Op-ed:

The Untold Truths About the Rainforest Fires

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

“This is an economic signal, not a climate signal.”

- Doug Morton, Earth Systems scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

"Climate change"...as in the "weather"...has not a thing to do with it nor do cows per se...as the Amazon rainforest is burning simply because of the greed of men. How so... in a word, “deforestation”... “deforestation” via illegal logging as well as what amounts to “uncontrolled burning” to clear out not only brush and small trees but a fair amount of “old growth” tress as well in order to secure more land for agriculture...in order to make more money and placate politicians seemingly out of control.

Opposing factions all feeding off one another in a chess game of the ancient rainforest itself v. both the greed of developers and politicians lies. And while the game is currently ongoing the outcome most likely will be a stalemate with no side garnering checkmate.

"The Lungs of the World,” as some have erroneously dubbed the Amazon rainforest...of which 60 percent is in Brazil...are rainforests that do see its trees storing huge amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2)...exchanging the CO2 for oxygen thus preventing our atmosphere from “absorbing” its heat almost like a sponge absorbs water. Also, while the Amazon soil itself helps to keep the CO2 “locked up,” if you will, it's the trees themselves that retain water vapor and create clouds that help to keep the entirety of South America fairly cool. 

And with the Amazon rainforest also being the most bio-diverse place on Earth as it's home to billions of trees and roughly three million different species of plants and animals now in danger of losing their home...a home born before the time of man...it's a home that can never be fully replaced once gone...or can it? I'll get to that in a bit.

But first, remember that major forest fires are an annual occurrence in the Amazon region, but that the rainforest fires of recent years are not like the wildfires our country has experienced of late...these fires did not start accidentally by a lightning strike, a careless cigarette toss, or a campfire not completely doused out. No... these fires concentrated almost entirely along transportation corridors, areas of recent new settlement with corresponding agricultural activity...have been deliberately set to appease the greed of men. I cannot say that enough...the greed of men...as in greedy developers egged on by even greedier politicians trying to push forward a misguided economy driven agenda. These are the very men illegally logging and setting fires to clear land for cattle ranches and other big money agricultural development...really...can condos and gated communities be far behind...not so sarcastically said. And in their greedy minds these ever so precious “old-growth forests” mean nothing to them but the ka-ching of money being racked up...money and of course the flexing of ones political muscle.

But before I get into the actual politics and the specific politicians involved, here are but four numbers-driven Amazon rainforest facts, facts that affect us all. Fact one: over the past 50 years, 17 percent of the entirety of the Amazon rainforest has been cut down and destroyed by men...with “replanting” seemingly a so unheard of word. Fact two: 80 percent of cleared lands are being used for cattle ranching and the growing of soy to feed said cattle and other livestock...a parasitic relationship of sorts. Fact three: between January and August of this year, there have been 72,843 fires in Brazil's part of the Amazon rainforest alone, equating to an 80 percent increase in fires from January through August of 2018. Fact four: the just stated number does not include a spike in “deforestation” in general...a spike equating to more than 1,330 square miles of the rainforest having been lost since this past January, which is a 39 percent increase over the same period last year.

And yet even with these alarming numbers, as per the latest NASA satellite data, the total fire activity this year across the entirety of the Amazon "basin" has been close to average in comparison to the last 15 years...it's just been above average in certain areas like Amazonas and Rondonia and below average in other areas like Matto Grosso and Para. And you just know which areas the media loves showing and reporting on.

Still we have four alarming facts...cause and affect “deforestation” facts that could lead to what some are calling an actual physical “dieback,” and what others are calling “ecological suicide” or simply “doomsday” for planet Earth. But these naysayers are putting the proverbial “cart before the horse,” some doing so out of fear of a truth not being told, and some by those who selfishly want to keep the “climate change” hoax going just so they can continue to rake in the big bucks. Alarming indeed, but who's right?

First, while it is true that too much “deforestation” could lead to an increase in temperature within the rainforest and its surrounding areas, as well as leading to a certain amount of change in the actual rain patterns within the immediate Amazon region, this does not mean that said changes are permanent, which is what the politicians and the “climate change” alarmists don't want you to know.

And what these folks especially don't want you to know is that while “climate change” is indeed a made up money-making scare tactic, the actual science behind the effects of “deforestation” is quite the opposite, and yet the former reeks of greed and political gain while the later simply states truth.

First, what the “climate change” folks...as opposed to the politicians who want to develop that land...want you to believe about “deforestation” is that when a tropical rainforest is either cut down or burnt what's left is but a barren place of cracked, dry, and hardened mud...a barren place incapable of supporting life...a place completely stripped of its once thriving trees and its plant life now also devoid of much needed water...and that with all its life-giving nutrients gone what remains forever is soil so hardened that plant or tree roots simply can’t get through the hardened soil to grow which in turn will deprive us of much needed oxygen.
 

This is what we are being told or should I say being "force fed," and this is a blatant lie... now for the truth.

Simply, the Amazon rainforest, the so-called "Lungs of the World"...does not now nor has it ever produced 20% of the world's usable oxygen...that's a made up number to help keep the "doomsday" scenario going. Actually, the Amazon rainforest produces a relatively small six percent of the world's usable oxygen in total. This fact...and yes it's a fact...is according to leading global environmental scientist Dr. Jonathan Foley and is backed up by Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann, amongst others. And Dr. Foley also states that with many "deforested" areas being replaced by pastures and agricultural croplands... photosynthesis producing pastures and agricultural croplands...which in turn will produce about the same six percent of the world's usable oxygen...replacement oxygen if you will... courtesy of "Mother Nature" herself.

