Thousands of fires are still ravishing the Amazonian terrain, reportedly since August 15, incinerating every flora and fauna fires cross paths with. Fires seem to be the doing of local agricultural and livestock farmers’ wanting to ‘clean out’ land for crops and cattle. Brazil was once on the vanguard of environmentalist protection programs since 2005, but a decade later, politicians in-and-out of Office have waned conservation strengths, leading all the way up to current far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
According to BBC News, President Bolsonaro finally took action by sending Brazilian troops to help stop the fires, after EU countries threatened him on extracting trade deals unless some initiative took place from his part. Bolsonaro shocked the world with his negligence to remedy a rainforest that covers 2.1 million square miles and provides 20 percent of the globe’s oxygen.
Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted a call for the G7 Summit (Group of Seven) to meet and discuss the global emergency, according to Euronews: “Our house is burning. Literally.”
Last week, Norway and Germany held back billion dollar donations that fed the Amazon Fund—an international effort to remedy deforestation—after Ricardo Salle, the environment minister in office, announced the funds were frozen due to instability.
Brazilian citizens took the streets in cities across the country to call for environmental justice; in São Paulo, protestors blocked the main Paulista Avenue calling for Ricardo Salle’s resignation and a call to boycott Brazilian meat industry.
You can take action as of now in your own community. Follow Greenpeace on social media for environmentalist content, stay in tune and share the latest news.
On a bigger scale, even consider skipping meat consumption a few days a week. The rising demand for meat according to Vice, bumped Brazil as the world’s biggest beef exporter in 2019.