If you haven’t heard yet, the “planet’s lungs” is on its way to having an ‘earth cancer’ if fires continue to spread and ruin the ecosystem. Of course people don’t understand the big deal and that’s why I’m here to help REALLY break this down and what it means for YOU and our future here on earth.
Let’s start with the
Amazon burning, tree carbon matter is released in the form of CO2, which pollutes the atmosphere, and of which there are already excessive quantities.
it is the only rainforest we have left in terms of size and diversity of life.
but as glaciers melt wetlands become dry, it makes it hard for the Amazon to replenish what we’ve lost as a result of global warming.
Trees have hidden attributes that play a key role in reducing pollutant levels. Take carbon dioxide (CO2) for example, a gas emitted from both natural and human sources. Over the last 150 years, humans have been pumping massive amounts of CO2 into the air by burning fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas – this is a major driver for global climate change.
Greenhouse effect is the trapping of the sun’s warmth in a planet’s lower atmosphere, due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet’s surface.
Tropical forests and woodlands (e.g. savannas) exchange vast amounts of water and energy with the atmosphere and are thought to be important in controlling local and regional climates3.
Water released by plants into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration(evaporation and plant transpiration) and to the ocean by the rivers, influences world climate and the circulation of ocean currents. This works as a feedback mechanism, as the process also sustains the regional climate on which it depends.
Since the 1950s, the Amazon rainforest has entirely lost 18 percent of its original forest cover, and up to 50 percent of the forest has been partially destroyed. This is mainly due to:
- A need for more space to practice agriculture and cattle ranching
- Oil and gas production
- Mining and logging
- A variety of infrastructure projects
