The Amazon in Brazil is on fire – how bad is it?

This article completely fails to mention a very important issue: Scientists are worried that the amazon may approach a tipping point after which the ecosystem will completely collapse.<p>The guardian has a better take on the story: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;environment&#x2F;2019&#x2F;aug&#x2F;23&#x2F;amazon-fires-what-is-happening-anything-we-can-do" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;environment&#x2F;2019&#x2F;aug&#x2F;23&#x2F;amazon-f...</a>

NASA came up with a follow up article and it seems like there&#x27;s a lot of fire in Amazon currently &quot;making it the most active fire year in that region since 2010&quot;.<p>So looks like it&#x27;s been worse only 9 years ago and in some stupid articles I read that we lost 20% of Amazon in the last month or so... Amazon apparently has &quot;fire season&quot; every year when fire blasts there for months.<p>I feel like someone is trying to set up Bolsonaro or maybe the histeria is accidental because this years &quot;fire season&quot; in Amazon is &quot;dry season&quot; for media?<p>The charts does not look so bad this year, but I suppose 99% people have no idea Amazon burns every year:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov&#x2F;images&#x2F;145498&#x2F;uptick-in-amazon-fire-activity-in-2019" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov&#x2F;images&#x2F;145498&#x2F;uptick-i...</a><p>I mean it&#x27;s really good we&#x27;re finally opening our eyes (it might be too late though), but I feel like we&#x27;re being manipulated big time.

When the Amazon turns into a savannah well into our lifetime, we will see how this stuff looks like historically.<p>I suspect though that the attention that the press is giving to this year&#x27;s fires, which are catastrophic and need attention, has something to do with the fact that Brasil is about to sign a historic trade agreement with the EU and this is being used to politically pressure Brasil into stopping the increasing deforestation.<p>Which I&#x27;m all for it, I get it that it&#x27;s politics and that&#x27;s how it works, I just don&#x27;t like the manipulation.

There is also a big forest fire in Siberia, but I can&#x27;t remember seeing anything on it in the Norwegian press. There are some stories about the Amazon fire, though. Perhaps the one in Siberia is less dangerous? I don&#x27;t know! Why is the Amazon fire worse? Or can you compare them at all?

Not gonna lie I had the impression that Amazon was gonna get wiped out in a matter of weeks considering the amount of attention this story has been getting.

Our information ecosystem is truly polluted. It&#x27;s hard to find impartial journalism these days – or maybe it was always like that? I think that our willingness to share content (without thinking) is exploited to spread disinformation.

Duh... <i>very</i> bad?<p>State of emergency in the largest state of Brasil<p>75.000 wildfires in 8 months, double as in the last year<p>200 millions of tonnes of CO2 released, actively boycotting any chance of fixing climate of the planet<p>Deforestation accelerated in a 278%, actively increasing the six extinction rate<p>But, but... this is happening since the last decades also!, so, oki doki. All is fine like soy ice cream. Not Bolsonarson fault.

I&#x27;m seeing a lot of apparently conflicting information about these Amazon fires. I&#x27;ve seen sources saying its about average, and I&#x27;ve seen sources saying it&#x27;s the worst since 2010.<p>Are they in disagreement, or are they measuring different things, so aren&#x27;t disagreeing? Or is something else going on? I&#x27;m kinda lost

All I have seen these days in the press is to blame Bolsonaro, of some fires that occur, every year, for decades on an area of 5,500,000 km2 and you will tell me how a person can monitor so much surface, which is not even People can travel. Presidents of other countries that I am not going to mention have campaigned against Bolsonaro using old photos. It is unfortunate the political use that is being given to this, added to the contribution that the press is making to the levels of hysteria of the people, does not help at all.

I&#x27;ve read like 10 articles about this so far, and they did not answer the following questions:<p>- How large, proportionally, is the burned region? How long would it theoretically take for the whole thing to burn down at this rate?<p>- How large, proportionally is the burned region in Siberia? How long has the Siberian fire been burning, how long would it take for everything to burn down, etc.<p>- I&#x27;ve seen the 20% of the worlds oxygen stat a bunch. But how significant is this fire in affecting that? Wouldn&#x27;t we expect the Siberian fire to have a larger effect because it covers a thousand times more area?<p>- Can anyone explain the tipping-point business? How can a series of local fires cause a global collapse? Especially considering that this is neither the first nor the biggest fire?<p>- Do these fires burn themselves out? How do they end?

It is very bad because the current president policy is to sell and deforest for farms or cattle, without any worry of the ecosystem or native people of the area. Which should be preserve and protect.<p>In terms of the area affected by fire, more burned in Portugal in 2018, which is a very small compared with Amazon size.

Like so many other articles, this one contains no information about the possible causes and motives behind forest fires, just a bit of hearsay. Surely in most countries, land that is forest has to stay forest even after a fire and cannot legally be used as farm land? What is the legal situation in Brazil? Could it be that reforestation has other economic benefits, like new CO2 credits?

The Amazon Rainforest Tipping Point is 20-25% deforestation total.<p>We are at 20% deforestation now.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;phys.org&#x2F;news&#x2F;2018-03-amazon-deforestation.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;phys.org&#x2F;news&#x2F;2018-03-amazon-deforestation.html</a><p>The forest fires stem from previous deforestation, so destruction is cumulative, exponential.<p>Past the tipping point the rainforest dies.<p>To quote the Expanse, this is the cascade, (and we are nearing the point where) this station is already dead.

Last I read was, that die back is at around 20 to 25percent. We are at 20 percent. I would say, yeah it is bad :)

VERY BAD, because now someone need to add &#x27;in Brazil&#x27; to avoid confusion.

Cheap burgers are cheap for reasons

In the average of the last 15 years:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earthobservatory.nasa.gov&#x2F;images&#x2F;145464&#x2F;fires-in-brazil" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;earthobservatory.nasa.gov&#x2F;images&#x2F;145464&#x2F;fires-in-bra...</a><p>&gt;As of August 16, 2019, an analysis of NASA satellite data indicated that total fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average in comparison to the past 15 years.