Stop the Amazon Fires [action alert]
Photo credit: Toa55/Shutterstock.com
Pressure the United Nations to Act
The Amazon rainforest is in a
critical state of near-collapse with a record number of fires in Brazil this
year—twice as many as in 2018. The fires have been deliberately set to deforest
the Amazon and displace its indigenous populations to make way for soybean and
cattle farming and oil drilling, actions encouraged by Brazilian president Jair
Bolsonaro. The Amazon is known as the as the “lungs” of our Earth; its oxygen
is an essential, irreparable link that holds our global ecosystem within
balance. Scientists say that with another 5 percent burned, the Amazon could
reach the tipping point of ecosystem collapse.
Dramatic and swift action needs to
take place, and the United Nations has the power to do so. A global online petition at Change.org
urges the United Nations to:
1. Send in immediate humanitarian
support to all the indigenous and local
groups that have lost their homes and way of life.
2. Coordinate a large-scale effort
with Brazil and neighboring countries to fight the fires in the highest-risk areas, such as those affecting
indigenous peoples, animals and the most fragile ecosystems.
3. Create economic sanctions on
Brazil that would make the cutting,
selling and buying of timber and meat produced in the country illegal.
The petition can be signed at Tinyurl.com/AmazonCatastrophe.
Natural Awakenings magazine will be dedicating the coming year to covering the climate crisis and providing personal choices that people can make to reduce their own carbon footprint.
To learn more on the role of the rainforest in human and planetary health, go to NaturalAZ.com.
