand that farmers are setting the fires, so that they can raise cattle & grow crops. If conservationists can't buy the land, maybe conservationists can pay them a salary to protect the Amazon, becoming stewards, instead of turning the Amazon over to agribusiness.
66
@Susan Murray - why is it always "conservationists" should do this, "environmentalists" should do that? Nobody can compensate for a uninvolved public. The one you are waiting for is you.
4
A question for Brazilians. Just how bad was the other party that Bolsanaro seemed like a better choice? From everything I've learned about him, it was clear that he was going to put development first, regardless of the costs. He also seemed to hold special ire for the indigenous tribes that live in and guard the rainforest.
98
@JYK My husband, who is Brazilian and voted in that election for the other candidate, felt that there was a lot of misinformation in the Brazilian media tarnishing Bolsinaro's opponents in inaccurate ways. (Does that sound familiar?)
28
@JYK
"A question for Brazilians. Just how bad was the other party that Bolsanaro seemed like a better choice? "
The identical question could be asked of Americans who voted for Trump. : "Just how bad was the other party that TRUMP seemed like a better choice ."?
30
It’s more complicated than that. Cambridge Analytica helped get Bolsanario elected through misinformation on WhatsApp (owned by Facebook). The leading candidate who was supposed to be elected, he was deemed ineligible to run. And if you look at the districts where Bolsanario won, it was all the richest districts of Brazil. All the poorer more populated districts voted against him
3
Let's not rule out high tech tampering. Wouldn't surprise me if another variable not uncovered present. This is a sinister world..
1
this is just a gigantic problem. its more than brazil's problem its really a global problem. however the globe is made up 198? separate and desperate countries each with their own agenda. really the problem is no different than the climate change problem. these problems both have a similar genesis. a major polluter claims that climate fiction is a fiction and so the planet is left to suffer. 1000 years or so ago the planet was totally covered in oxygen producing trees but as populations increased over the world wood was required for two purposes (1)for house building and(2) fuel. the impact of these factors is that probably 90% of these oxygen generating machines are now gone. the question is can we blame brazil for its 21st. century endeavor to improve its gdp. it can do it the way it is trying right now that is by clearing its forests for agricultural development or can the world offer a global solution. is world government becoming an necessity to preserve the planet for well being of its inhabitants. i doubt if there is much time left to decide the issue.
10
@tnbreilly
If G20 create a climate protocol and agree to levy tariffs on countries who don't accede, we'd have the first steps towards control of the situation. At the same time, countries which contribute greatly to the climate (Amazon, e.g.) could receive the opposite, i.e. credits.
We were headed in that direction before the nationalist clowns began taking over.
The satellite imagery of the Amazon’s fires was heartbreaking to see, much like the vast oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. What are we doing to our planet?
24
@Sid
The planet will be fine. A couple of billion years and plate tectonics, vulcanism, and subduction will recycle all of our folly.
Life as we know it, however.....
3
@Sid
Quite simply, killing it.
It is time for international carbon tax and credits. Brazil should be compensated by the rest of the world for protecting the Amazon.
162
@Richard Stratton
Add that, Brazilian authorities (yes, include elected ones) should be kept accountable regarding good use of this compensation money.
11
@Richard Stratton
If they protect it...Look at their leader.
4
@Richard Stratton
In theory yes - but that's where the problem starts. Governments like to take foreign aid or in this case carbon credits - but they do not like to divulge or share how they spent their money. This Bolsonaro character is stuffing himself as we speak.
3
I watched vital coverage on CNN last night, where one of its reporters said that 70% of animal species reside in the Amazon. And that fires are continuing to be lit every night, with Brazil's current leader encouraging this behavior by saying that the Amazon needs to be 'made useful', meaning deforested so that cattle ranching and agriculture take over the areas which are deforested.
It reminds me of a journal attributed to an early European ship's captain, not long after Columbus 'discovered' America. That what they found were gentle people living harmoniously in nature, and called it a paradise. And that after the trees were almost all felled on one island, there were no trees anymore to absorb water and to breathe it out again, that the weather there changed from having near daily little rain showers to having almost none at all.
Our species is having a profound impact on the environment. Thankfully, there are more human souls who are deeply concerned, and are watching.
