The Amazon rainforest fires that have been blazing out of control in Brazil for weeks could have far-reaching effects on our health, experts warn.
More than 26,000 fires have been recorded in the Amazon so far in August, the highest number there in nearly a decade, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. About 60% of the Amazon, which covers more than 2 million square miles, is in Brazil. Conservationists claim most of the fires have been set intentionally, to clear the land for cattle raising and other purposes
Health and conservation experts say if the fires are not extinguished soon, the Amazon may reach a crucial ''tipping point." Often called ''the planet's," the Amazon rainforest is a carbon ''sink," sucking up carbon dioxide and providing about 20% of the world's oxygen. "If we can't conserve the Amazon, we will lose the fight against the climate crisis," says Kerry Cesareo, senior vice president for forests for the World Wildlife Fund."We have already lost about 20% of the rainforest," she says. According to a 2018 report, the tipping point is 25%.
Paul Rosolie, an author and conservationist, says the fires are throwing off the entire Earth’s climate."We don't realize how interconnected everything is. If you were suddenly to turn off the Amazon, our temperatures and rain would change in an instant." The most tragic part, he says, is that"This is a self-inflicted wound."There are immediate impacts from the fires for people living in the area, Cesareo says.
Nighttime levels of particulate matter, small enough to lodge in the lungs, have been found at extremely high levels near the rainforest.."We are talking about concentrations of up to 20 times the EPA standard," says Douglas Morton, PhD, chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.There’s also smoke."The smoke travels a long way," Forsyth says, and that's been true for decades.
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