Current Affairs (Amazon)

Question 1

Why are is the Amazon being burnt?

Answer 1

Primarily to provide land for agricultural purposes such as cattle and soy farming.

Question 2

When has this started happening?

Amazon

Answer 2

It happens every summer but this year has been particularly bad

Question 3

What countries is this happening and what are they doing to help?
(Amazon)

Answer 3

Brazillian president Bolsonaro has been accused of fuelling these fires by introducing pro-business policies that put the environment at risk. He has since allocated 44000 troops to help with the situation. Other leaders in south america have also pledged to combat the issue.

Question 4

How much worse is it this year?

Amazon

Answer 4

The has been a 77% increase in the number of fires during the same tracking period. As of the end of August, its estimated that over 900 thousand hectares have been burned in 2019.

Question 5

Why is this bad?

Amazon

Answer 5

Environmental reasons:
The amazon replaces CO2 with O2
Methane from cattle farming
Smoke pollution from burning
All contribute to global warming.
Wipes out indigenous rare species.

Question 6

Why hasn’t it been stopped?

Amazon

Answer 6

Hard to police a whole rain forest, possible corruption.

Question 7

What have we done?

Amazon

Answer 7

The G7 agreed to put together $22 million as emergency aid for the countries affected by the fires. This sounds like a lot of money, but it isn’t really. As a comparison, a new F35 costs about $100 million and Netflix paid $100 million to continue streaming “Friends”.

Question 8

Your opinion?

Amazon

Answer 8

Our planet is pretty much already passed the tipping point in regards to sustainability. We should be doing everything we can to combat these issues. Yes, it is important to fight evil in the world via tyrannical dictators and religious extremists, but in the next 100 years I’d be willing to bet that the climate crisis kills more people than ISIS and Saddam Hussein combined.