The conversation has drifted away from the fires in the Amazon, but the devastating situation in Brazil still deserves our attention. The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah dedicated a segment of his show Thursday night (watch above) to talk about how “Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro refuses global aid in the wake of rampant fires ravaging the Amazon.”
And this week Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) wrote:
“If the White House refuses to act… the U.S. Senate will… We must make clear that the fires in Brazil are a national security crisis and that we are willing to pause aspects of our bilateral relationship with Brazil until their government takes action to bring them under control, along with the ranchers and loggers reportedly starting. Nothing about our relationship with Brazil should be business as usual until Bolsonaro takes meaningful action to quell the fires and protect the Amazon.”
Money isn’t the only way to help either, this is an issue that requires all of us to step up. ABC writes that fashion retailer H&M “is suspending leather purchases from Brazil to make sure it is not supporting cattle farming that may be contributing to the fires in the Amazon rainforest.” Vans and Timberland have made similar pledges.
Today The Guardian wrote:
This is not just Brazil’s problem – or indeed that of other Amazon countries like Bolivia and Colombia, which have also been impacted by fire and environmental devastation. All of us are implicated. The global patterns of economic growth, including the unprecedented levels of demand for meat in the developed world, account for much of the pressure on land use in the region. And widespread deforestation in other parts of the world means we are more reliant than ever on the region for our global ecological balance.
The Amazon isn't burning. It's being burned. https://t.co/0o52yQGhqF#Sept5Act4Amazonia
— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) September 5, 2019