A rainforest which took 55 million years to create is on fire. And those who set the fires are just trying to avoid the blame.
The Amazon is on fire.
That’s the story.
A rainforest which took 55 million years to create is on fire.
A rainforest which absorbs a huge portion of the world’s carbon is on fire.
The scale of this catastrophe is itself overwhelming. But placed in the context of climate predictions, people all over the world are terrified.
What can we do about this?
That question is where our minds turn to mush. Because fear breaks our brains.
Broken
The G-7 leaders met this week to see how the world can deal with this catastrophe.
One of the planet’s pivotal resources is on fire.
We want to protect the planet. We want to protect ourselves and each other from the impending catastrophe. Something that is literally now just a few years away.
We have about a decade to prevent climate collapse. Maybe 30 years if we’re feeling generous.
It took 55 million years to create the great rainforest.
The unreliable narrator
Jair Bolsonaro, the fascist leader of Brazil doesn’t want help. Of course, he’s the one who wants the forest fire. So his response is predictable.
His government’s response is pretty much “hey, how about you plant some trees.”
Again, something which took millions of years to create is on fire. Because he wants it that way.
Don’t treat fascism like its honest
This isn’t a logical or reasonable argument. Don’t treat it like one.
Nor is this politics as usual. Don’t get sucked into the easy blame-averse language of this being a “verbal feud” or the coverage of this like its two personalities on an episode of The Real Housewives.
Bolsanaro is responsible for destroying the Amazon and is lying about it. Our not saying that is compromising the truth!
Please don’t let your genuine desire to hear “both sides” confuse you. This junk they are throwing against the wall isn’t a genuine argument. And don’t reduce the world’s outrage to being of equal value to the ramblings of a fascist.
Because treating these as the same is the greater distortion of the truth.