https://theintercept.com/2019/08/23/gop-lobbyists-help-brazil-recruit-u-s-companies-to-exploit-the-amazon/?fbclid=IwAR0neg-wVjBRYB_HG6qnF8oxuWxi4Nd7Op5oD4d8vReoH1OTbm7gk6RGY4w
"THIS SUMMER, fires are being used to clear wide swaths of the Amazon at an unprecedented rate. One-fifth of the Amazon has already been destroyed in the past 50 years; further industrialization of the rainforest risks destroying another fifth, a loss that would be catastrophic for the global ecosystem. The disaster is widely blamed on interests seeking to clear the world’s largest rainforest for cattle ranching, mining, and export-focused agribusiness. Documents reveal that those interests are being pushed in the U.S. by Republican lobbyists, friendly with President Donald Trump’s administration, who entered into talks with the Brazilian government to promote corporate investment in the Amazon. The crisis in the Amazon comes as Brazil is now governed by an administration openly hostile to environmental concerns and Indigenous communities. President Jair Bolsonaro, a former Army captain once viewed as a fringe figure in Brazilian politics, has been referred to himself as “Captain Chainsaw” for his drive to promote logging and agribusiness in the Amazon."
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Brazil’s Amazon Fires Highlight The Threat Of Deregulation Amid Climate Change
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/brazil-amazon-rainforest-fire-climate-change_n_5d5dc2b5e4b02cc97c87eb98?fbclid=IwAR2rMUfXKTRUOWrAPIXL2JQYmbNuKrR-okI9P_RpPudxJDcfPBe6-TnkPZY
"Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took power this year promising to open the Amazon rainforest to industry, roll back environmental and indigenous protections and stack his Cabinet with ideologues who dismiss climate change as a Marxist hoax. But the record wildfires now raging in the Amazon offer a terrifying rebuke and serve as a stark reminder of what’s at stake as Bolsonaro’s policies allow ranchers, loggers and miners to destroy the world’s largest forest and repository of carbon dioxide at an unprecedented pace."
"Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took power this year promising to open the Amazon rainforest to industry, roll back environmental and indigenous protections and stack his Cabinet with ideologues who dismiss climate change as a Marxist hoax. But the record wildfires now raging in the Amazon offer a terrifying rebuke and serve as a stark reminder of what’s at stake as Bolsonaro’s policies allow ranchers, loggers and miners to destroy the world’s largest forest and repository of carbon dioxide at an unprecedented pace."
Leaked Documents Show Brazil’s Bolsonaro Has Grave Plans for Amazon Rainforest
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/08/22/leaked-documents-show-brazils-bolsonaro-has-grave-plans-amazon-rainforest?fbclid=IwAR1Ts6UroBICrp0AK6YYKIgjTyJGLQzq7iSB5o27jH22bhIZB4YcWsBvjf4
"Leaked documents show that Jair Bolsonaro's government intends to use the Brazilian president's hate speech to isolate minorities living in the Amazon region. The PowerPoint slides, which democraciaAbierta has seen, also reveal plans to implement predatory projects that could have a devastating environmental impact. The Bolsonaro government has as one of its priorities to strategically occupy the Amazon region to prevent the implementation of multilateral conservation projects for the rainforest, specifically the so-called “Triple A” project."
"Leaked documents show that Jair Bolsonaro's government intends to use the Brazilian president's hate speech to isolate minorities living in the Amazon region. The PowerPoint slides, which democraciaAbierta has seen, also reveal plans to implement predatory projects that could have a devastating environmental impact. The Bolsonaro government has as one of its priorities to strategically occupy the Amazon region to prevent the implementation of multilateral conservation projects for the rainforest, specifically the so-called “Triple A” project."
On the Front Lines of Bolsonaro’s War on the Amazon, Brazil’s Forest Communities Fight Against Climate Catastrophe
https://theintercept.com/2019/07/06/brazil-amazon-rainforest-indigenous-conservation-agribusiness-ranching/?fbclid=IwAR1Atn4BB3GhYxUMA3Ux9GtyyG87MVIxStARCB8NMGMNoKwZAst8HxojCOI
"Imazon, a Brazilian research center, reports deforestation in the first months of 2019 jumped more than 50 percent compared to the amount during the same period in 2018. Half of this deforestation has occurred illegally in protected areas, including hundreds of Indigenous lands that cover a quarter of Brazil’s Amazon and provide a crucial buffer for much of the rest. (In the rainforest bastion state of Amazonas, Indigenous lands account for close to a third of the standing forest.)"