Let us hope things change markedly for the better in the years to come.
53
@Tim B
Dear Timmy,
Things are not going to get better.
5
@Tim B Oh my yes; "hopes and prayers" are such effective devices for accomplishing important works.
2
This is not a treasure...any more than our lungs are a treasure .
It is a vital organ.
And the tipping points are much much closer than most realise. If you work in climate science, as I do, it is much much more scary than the daily press would distract us from.
Climate tipping points of a single degree degrees that may not sound like much, but it is enough to trigger the eco-system that supports us to collapse.
And this is being coupled with mass extinction of plants and animals, the oceans choked with plastic so that its stop sabsorbing C02. The permafrost melts sending huge amounts into
The end stages where everyone has to live in side with the HVAC on, then the electricity demand is too high, the computer networks crash. Civil society comes to an end.
The world must STOP eating beef. The world must STOP putting plastic in the ocean. The world must STOP pushing for population growth to maintain GDP , there must be a living wage and dramatic negative population growth or within decades, the world will catch on fire.
231
@scientella
Yes as an amateur mathematician that has studied chaos theory (the idea that the repetition of simple processes can create complex systems like the weather), and the climate is doing just what you would expect from a chaotic system (even though you can never predict the details).
If you add just a little energy to a chaotic system like the weather, than you can change the patterns a lot.
Those that think the earth is to be raped for profit and that local and indigenous communities and activists should be terrorized, are wrecking vast destruction.
A few thousand people claim to own HALF of EVERYTHING. They own as much stuff as the other 7 billion of us. They own half of the land and half of the buildings and half of the machinery and half of the food and half of the art and half of the antiquities and controlling shares in most large corporations including the media.
It is manifestly impossible that a few thousand people created half of the wealth on the planet.
They took half and tell us to fight over the other half to distract us while they steal more.
Now that most of the other 7 billion of us can communicate, maybe we should take back some of that loot.
The workers that actually do the work are the "Wealth Creators," and when they buy something they are the consumers that create demand: the "Job Creators."
Financiers take a piece of everything that goes by and call themselves indispensable.
As Pocahontas says, "They didn't build that."
THINK
15
@scientella
Sometimes I think - purely speculatively and entirely philosophical - that we are two types of species, who share the same DNA but completely opposing spirit / soul structures.
Until I meet a ME-ME-ME so-called conservative (what are they conserving other than their bank accounts) and business-first type, who becomes truly altruistic and understands our species should be guardians when we are the destroyers
Humanity will be extinct in probably less than 100,000 years - and hardly traceable in 500,000 years geologically - and no intelligence that may land here or evolve here will understand why. When the reason is so simple. Primitive and perverse selfishness and a mean spirited exploitation of earth resources and human beings by the worst of the worst.
1
Unfortunately when the Earth needs the USA the most, we simply must take a back seat and can't pretend to be the morally correct word of reason to Brazil's reckless careless actions with little thought to the foreseeable, but most unforeseeable outcomes.
26
''A global treasure lies at the mercy of ... '' CORRECTION - a global ''NECESSITY'' lies at mercy of ...
Without trees/plants we do not have the making of oxygen and without oxygen, then we perish - it is that simple.
We need to change the vocabulary and lexicon when dealing with this crisis and every other environmental crisis. What goes on in your country affects what goes on in ours.
That was the case when there was ''acid rain'' a few decades ago, and how we worked together across countries to prevent the entire collapse of an ecosystem and trees. We must do the same for South America as a whole. If governments refuse to deal with said crisis, then we have to remove them.
I would also like to point out one glaring omission in our thought patterns and coverage. The Siberian (and region) forest is only percentage points away from being the same size of the Amazon, and there are ecological disasters, droughts and clear cuts on a massive scale as well, yet we do not blink and eye, and there is barely any coverage.
Why is that ?
79
This is our legacy to life on Earth. Acting with a stubborn refusal to accept what nature tells us to live according to our imaginations, and killing off most of the things alive as the result.
I suppose after the forest is gone, bottled oxygen for all to use to replace the lost oxygen will be big business. The big exhale of carbon gases into the atmosphere makes our carbon gases production from vehicles seem modest.
I guess Manhattan Island will need a big water proof sea barrier very soon.
