The Amazon Heats Up and Starts Burning: Will It Put Planet in Hot Water? Amazonian Jungle Burns as Fire Engulfs South American Rainforest Amid Earth’s Fiery Rebirth, Climate-Changing Forest Loss Is a Crisis for Farmers Burning as a Climate Adaptation Tool in Amazonia: Risks and Opportunities Fire, Floods Spread and Spread, and the Future Looks Bleak The Peril and Promise of an Amazon in Flames Bolsonaro’s Amazon Blaze Signals a Global Danger The Amazon Rainforest Just Had Its Biggest Ever Fire Will Climate Change Accelerate Amazon Rainforest Destruction? Amazon Fires Heat Up, Blazing a Climate Catastrophe Heat Wave Triggers Massive Fire in Brazil’s Amazon Amazon Forest Breathes Easier as Trees Burn, But Long-Term Consequences Unknown Amazon Fires Suggest Climate Change Is Already Affecting Rainforests The Amazon Rainforest Just Got Even More Vulnerable to Climate Change The Great (Almost) Carbon Sink Is Being Drowned by Climate Change Amazon Rainforest Heats Up, Threatens Humans as Climate Change Accelerates Climate Worsens Floods, Droughts, Wildfires in the Amazon Brazil’s Sick Beasts and Invertebrates Suffering as Climate Changes Bomb Cyclone Threatens Peru’s Forests The Amazon Drought’s Dire Implications It’s not just that Amazon’s Rainforests are dying. It’s the impact on its rivers that’s creating a crisis. The fires also pose health and safety issues for local communities who must flee these forested areas. The smoke from the fires also makes it harder to breath, with all the thick, haze-choked air in their region. Cattle ranchers are being displaced, as are small farmers. Amazon-area rivers are running low on water, with water levels falling up to five feet per day. This has implications for how long this dry season will last. The fires are creating a haze in the air in the city of Sao Paulo, which has raised concerns about health issues. Researchers from the University of Toronto say smoke from Brazil’s wildfires is drifting into North America, and that it will linger for weeks. Amazonian forest fire smoke may linger for weeks and travel hundreds of miles, new study suggests https://t.co/7gB3wjD4kG pic.twitter.com/lXGn0aZgkQ — UToronto News (@UTorontoNews) August 22, 2019 As of August 13th, President Bolsonaro continues to resist all attempts to curb the fires. Bolsonaro suggested it was a conspiracy to downplay Brazil’s standing in world media while the Olympics are being held. (He’s referring to the Olympics this August in Sao Paulo.) He also declared the smoke to be a plot to increase tourism. He’s also suggested that Brazil’s neighboring countries start their fires on purpose, to create more smoke. Meanwhile, Brazil has been in the grips of an ongoing drought. Water is in short supply. “I want to make it clear: I do not authorize the use of the army for land invasions in the Amazon region,” Bolsonaro said. “That invasion can be carried out by civilians.” “Our government will never use force to take over territories as is constitutionally stipulated,” Bolsonaro added. “We will only act against crime and violence in our country and in the Amazon region if the national interest so requires. Otherwise, the only fight we will wage is through information, justice, and prison.” In Brazil’s federal capital of Brasilia, thousands gathered to protest Bolsonaro and his attacks on Brazil’s rainforest and environmental regulations. “I’m here for the Amazon,” protester Rafael Ribeiro told The Guardian. “What’s happening to the Amazon is a crime against humanity, an environmental crime. And it’s a crime against humanity when the indigenous people are being murdered there.” “I believe Brazil is doing this for Bolsonaro’s own personal interests, a political agenda,” Ribeiro added. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has pushed back on the idea that forest fires are caused by deforestation. “In the environmental war in Brazil, it’s a lie that the fight is between the government and environment,” Bolsonaro said. “It’s become a matter of politics. They are trying to make the government look bad because they don’t agree with its environmental policies. They say there’s an environmental war, but this doesn’t represent the reality of our country.” In other words, Brazil is being used to destroy Brazil. Bolsonaro isn’t stopping the fires, even though they’re harming people and threatening Brazil’s rainforests. He has also attacked international NGOs who are helping to prevent the Amazon from burning. (This includes Greenpeace.) “International NGOs are nothing more than a business. Today they are being financed with public money, that is, our money,” Bolsonaro said. The Brazilian military is under attack by Brazil’s politicians who are saying it should not defend the environment or the people. The National Guard, the police, and other Brazilian officials are being pressured to stop fighting fires and instead turn their attention to stopping attacks by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who are trying to combat illegal deforestation and burning. It is a political strategy aimed at weakening the military to protect the Bolsonaro government. “President Bolsonaro’s stance and statements … are completely detached from reality, completely uninformed, and could be extremely dangerous in terms of international law,” said Felipe Martins, Brazil director at WWF-FCCC. “We have to focus our effort on ensuring the law is followed,” he added. “The laws on land, water, environment, and indigenous people are extremely important for the sustainable use of natural resources, specifically for Amazonia.” “President Bolsonaro believes that deforestation can be contained if it is monitored,” Martins added. “We cannot monitor, police, or control all actions of deforestation as that would be a complete invasion of privacy. Monitoring in this way violates human rights, and people’s fundamental right to privacy. Brazil is very far from achieving zero deforestation.” Meanwhile, thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to protest Bolsonaro’s environmental policies. The protests have turned violent. Rioters have burned buildings, fought with police, and destroyed businesses. The police have responded with water cannons and tear gas. Protests and arrests have been reported in cities from Rio de Janeiro to Paracauz to Brasilia. The Amazon wildfires are also destroying local biodiversity. They’re causing the loss of plant and animal species that have lived in the Amazon for thousands of years. The Amazon Rainforest: The World’s Greatest Haven for Species Amazon Destroying its Last Rainforest Refugees More than 80 percent of the Brazilian Amazon has already been cleared. Scientists estimate that Brazil will lose the Amazon Rainforest in 40