How big is the Amazon rainforest and what ...



Race StrategyRACEMedia Monday #4 – Intro to RACEHere's what we know about the fires in the Amazon rainforestCNN?23 August 2019?How big is the Amazon rainforest and what does it matter?The?world's largest rainforest, the Amazon spans eight countries and covers 40% of South America -- an area that is nearly the size of two-thirds of the US, according to the World Wildlife Fund. More than 30 million people live in the Amazon, which is also home to large numbers of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, most of them unique to the region. A new plant or animal species is discovered there every two days.The Amazon forest, which produces about 20% of earth's oxygen, is often referred to as "the planet's lungs."An inferno in the Amazon, two-thirds of which is in Brazil, threatens the rainforest ecosystem and also affects the entire globe.What is happening and when did it begin?Since the beginning of 2019,?Brazil's National Institute for Space Research?(known as "INPE") has reported 72,843 fires in the country, with more than half of these being seen in the Amazon region. This means more than one-and-a-half soccer fields of Amazon rainforest are being destroyed every minute of every day, INPE has stated.An 80% increase in deforestation has occurred so far this year compared to last year, according to the institute.Evidence of the fires also comes by way of a map created by the European Union's satellite program,?Copernicus, that shows smoke from the fires spreading all along Brazil to the east Atlantic coast. Smoke has covered nearly half of the country and has begun to spill into neighboring Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.Even Sao Paulo, more than 1,700 miles away, has inhaled some of the burning forest's smoke. Images from the city show the sky pitch-black in the middle of the afternoon, the sun partially obscured by ash and dark.Across the globe, people are sharing images and videos that show lines of fire leaving blackened waste.What's the cause -- How can a wet rainforest burn?Farmers and cattle ranchers have long used fire to clear land and make it ready for use, so they are likely behind the unusually large number fires burning in the Amazon today, said Christian Poirier, the program director of non-profit organization Amazon Watch.This year's fires fit with an established seasonal agricultural pattern, said CNN meteorologist Haley Brink. "It's the best time to burn because the vegetation is dry. (Farmers) wait for the dry season and they start burning and clearing the areas so that their cattle can graze. And that's what we're suspecting is going on down there.""The vast majority of these fires are human-lit," said Poirier, who explained that even during dry seasons, the rainforest cannot catch fire easily, unlike, say, the dry bushlands of California or Australia.Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, agrees with Poirier.Setzer believes 99% of the fires result from human actions "either on purpose or by accident." Fires are caused by small-scale agricultural practices or mechanized and modern agribusiness projects, Setzer told CNN by email.What could result from deforestation of the Amazon?Currently, the Amazon is a "sink" for carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas that is emitted mainly from burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas,?according to WWF. Under natural conditions, plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and absorb it for photosynthesis, yielding carbon, which allows plants to grow, and releasing oxygen back into the air.Scientists say that excessive carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to the warming of our planet.The Amazon remains a net source of oxygen today -- despite the fact that about 20% of the world's total carbon dioxide emissions are caused by deforestation. Before the recent fires, the Amazon released up to 0.5 billion metric tons of carbon per year due to deforestation, according to the World Wildlife Fund.However, increased deforestation in concert with other ecological conditions could cause the Amazon to become a source of CO2 instead of a sink, some environmentalists believe. (The amount of oxygen emitted decreasing, while carbon dioxide balloons into the atmosphere.)Instead of preserving the planet from the effects of global warming, then, the Amazon could begin harming the planet by emitting larger amounts of carbon dioxide and contributing to climate change, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Recently,?Greenpeace?called Brazil's president,?Jair Bolsonaro,?and his government a "threat to the climate equilibrium."Poirier supports this view. "The Amazon is incredibly important for our future, for our ability to stave off the worst of climate change," he said.Today’s Prompt: Using various pieces of evidence from the text, explain how the author develops the central idea of the article. 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