17
I like you have traveled to the Amazon twice to study the birds of the tropical rainforest. I too fell in love with the forest ecosystem. Even if I never had the opportunity to see it, is is one of those areas that makes one feel uplifted just knowing it is there.
I have taught students about the rainforests, and taken them there and watched in awe as they were transformed by its virgin beauty.
I have also watcher loggers in the United States transform a healthy temperate rainforest into dust in a matter of weeks with their chainsaws ablaze. In fact its happening now in our own southeast Alaska and the old trees are being sold to Japan.
In my lifetime I have witnessed the greed and ugliness of humans that seem to overpower us, as well as the land we love and live within. As long as these people hold the power, we are doomed to this scenario unless the people begin to rise and stand-up to greed and inequality. I hope it happens before its too late.
239
@Jackie Wonderful, wise words. Thank you!
7
@Jackie So true, that's why its so important to vote for Bernie Sanders, the only presidential candidate NOT taking a dime from billionaires and corporations who are leading mankind over a cliff for short term profit.
3
@Livia Franca
Thank-you
1
Just follow the path...
Trump initiates major trade war with China,
China retaliates with lower soybean imports,
China still requires soybeans so starts boosting soybean producers in Brazil ( and other markets ),
Brazil is burning forest land to increase farm production.
Trump is a world-class monster and is showing how to degrade the rule of law.
btw - Monsanto/Bayer still selling their products in Brazil. Perhaps all a push to increase corporate farming schemes in USA.
258
@Scooter
A rain forest is the result of millions of years of evolution that creates an extremely complicated and rich environment for life. For the U.S the Amazon creates oxygen for us to breathe and if you study the plants instead of burn them, you find cures for diseases, and other useful oddities.
We need to stop wasting complex and important resources to extract raw materials of lesser value.
Under the Right, the USA has become penny wise and dollar foolish, wasting trillions by refusing to invest billions.
The Right believes in waste for the sake of waste. That is the real pie in the sky, that we will follow right over a cliff.
Trees can't migrate with a shifting climate, but the Right thinks that we need to experiment with the chemistry of our planet, increasing carbon in the atmosphere and oceans by 33% because the resulting disaster will be less expensive than investing in renewable energy, which would create jobs.
Its corruption by the oil companies who bought the media so that they could treat psuedo scientists in unrelated fields working for oil companies as equal to actual scientists that did actual climate science SINCE THE 1970s! It is now in court records that real Oil corporation scientists predicted that global warming so oil companies created these fake scientists and the media helped.
13
@Scooter
Ah...always Monsanto/Bayer...First they make you sick with their pesticides, then they finish you off with their toxic pharmaceuticals. Not surprised that they would encourage human genocide via the burning of the Amazon so that they can make a quick buck.
10
@Scooter
It is not coincidence that most of the farm bailout and farm subsidies go to the giant farm amalgamations that need the money least while family farms are going under left and right.
Trump is a front man for monstrous companies like Monsanto and oligarchs like the Kochs and Putin in my opinion.
3
Not only is the Amazon forest "the lungs of the earth," but Brazil's abundant bird life (and that of its immediate neighbor countries) is unmatched anywhere in the world. Birds need trees and bushes and grass to survive. Fires kill birds directly through heat and flames, and indirectly by destroying habitat.
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@Tom W
The web of life is interdependent. We know just enough to do tremendous damage.
No one knows the lynch pin of the web of life, the critical link or links.
We know less about dna and evolution than we know about the computer codes that we wrote, but we are being hacked all of the time. Numerous cities have had their computer records held for ransom but we are sure that we can create species, and wipe them out, with sufficient precision to not destroy the world. I am skeptical.
Iraq used to be the fertile crescent and now it is mostly desert because of human activity.
Now the world climate is changing far faster than that and most of us are ignoring it.
8
Thank you for writing this Ms. Barbara. It takes courage to stand up to power in Brasil.
279
@Tony Mendoza The leader of Brazil is too much like the leader that believes global warming is a hoax. Trump and his followers will go down in history as very bad people. Let's hope what they condone does not end up as bad as it could be.
10
@Tony Mendoza What courage? Half of the Brazilian population voted him into office. And they were well aware of what he stands for!!!!