The almighty buck reigns as 2.3 million acres and counting are afire. (Pxhere)
Over the past few weeks, the Amazon rainforest and the mass fires currently devastating this region have dominated headlines. The Amazon is well on its way to becoming a savannah. Its accelerated destruction is just as you might predict: political manipulation occurring behind the scenes in Brazil.
President Jair Bolsonaro is encouraging industry in the forest by restricting the power and financial resources of protection agencies while encouraging business owners to take advantage of the forest for the use of logging, cattle ranching, farming, hydro-electric energy, and more.
Fire in the Amazon is no new occurrence: these conflagrations have consistently struck different areas of the forest in years’ past. But the rate at which these fires are occurring is up 80% from this time last year, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research.
The vast forest houses 10% of the world’s species, and the effects on its great ecological biodiversity are far-reaching. Species not biologically equipped to handle these conditions are dying out-which in turn creates a domino effect in the food chain, affecting the survival capabilities of predators.
As this tragedy blazes on, so do similar horrors loom over our own nation as industry here is also being prioritized over the health of our landscape.
Just this past week, the EPA proposed rollbacks on restrictions of methane usage, a form of gas that is strongly correlated to climate change. And not surprisingly, Trump is playing his best hand to cut back even more environmental red tape in our national forests, where in places like the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, he is proposing to eliminate previous restrictions with the claim of creating jobs.
We cannot turn our backs on this threat when even the leaders of the gas industries are opposed to such rollbacks on methane usage. Susan Dio, the chairwoman, and president of BP America affirms that methane regulation is essential for the sake of our planet. Likewise, ExxonMobil is advocating for government intervention to moderate this harmful gas.
The work of previous presidents (Obama, Clinton, Carter, the Roosevelts) is currently being undone, and with these reversions come even greater consequences to a planet already in trouble.
Without support from the most powerful leaders in the world, we are continuing on a fast track with the environment in the backseat. This track is sure to lead to even greater disasters.
Mahatma Gandhi once said the world has “enough for everyone’s need,” but “not enough for everyone’s greed.”
These words ring truer than ever in a world dominated by political greed and ignorance, and as we know it, we are losing everything we have known before our eyes.
