Let me share with you a harsh reality that needs to be heard and stopped!
Trees in the Amazon rainforest are chopped down at an unprecedented rate according to the (Brazilian Space Agency, 2022). In the first six months of 2022, 1,500 square miles of the Amazon were removed due to deforestation supported by the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsnoro that is largely regulated by power, greed, and a quick fix on the return of investment. The Amazon rainforest plays a vital role in balancing the local, regional and world climates. Just to name a few critical benefits, trees in the rain forest provide opportunity for biodiversity to thrive, sequester carbon dioxide out of the air, and create large amounts of rainfall that goes back into our atmosphere.
Many species are going extinct due to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, which stresses the balance of nature. Did you know there are wildfires burning in the Amazon right now? This past June, forest fires hit a 15-year high, and scientists are worried about the peak fire season that starts in August and September. Threatening widespread droughts are preventing growth of new trees, are ultimately causing the ecosystem to breakdown and could cause the Amazon to become vast plains of grasslands or desert.
This truly baffles me! How can presidents, large corporations and people still be so narrow-minded and naïve? Or maybe, they don’t care about the effects of their actions? This leads me to question the mentality of some governments as it relates to addressing the needs of their people, including environmental policies, nature, human rights, power, greed and upfront climate issues.
I thought the role of a president would be to help their fellow people live longer and prosper instead of destroying valuable natural resources the world depends upon to keep it environmentally stable. Ultimately, this deforestation is destroying the lungs of our earth! There is no planet B! A president can make the choice to assess a country’s resources and create a sustainable pathway towards a regenerative, renewable economy providing for the country’s needs without destroying precious ecosystems and the vast biodiversity the Amazon supports.
To put things into perspective, in the past six months an area 5x the size of New York City has been deforested! This is an 11% increase in the deforestation rate from the prior record-breaking year! The Amazon cannot sustain actions like this which are causing devastating rippling effects changing the way people inhabit the world. The Amazon rainforest acts as a cornerstone in the fight against the climate crisis.
You can help stop deforestation right now! Visit our page on how you can get involved today! Donate $25 to help support our deforestation campaign, we will plant a tree in your name in Uganda, Africa! Learn more about planting trees in the Amazon!