Also, in recent years researchers have found that tropical rainforests are “remarkably resilient” as long as some remnants are left when the forest is cleared, as in enough remnants so as to provide seeds and refuges for seed dispersers...birds for example...which indeed are usually left behind often without the “deforesters” realizing it. This in turn allows for tropical rainforests, now called “tropical secondary forests,” to not only grow back with what these researchers call “astonishing speed,” but to also “soak up” CO2 as they did before but to do so at a rate of eleven times faster than that of the “old growth forests” remaining in the region. And this is accomplished without any human intervention at all, even on land that had been cleared for cattle grazing or growing crops. 
 
And while the rate of “tropical secondary forest” recovery depends on the amount of rainfall per year, know that the Amazon rainforest gets on average over 12ft. of rain per year as well as having it rain roughly 200 days per year even during the so-called “dry season.” And with the median time for a rainforest to reach 90 percent of "old-growth" levels being about 66 years even under the worst of conditions, recovery in general does tend to be much faster.

Simply, the truth is that the Amazon rainforest will recover on its own even if its entirety were to be “deforested”...which it of course will not be. But does that mean that all the “deforestation” going on now should be allowed especially for the reasons why Brazil's newest president is “supposedly” allowing it...no...it most assuredly does not.

Brazil’s anti-environment...as per his detractors...far-right, very pro-business, climate change disbeliever, populist President Jair Bolsonaro, who blamed NGOs (Nonprofit Government Organizations) for setting the fires to make him look bad after his administration did cut funding to NGOs...has been blamed since his January election of encouraging new settlers to “invade” both the protected indigenous areas and natural parks that had been off limits for decades. Also, now being accused of weakening Brazil's environmental enforcement agencies...agencies charged with protecting the rainforest from illegal logging and "clear-cutting"...the truth of why Bolsonaro is doing what he's doing lies somewhere in between.

In fact, last Saturday, two weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron threatened to block an E.U. trade deal with a South American bloc that included Brazil over what seemed to him like Bolsonaro’s lack of concern about the fires, President Bolsonaro...who had once called measures to protect the rainforest “obstacles” to economic growth, but who has now publicly professed to feeling “profound love and respect” for the Amazon region, and that “Brazil is an example of sustainability”...deployed both military aircraft and 44,000 troops to said region to not only fight the fires, but to show the world that the military operation was part of his new “zero tolerance” approach to “harms against the Brazilian environment.”

Too little too late perhaps. 

And while President Bolsonaro...who like our President Trump so wanted to pull Brazil out of the Paris Climate Change Accord, but who was sadly blocked by Brazil's congress from doing so...continues to face increasing international criticism fueled on by these very same always miscreant “climate change” folks...thankfully last week he saw President Trump coming somewhat to his defense when Trump tweeted that, “I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist!” 
 
And why this offer of help when the world seems to be collectively condemning Bolsonaro? Could it be because these two leaders had recently discussed a “big trade negotiation” as well as to find ways for our two countries to work together on environmental policies that respect what Bolsonaro says to be the “sovereignty of nations?” It surely is a combination of both as well as the fact that Trump sees in Bolsonaro someone a bit like himself...as in someone who is a “nationalist”...and no “nationalist” is not a dirty word as it simply means someone who puts one's own country first.

But here is where Jair Bolsonaro...sometimes dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” is misguided a bit for his brand of “nationalism” seems to be marked solely by what he considers economic success, while Trump's is rightfully marked by overall “American exceptionalism,” and not by putting the almighty dollar sign first. And the true reason why Bolsonaro seemingly downplays “deforestation” is that he feels by increasing the amount of cattle and agricultural lands that it in turn will allow for an increase in Brazilian beef and agricultural exports, thus making Brazil a key player on the world economic stage, especially in the drought affected countries of Africa. 
 

And while now it seems that international pressure...the right pressure albeit for the wrong reasons...will hopefully help to keep the rate of Amazon rainforest loss from climbing any higher...it's Brazilian producers of beef and agricultural products alone who seem to understand that the now rightfully perceived negative image of Brazil and President Jair Bolsonaro himself in regards to said Amazon rainforest will actually hurt Brazilian exports and thus its economy, as well as hurting the Brazilian people themselves.

The Amazon rainforests do need protecting and not because of the false “climate change” narrative or any equally false “doomsday” scenario, but because these still, as I write this, 2,500 active fires doing so much harm are simply caused by greedy men...greedy men like Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, who believes he's doing the right thing. And maybe in some small twisted way he is...but he's doing so for all the wrong reasons.

And that remains the saddest truth of all...that and Bolsonaro's (as I write this) rejecting the $22 million pledged at the G7 summit...monies pledged to aid in helping fight the Amazon fires...that is unless Emmanuel Macron apologizes for his negative remarks made earlier in the week. Checkmate anyone.

Well...maybe those pledged dollars can go where they really would be appreciated as in to help fight the forest fires currently ongoing in Africa...specifically the fires in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo...fires which make the Amazon fires pale by comparison...the fires we're not hearing a word about...and one really has to wonder why. So what say you "climate change" folks, bleeding heart liberals, and your cohorts in the media, as NASA photos don't lie...just saying.

Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, The Dangerous Truth of Liberal Word Games.

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Friday, August 30th, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'The Untold Truth About the Rainforest Fires'; 'The Dangerous Truth of Liberal Word Games'; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history...or on Tune-In at: https://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/