"Imazon, a Brazilian research center, reports deforestation in the first months of 2019 jumped more than 50 percent compared to the amount during the same period in 2018. Half of this deforestation has occurred illegally in protected areas, including hundreds of Indigenous lands that cover a quarter of Brazil’s Amazon and provide a crucial buffer for much of the rest. (In the rainforest bastion state of Amazonas, Indigenous lands account for close to a third of the standing forest.)"
The Amazon Is Dying and Bolsonaro Is Fanning the Flames
https://truthout.org/articles/the-amazon-is-dying-and-bolsonaro-is-fanning-the-flames/
"According to INPE, deforestation across the Amazon had already accelerated by 60 percent in June, compared to the same time period last year, as radical right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s horrific environmental policies began to take effect. Last month, Greenpeace labeled Bolsonaro and his right-wing government a “threat to climate equilibrium,” while the World Wildlife Fund, like many scientists, has warned that if the Amazon reaches a tipping point, it could become a dry savannah and will no longer be capable of supporting much of the wildlife that exists there today. Instead of sequestering carbon and generating water and rainfall, the Amazon will instead become a net emitter of carbon, and the planet will lose most of its oxygen-producing function. Meanwhile, the loss of the Amazon’s biodiversity will be beyond devastating for the planet. Bolsonaro, like Trump in the U.S., has worked at breakneck speed to eliminate environmental regulations. He has opened up the Amazon for logging, agribusiness and mining since he took power this January."
"According to INPE, deforestation across the Amazon had already accelerated by 60 percent in June, compared to the same time period last year, as radical right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro’s horrific environmental policies began to take effect. Last month, Greenpeace labeled Bolsonaro and his right-wing government a “threat to climate equilibrium,” while the World Wildlife Fund, like many scientists, has warned that if the Amazon reaches a tipping point, it could become a dry savannah and will no longer be capable of supporting much of the wildlife that exists there today. Instead of sequestering carbon and generating water and rainfall, the Amazon will instead become a net emitter of carbon, and the planet will lose most of its oxygen-producing function. Meanwhile, the loss of the Amazon’s biodiversity will be beyond devastating for the planet. Bolsonaro, like Trump in the U.S., has worked at breakneck speed to eliminate environmental regulations. He has opened up the Amazon for logging, agribusiness and mining since he took power this January."
'Our Lungs Are on Fire': Climate Campaigners Rally at Brazilian Embassies to Protest Destruction of Amazon Rainforest
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/23/our-lungs-are-fire-climate-campaigners-rally-brazilian-embassies-protest-destruction?fbclid=IwAR1yT--Wbh-DEHLQNz89OFUDgALmeWZedGDHinlv-8upwHeMGYMmcC7CQYg
"Climate campaigners demonstrated outside the Brazilian embassies in London, Paris, and Madrid on Friday to protest what they say is the Bolsonaro regime's role in dozens of fires that have ravaged large swathes of the Amazon rainforest over the past three weeks."
"Climate campaigners demonstrated outside the Brazilian embassies in London, Paris, and Madrid on Friday to protest what they say is the Bolsonaro regime's role in dozens of fires that have ravaged large swathes of the Amazon rainforest over the past three weeks."
Can humanity survive without the Amazon rainforest?
https://www.salon.com/2019/08/22/can-humanity-survive-without-the-amazon-rainforest-maybe-not-experts-say/?fbclid=IwAR0xUJ5jPabscd0WEPpuFVDdkEd0rOJ-kraF92q3nYc96NGPHeuTvSfgOpw
"In July alone, the Amazon lost 519 square miles of rainforest, an area more than twice the size of Tokyo, due to deforestation. “This devastation is directly related to President Bolsonaro's anti-environmental rhetoric, which erroneously frames forest protections and human rights as impediments to Brazil's economic growth,” Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch's Program Director, said in a statement. “Farmers and ranchers understand the president's message as a license to commit arson with wanton impunity, in order to aggressively expand their operations into the rainforest"."
