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Lies, Damn Lies, And Amazon Rainforest Fear-Mongering

https://lidblog.com/rainforest-fear-mongering/

by Jeff Dunetz

The MSM and other liberals are going nuts about the Amazon wildfires, but instead of being honest, they are rainforest fear-mongering.

The fires are bad but not as bad as we are being told, many of the pictures being used to show the fire are from older Amazon wildfires or are showing wildfires that arent from the Amazon, but totally different parts of the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted out that he wanted to put the Amazon fires on the agenda for the G-7.

Emmanuel Macron

@EmmanuelMacron

Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen – is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let’s discuss this emergency first order in two days!

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The picture Macron tweeted was not of the 2019 wildfires, they can’t be because the photographer who took the picture, passed away in 2003.

Macron followed that tweet by raising a white flag (France wasn’t attacked, but surrendering is a French tradition).

Truth be told, the reports by the MSM and leftist politicians and celebrities can be explained by the famous Rahm Emanuel line, “never let a crisis go to waste.”

The New York Post reported:

Fires are common in Brazil in the annual dry season, but they are more widespread this year. Brazilian experts reported nearly 77,000 wildfires across the country so far this year, up 85% over the same period in 2018.

It is unclear how much of what is burning was already deforested for agriculture.

The NY Times answers:

Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rain forest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use.

Gee, I guess that means it’s not the end of the world. This time of year, farmers and ranchers in tropical areas burn their fields to control pests and weeds and to encourage new growth in pastures.

How bad is the fire activity?

According to data from NASA, available on Global Forest Watch, Brazil had 39% more fires between January and August 2019 than in the same period in 2018. However, the years with the most fires recorded were primarily in the early 2000s, probably linked to a high rate of agriculture-related deforestation in the Amazon at that time. This year’s fires are well below that level for the period January through August (though note that 2019 figures only include data through August 22). So far, 2019 is on track to be the third-highest year for fires since 2010.

Before 2010 the fire activity was much worse:

rainforest fear-mongering

If the Amazon didn’t burn away in 2005, 2007, or 2010, the 2019 levels aren’t going to wipe out the rainforest either.

But there’s more, per the MSM, it’s not just that the Amazon Rainforest is going to burn up and disappear, but we are going to run out of oxygen and suffocate.

ABC News

@ABC

“You’re talking about an area that’s truly one of the greatest celebrations of life on this planet —that literally cleans our water, purifies our air. We gotta get worried.” http://abcn.ws/31Us1gP 

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ABC News

@ABC

The Amazon is often referred to as “the lungs of the planet.” It’s home to 10% of the world’s species and creates 20% of our oxygen.

There have been more than 74,000 fires in the Amazon since January, a massive increase over last year. http://abcn.ws/31Us1gP 

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CNN

@CNN

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is in flames, burning at the highest rate since 2013, when that nation’s space research center first began tracking fires there https://cnn.it/2ZdeRP5 

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CNN

@CNN

The Amazon, which produces about 20% of earth’s oxygen, is often referred to as “the planet’s lungs.”

An inferno in the world’s largest rainforest, two-thirds of which is in Brazil, threatens the ecosystem there and also affects the entire globe. https://cnn.it/30v1aaS 

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Like Macron, Sky News’ pictures were not of this year’s fires.

Sky News

@SkyNews

Brazilian troops have been deployed in an attempt to fight a record number of forest fires in the .

20% of the world’s oxygen is provided by the rainforest. And it’s burning.

Read why you should care here: http://po.st/iEeeUu 

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Liberal politicians joined in on the freak-out.

Rep. Barbara Lee

@RepBarbaraLee

The Amazon produces 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. If we fail to combat climate change now, soon we won’t have clean air to breathe. We must take . This is not a drill or a hoax. https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/21/americas/amazon-rainforest-fire-intl-hnk-trnd/index.html 

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate

Fires are raging at a record rate in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and scientists warn that it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change.

cnn.com

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Kamala Harris wants universal healthcare for rain forests–well until she changes her position.

Kamala Harris

@KamalaHarris

Brazil’s President Bolsonaro must answer for this devastation. The Amazon creates over 20% of the world’s oxygen and is home to one million Indigenous people.

Any destruction affects us all.

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Liberal celebs also tried to convince everyone that the world was ending:

 

Dr. Jonanathan Foley, Global environmental scientist and Executive Director of Project Drawdown, which focuses on climate solutions, destroys the 20% myth.

Dr. Jonathan Foley

@GlobalEcoGuy

Despite the widespread claim, the Amazon doesn’t produce 20% of the world’s oxygen.

It’s more like ~6%

Dr. Jonathan Foley

@GlobalEcoGuy

Also, the forests are being replaced by pastures and croplands, which also do photosynthesis and produce similar amounts of oxygen.

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Dr. Jonathan Foley

@GlobalEcoGuy

It’s biologically and physically impossible for the Amazon to produce 20% of the world’s oxygen.

Plus, those rainforests will be replaces with soybean fields and pastures that also do photosynthesis and produce oxygen at similar, or higher, rates.

This is not an issue.

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Dr. Jonathan Foley

@GlobalEcoGuy

Also, @airscottdenning reminds us that the levels of oxygen in the atmosphere are so large, the biosphere’s year to year impacts on atmospheric O2 levels is small. It would take many thousands of years to make a big change in it.

It’s more controlled by long-term geology.

Dr. Jonathan Foley

@GlobalEcoGuy

And, this doesn’t even address oxygen *consumption* by living things — like animals and microbes.

It turns out that the Amazon ecosystem consumes, on average, about as much oxygen as it produces. That’s true for most ecosystems.

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And for those planning to blame the wildfires on the climate change hypothesis, I invite them to refer to professional meteorologist, weather forecaster, and a twitter feed you should regularly read— Joe Bastardi:

Joe Bastardi

@BigJoeBastardi

Does @LeoDiCaprio et al and all the rainforest burning hypers know much of the area has had above normal rainfall this year, or the oceans around S America are cooling, and much of S America normal to below temps? I didnt think so Once again shallow thought no looking at data

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Here’s the bottom line folks. No one wants to see the fires in the Amazon Rainforest continue. But the media and other liberals are not being honest with you. They are displaying pictures that are much worse than the real Amazon wildfires.  This is not the worst case of wildfires in the Amazon, they were much worse a decade ago. And the Amazon does not supply 20% of the world’s oxygen levels, the real number is less than a third of that number.

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