When the Notre-Dame Cathedral in France burned down, it immediately showed up on every news channel, social media feed, and for some a notification on their phone. However, the Amazon Forest fires started in early January of 2019 but weren’t brought to the media’s attention until almost 20 days later. It took several months when the fires were at their worst before it started showing up on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Why is it that whenever there is an event that is ruining our earth’s environment no one pays attention, but when an iconic, historic building burns down everyone loses their minds? Historical buildings can be rebuilt over the span of several years. You can’t rebuild the rainforest or environment in that amount of time. It could take decades or sometimes even centuries to restore these valuable lands to their original state.
The Amazon sometimes referred to as the “Lungs of the Earth,” is one of the world’s biggest oxygen producers. Without this forest, climate change will become a much bigger problem than it already is. The Amazon is a key element in storing and processing carbon dioxide and is well known for its variety of different species of plant life that contribute to this process. 2.2 million square miles of rainforest is on the verge of burning down and completely changing the set-up of the ecosystem; thus, losing native plants, animals, and indigenous tribes of people. Many think almost all these fires could have been avoided or prevented had it not been for unsafe farming techniques. Cattle grazers and soybean growers are often the biggest culprits when it comes to deforestation, which is often not regulated as much as it should be by the Brazilian government. All the factual information in this paragraph is thanks to the Washington Posts “What you need to know about the Amazon rainforest fires”
You may be asking yourself “What can I do to help this situation? Or, “How could I be more involved in this issue?” The links under this article are to sites where you can donate money or sign petitions to help save the Amazon forest. Anything and everything that you can do will help make a difference. Help be the change the world needs.