"In July alone, the Amazon lost 519 square miles of rainforest, an area more than twice the size of Tokyo, due to deforestation. “This devastation is directly related to President Bolsonaro's anti-environmental rhetoric, which erroneously frames forest protections and human rights as impediments to Brazil's economic growth,” Christian Poirier, Amazon Watch's Program Director, said in a statement. “Farmers and ranchers understand the president's message as a license to commit arson with wanton impunity, in order to aggressively expand their operations into the rainforest"."
Amazonia is burning—because that's exactly what 'Brazil's Trump' promised
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/8/23/1880843/-Amazonia-is-burning-because-that-s-exactly-what-Brazil-s-Trump-promised?fbclid=IwAR1UrgQVgkyrbM35FiSGGWJOGjZ6ZnXr6UTGrtyGjLrdtARl2cS9SqMrnCA
"The very first rule of understanding an autocracy is to Believe the Autocrat. When someone promises that they will destroy whole peoples and intentionally wreck the environment—believe them. When Jair Bolsonaro was running for president of Brazil, he told people to call him “Captain Chainsaw,” saying openly that he would promote the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Now he’s destroying the Amazon rain forest."
"The very first rule of understanding an autocracy is to Believe the Autocrat. When someone promises that they will destroy whole peoples and intentionally wreck the environment—believe them. When Jair Bolsonaro was running for president of Brazil, he told people to call him “Captain Chainsaw,” saying openly that he would promote the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Now he’s destroying the Amazon rain forest."
The right-wing populist wave is a threat to the climate
https://www.vox.com/2019/8/22/20828297/amazon-rainforest-fire-bolsonaro-brazil-populism?fbclid=IwAR0v_LUCjg9AKw3MSAGtV5RzwbFJiFmceWUY_H8_ptNcFe0XDEddmZBOm0A
"The Amazon rainforest is on fire — and the consensus is that Brazil’s far-right populist leader, Jair Bolsonaro, is to blame. Bolsonaro, who took office in January and has been referred to as “Captain Chainsaw,” gutted funding for agencies protecting the massive rainforest, essentially giving wink-and-nudge approval for illegal loggers to do their thing. Fire is used as a tool for clearing Amazon land for ranching, and the more trees are cut down, the more vulnerable the rainforest is to wildfires. There have been almost twice as many fires detected in 2019 so far as there were in the entirety of 2018. It’s hard to overstate how threatening this policy is to the climate. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest: its trees scrub the Earth of a significant amount of CO2 and have captured a huge amount of carbon and methane within their branches and roots. If you lose the trees, a lot of greenhouse gases get released and it becomes harder to capture emissions from other sources. Continued fires and clear-cutting in the Amazon could cripple the fight against climate change. All of this goes to underscore an important and poorly understood point: The wave of right-wing populism sweeping the world is not only dangerous for the countries who succumb to it, or even to immigrants wishing to move to those nations. It’s a fundamental threat to progress against climate change — and thus the entirety of the human race."
"The Amazon rainforest is on fire — and the consensus is that Brazil’s far-right populist leader, Jair Bolsonaro, is to blame. Bolsonaro, who took office in January and has been referred to as “Captain Chainsaw,” gutted funding for agencies protecting the massive rainforest, essentially giving wink-and-nudge approval for illegal loggers to do their thing. Fire is used as a tool for clearing Amazon land for ranching, and the more trees are cut down, the more vulnerable the rainforest is to wildfires. There have been almost twice as many fires detected in 2019 so far as there were in the entirety of 2018. It’s hard to overstate how threatening this policy is to the climate. The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest: its trees scrub the Earth of a significant amount of CO2 and have captured a huge amount of carbon and methane within their branches and roots. If you lose the trees, a lot of greenhouse gases get released and it becomes harder to capture emissions from other sources. Continued fires and clear-cutting in the Amazon could cripple the fight against climate change. All of this goes to underscore an important and poorly understood point: The wave of right-wing populism sweeping the world is not only dangerous for the countries who succumb to it, or even to immigrants wishing to move to those nations. It’s a fundamental threat to progress against climate change — and thus the entirety of the human race."
