What young people around the world really think of the Amazon forest fire
I sometimes have nightmares about my house being on fire. I plan where I would escape to, what I would grab on my way out because I couldn’t leave without it. I panic about what I would do and how I would be able to carry on without all of my things. Yes, so shallow, my ‘things’. What I never worry about when I have these nightmares, and this is a very fortunate thing to say, is that I don’t have enough water or air after the fire. After all, my house isn’t my source for this.
But now, my other house is burning. Our other house. And here we won’t lose any ‘stuff’. We’ll lose life.
The Amazon forest has been burning for 3 weeks now. This extension of green is responsible for producing 20% of the oxygen we breath and 20% of the freshwater supplies. Or should I say, used to be responsible for producing?
As a young person from a country far away from Brazil, this is all making me feel helpless. And I started to wonder if my whole generation feels the same way. So I decided to ask some fellow young people what they think of the situation.
I saw fear:
“Fear that political interests and unresponsive governments ruin the future of generations to come.” Joana, 22, Portugal
“Honestly I’m scared for the consequences.” Katherine
“Sad and fear for the future of the lungs of the planet and all the animals and plants :’(“ Assia, 25
I saw confusion:
“Incomprehension, why nobody reacted it is confusing!” Anonymous
“16 days passes since the fire began and only now we are hearing about it — wake up world!” Sara, 23, Portugal
And, worst of all, I saw heartbreak:
“The planet is dying! If there’s no more Amazon forest! We are all gonna die soon!” Louai, 21, Algeria
“Broke into tears in the middle of my internship today after seeing the photos. Heartbroken….” Anonymous, 24, Srilanka
But what I also saw — and a lot! — was the will to act, to change, to contribute!
“Is it possible to stop the fire?” Ana, 23, Colombia
“We need actions” Mamdouh, 24, South Korea
“Stop looking for short term solutions and start cutting meat and dairy from your diet.” Natashia, 22, India
“This is a cry for help from our planet. And I hope that governments finally take action.” Noelle
“How can we help solve it?” Prudhvi, 21, India
My peers showed me the potential of our generation. We might be scared, we might be confused — after all, this is not really our fault — but we are willing to turn it around. We know it’s our only choice.
Brazil holds 60% of the Amazon Forest in its territory. This is the biggest tropical forest in the world, often referred to as ‘the lungs of the Earth’ because of the huge amounts of carbon dioxide it is able to soak up and turn into oxygen. In other words, it is essential in moderating climate change.
In the last 5 years deforestation rates in the Amazon Forest have been raising, with 2018 being the worst year on record, and predictions saying 2019 will be even worse. Almost 40% of the forest was turned into cattle fields, either to plant soy to feed cattle, or for the cattle to have a place to grow. And now, what is left of it, is burning non-stop. The fire is so big that the smoke has reached cities thousands of miles away.
While many people think this fire is a consequence of political choices, and feel helpless for not being Brazilian and able to vote there, we are casting votes every day through the products we buy. Make clear to agribusiness and financiers involved in the destruction that you are not going to buy their products.
Humans need to understand that we are part of this world, and not its center. The planet will survive our destruction. There were times of extremely high and extremely low temperatures in the Earth. It survived. But a lot of species didn’t. And we won’t. If the Amazon dies, we die.
