The Amazon Rain Forest is Currently On Fire
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Scary footage from the fires raging in the Amazon.
Luckily, we’ve been having a relatively peaceful fire season so far in North America. While last year we wrote new headlines nearly every week about the many massive fires holding the West in their clutches, there has been little to talk about this summer. On the other hand, look south, and that’s where the current news is playing out.
A large portion of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is currently on fire, which might not be news on its own. However, the fires are so big that Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research says it’s burning at the highest rate ever recorded, at an 80 percent increase from 2018. Recordings started in 2013.
The Amazon is often referred to as the Earth’s lungs, thanks to the fact that it processes up to 20% of the planet’s oxygen supply. Essentially, it’s a massive CO2 filter, and is considered vital to slowing down CO2-induced climate change. In addition, it’s home to a myriad of plant and animal species.
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Smoke clouds have reached across much of the country, with images from Sao Paolo (more than 1,700 miles away) showing smoke and ash in the sky. See below for a map of the smoke plume.
From the other side of Earth, here’s the latest on the Amazonia fires
Produced by @CopernicusEU’s atmosphere monitoring service, it shows the smoke reaching the Atlantic coast and São Paulo
— WMO | OMM (@WMO) August 20, 2019
