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The Amazon Rainforest is Still on Fire
And no one is doing anything about it.
While global carbon dioxide emissions plummeted to levels not seen since 2006, due to the measures taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil’s emissions saw an increase. The reason for that, besides the lack of effort on a federal level to impose measures to contain the spread of the virus, is the rise of deforestation, which is directly linked to the fires, for that’s what is done to clean the site after deforestation itself. This situation is especially appalling, seeing that the far-right fascist-inclined Brazilian government is complacent.
For a couple of years Brazil’s been dealing with an extremely polarized political scene. Similarly to what’s been happening in the United States, anti-science and anti-fact positions have found a way into Brazilian power and can be symbolized by the personality of the president Jair Bolsonaro. Throughout his campaign, he avoided dog-whistles altogether and expressed his racist, sexist, anti-environmental views explicitly. That didn’t change once he got into office.
We are talking about someone that was elected by upholding dictators, vilifying the press, hating minorities and defying logic and facts in the form of fake news.