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
The Trump Administration Just Gutted One of the Most Powerful Environmental Laws on the Books
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/08/the-trump-administration-just-gutted-one-of-the-most-powerful-environmental-laws-on-the-books/?fbclid=IwAR1BwV8LYV7B4onbI-VbnW4Ea_vO59f3fgDgGLTZBii8ruChRh0xhJMtM9U
"The Trump administration unveiled final regulations that weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Monday, just three months after the United Nations warned of the “unprecedented” decline in biodiversity around the world. “We are in the midst of an unprecedented extinction crisis, yet the Trump Administration is steamrolling our most effective wildlife protection law,” said Rebecca Riley, legal director of the nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This Administration seems set on damaging fragile ecosystems by prioritizing industry interests over science"."
"The Trump administration unveiled final regulations that weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Monday, just three months after the United Nations warned of the “unprecedented” decline in biodiversity around the world. “We are in the midst of an unprecedented extinction crisis, yet the Trump Administration is steamrolling our most effective wildlife protection law,” said Rebecca Riley, legal director of the nature program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This Administration seems set on damaging fragile ecosystems by prioritizing industry interests over science"."
Trump Administration Weakens Endangered Species Act Amid Global Extinction Crisis
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-endangered-species-rule_n_5cf7b7b4e4b01713bed4df9b?fbclid=IwAR2-WkOFunI0psLGwLi8TQJvPr6en9gKk1F0sTobp-mnXebfR4Ja8SklVxw
"Even as the administration was working to finalize the new Endangered Species Act rules, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the act with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was working to weaken or remove protections for threatened and endangered species, according to an internal 2018 memo obtained by freelance reporter Jimmy Tobias. A coalition of 10 state attorneys general was among the many groups that condemned the Trump administration’s proposal to roll back species protections. In a September letter to the administration, the coalition called the proposed changes “unlawful, arbitrary, and harmful.” The goal of the overhaul is clear: to “undercut the science” and reduce the number of listed species, according to David Hayes, the executive director of New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center and former deputy secretary at the Interior Department under President Barack Obama. The only reason to consider economic impacts when making ESA decisions is to “poison the well and obtain a sort of public reaction to the listing,” he said. “The unifying principle of all these regulatory changes,” he added, “is to lessen the effectiveness of the act and to move away from what science tells you to do"."
"Even as the administration was working to finalize the new Endangered Species Act rules, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the act with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was working to weaken or remove protections for threatened and endangered species, according to an internal 2018 memo obtained by freelance reporter Jimmy Tobias. A coalition of 10 state attorneys general was among the many groups that condemned the Trump administration’s proposal to roll back species protections. In a September letter to the administration, the coalition called the proposed changes “unlawful, arbitrary, and harmful.” The goal of the overhaul is clear: to “undercut the science” and reduce the number of listed species, according to David Hayes, the executive director of New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center and former deputy secretary at the Interior Department under President Barack Obama. The only reason to consider economic impacts when making ESA decisions is to “poison the well and obtain a sort of public reaction to the listing,” he said. “The unifying principle of all these regulatory changes,” he added, “is to lessen the effectiveness of the act and to move away from what science tells you to do"."
‘Poop every other day’ to save Earth says Brazilian president as he destroys the Amazon
https://thinkprogress.org/poop-every-other-day-to-save-earth-says-brazilian-president-as-he-destroys-the-amazon-8ebcfa298ed1/
"With a string of inane comments meant to distract people, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro keeps re-earning the title of “the Brazilian Trump.” His latest crazy comment came Friday when he said that one way to save the environment is if people “poop every other day.” But many in the media missed the key context. Bolsonaro is not someone who cares about the environment. He is someone who is in fact accelerating the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest, and who says crazy stuff just to get the attention or cause distraction."
"With a string of inane comments meant to distract people, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro keeps re-earning the title of “the Brazilian Trump.” His latest crazy comment came Friday when he said that one way to save the environment is if people “poop every other day.” But many in the media missed the key context. Bolsonaro is not someone who cares about the environment. He is someone who is in fact accelerating the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest, and who says crazy stuff just to get the attention or cause distraction."
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