The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
August 21, 2019

Amazon Wildfires Spark Fears of Environmental Disaster as São Paulo Goes Dark from Smoke
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Brazil, public outrage is mounting over massive wildfires that have
consumed parts of the Amazon for several weeks. The hashtag #Pray For
Amazonia trended Tuesday as images of the raging blazes circulated on
social media. The skies over the city of São Paulo went dark for around
an hour during the middle of the day Monday, after winds carried in
smoke from the forest fires over 1,500 miles away. The fires are thought
to be directly caused or exacerbated by agricultural exploitation and
deforestation. Brazil's space research agency has recorded nearly 73,000
wildfires so far this year - an 83% increase from the same period last
year. Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has worked to
deregulate and open up the Amazon for agribusiness, logging and mining
since he came into office in January, despite international concerns
over the environmental impacts of deforestation. Recent data shows that
Brazil lost more than 1,300 square miles of forest cover this year.
Climate scientists say the protection of the Amazon rainforest is
crucial in the global effort to fight climate change.


.