The End Of The Amazon
In the past three decades, hundreds of people have died in land
wars; countless others endure fear and uncertainty, their lives threatened by
those who profit from the theft of timber and land.
In this Wild frontier of guns, chain saws, and bulldozers,
government agents are often corrupt and ineffective or ill-equipped and
outmatched. Now, industrial-scale soybean producers are joining loggers and
cattle farmers in the land grab, speeding up damage and further fragmenting the great Brazilian wilderness.
During the past 40 years, close to 20% of the Amazon rainforest
has been cut down. The figure doesn’t take into account the selective logging, which causes significant damage but is hard to find than clear-cuts. Intact,the Amazon produces half its own rainfall through the moisture it releases into
the atmosphere. When dryness is worsened by global warming, severe droughts
raise the spectre of wildfires that could ravage the forest. Such a drought
distressed the Amazon in 2005, reducing river levels as much as 40 feet (12
meters) and stranding hundreds of communities.
If we continue to cut down the trees the Amazon rainforest will be no more.
wars; countless others endure fear and uncertainty, their lives threatened by
those who profit from the theft of timber and land.
In this Wild frontier of guns, chain saws, and bulldozers,
government agents are often corrupt and ineffective or ill-equipped and
outmatched. Now, industrial-scale soybean producers are joining loggers and
cattle farmers in the land grab, speeding up damage and further fragmenting the great Brazilian wilderness.
During the past 40 years, close to 20% of the Amazon rainforest
has been cut down. The figure doesn’t take into account the selective logging, which causes significant damage but is hard to find than clear-cuts. Intact,the Amazon produces half its own rainfall through the moisture it releases into
the atmosphere. When dryness is worsened by global warming, severe droughts
raise the spectre of wildfires that could ravage the forest. Such a drought
distressed the Amazon in 2005, reducing river levels as much as 40 feet (12
meters) and stranding hundreds of communities.
If we continue to cut down the trees the Amazon rainforest will be no more.