There's One Wrong Statistic Everyone's Sharing About The Devastating Amazon Fires
SCOTT DENNING,
Fires in the Amazon rainforest have captured attention worldwide in recent days.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, pledged in his campaign to reduce environmental protection and increase agricultural development in the Amazon, and he appears to have followed through on that promise.
The resurgence of forest clearing in the Amazon, which had decreased more than 80 percent following a peak in 2004, is alarming for many reasons.
Tropical forests harbor many species of plants and animals found nowhere else. They are important refuges for indigenous people, and contain enormous stores of carbon as wood and other organic matter that would otherwise contribute to the climate crisis.
Some media accounts have suggested that fires in the Amazon also threaten the atmospheric oxygen that we breathe. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Aug. 22 that "the Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20 percent of our planet's oxygen – is on fire."
The oft-repeated claim that the Amazon rainforest produces 20 percent of our planet's oxygen is based on a misunderstanding. In fact nearly all of Earth's breathable oxygen originated in the oceans, and there is enough of it to last for millions of years. There are many reasons to be appalled by this year's Amazon fires, but depleting Earth's oxygen supply is not one of them.
The full explanation of the Global Oxygen cycle is here:
https://www.sciencealert.com/there-s...g-amazon-fires
In sum, Brazil's reversal on protecting the Amazon does not meaningfully threaten atmospheric oxygen.
Even a huge increase in forest fires would produce changes in oxygen that are difficult to measure. There's enough oxygen in the air to last for millions of years, and the amount is set by geology rather than land use. The fact that this upsurge in deforestation threatens some of the most biodiverse and carbon-rich landscapes on Earth is reason enough to oppose it.
The Brazilians are concerned about it and it is their country.
So, when you claim to be concerned about the environment and saying that things have always changed, scientists estimate that between .01 and .1 % of species become extinct each year.
So what there are lots of species, you say.
Consider bees, Honeybees are critical to the food supply. Like tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, squash, almonds, and melons of all types? Thank the bees. It's estimated that of the 100 agricultural food crops grown around the world, crops that supply 90% of the world's food, bees pollinate 70 of them. There has been a mass die-off of bees in Brazil also and the suspected cause is the loosening of pesticide regulation.
All this stuff matters a little bit, just like herring runs, Striped bass spawning habitat, bunker, whiting and weakfish, it adds up to a problem for the world. If it was a fish you would probably be worried about it.