Stanley Holditch
Ok we know how this is going to go right? Bolsonaro will claim the Amazon fires were set by his enemies, or forest gnomes, or Anti-Fa, world leaders on the left will waste time actually responding to this, and the fires will burn.
First, how bad are the fires? According to Brazil’s Institute for Space Research, there are 76k outbreaks of fires. There were more outbreaks in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2010. Which makes 2019 the 7th worst year for fires in Brazil in the past 20 years. So claims that what is happening is a record are only true if you use a really small window. Dr. Jonathan Folley, @GlobalEcoGuy, drops some knowledge:
Bolsanoro made environmental regulations a scapegoat for Brazil’s economic woes and has complained loudly that people aren’t allowed to cut down enough of the rain forest. CNN’s headline of “Blame humans for starting the Amazon fires, environmentalists say” cites environmentalist Christian Poirier’s opinion that based on past practices these fires were likely set by cattle ranchers and farmers to clear land.
Is this a record-setting blaze? No. Were the fires caused by humans? We don’t know. But world leaders could be sending air-tankers full of water and flame retardent right now, but are more likely to use the fires as a way to force climate change discussion. Which is a good thing, just, you know, put out the fires at the same time.
So How Pissed Should You Be?
If Conservative: Conservatism seems to have embraced a resoundingly anti-regulation stance, regardless of what the regulation is or who it’s meant to protect. So if the reports are true, this is a victory for the small business man against corporate eco-bureacracy. Not pissed at all.
If Liberal: You have a nationalist/fascist strongman elected, who hates trees and monkeys, and now he’s burning down the rainforest just to troll you.
If Neither: This is disturbing but not nearly as bad as the media is trying to make it look. We have seen higher levels of burns many times before and we are all remarkably still breathing. Sane people all know we want more of the rainforest and not less of it, mostly because of the amazing biodiversity that has yielded all manner of benefit to human kind, and to preserve the habitat and its animals purely because it’s amazing and we should do everything we can to protect it. But it would be nice to see the media and environmentalists act a lot more like Dr. Foley instead of trying to fan the flames.
