Tens of thousands of fires are pushing the Amazon to a tipping point

[sl8]

From https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/10/americas/brazil-amazon-fires-carlos-nobre-intl/index.html

Tens of thousands of fires are pushing the Amazon to a tipping point

By Rodrigo Pedroso, Fernanda Wenzel and Marcia Reverdosa, CNN
Updated 2:38 PM ET, Thu September 10, 2020


Fire in the Jaci-Paraná Extractive Reserve, in Porto Velho, Rondônia state, in mid-August.

(CNN) Fires continue to rage at high levels through the Amazon in Brazil for the second consecutive year, raising concerns among scientists that the rainforest's destruction could eventually reach a point of no return.

Since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office, governmental measures to curb illegal fires have shown little impact, as flames and deforestation erase vast swathes of the world's biggest rainforest.

[...]

As the trend goes on, the Amazon is speeding toward a tipping point, when large areas of the rainforest will no longer be able to produce enough rain to sustain itself, according to Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil's leading climate scientists and researcher at the University of Sao Paulo.

Once that happens, the rainforest will begin to die, eventually turning into savannah, said Nobre.

[...]

[dhill926]

1. the lungs of the earth...

it's like we're smoking 3 packs a day.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

Link to tweet

[sl8]

3. Thanks.

That really shows the scale of this - the smoke covers a fair fraction of the globe.