Called “the lungs of the planet,” the Amazon rainforest is now ablaze; this year alone has thus far seen about 73,000 fires. When you consider that the rainforest provides about 20% of the world’s oxygen, the situation, compounded by all the other climate-change havoc taking place, is dire indeed. Start
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The Disaffected Lib: This One Spells Trouble.
The vast Amazon rainforest is sometimes called “the lungs of the planet” for its historic role in absorbing atmospheric CO2 and replenishing our supply of oxygen. That appears to be changing and not for the better. A study finds that, over the past ten years, the trees of the Amazon
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How South Americans are Killing Their Environment
In some places, cutting down trees can have huge consequences. In South America, the impacts are especially far-reaching. Deforestation has picked up again in the Amazon. That, in turn, is causing havoc to the region’s hydrological cycle, triggering severe drought. The unprecedented drought now affecting São Paulo, South America’s giant
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China Grabs Ecuadorean Amazon for Oil
A team of Ecuadorean politicians is in Beijing. They bring gifts – more than three million hectares of pristine Amazon rainforest that is to be auctioned off to Chinese oil companies. On Monday morning a group of Ecuadorean politicians pitched bidding contracts to representatives of Chinese oil companies at a
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