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Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

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Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#51
post #15

I see this meme pop up on social media all the time now about how the Amazon rainforest is burning and to spread the “awareness”. But really, what are you supposed to do? Merely being aware of some tragedy occurring far away doesn’t do anything. The people who perpetuated it don’t give a damn. Are we supposed to go put out the fires? Are we supposed to go kill the people who did this? If there’s nothing I can do, the…

> Brazilians have done a terrible job of protecting their rainforest While the Amazon is in Brazilian territory, it is one of the largest carbon sinks in the world and therefore has a global positive externality. Therefore this is not a domestic issue. Perhaps by spreading awareness we can shift the Overton window on how these cross-border climate issues should be addressed. E.g. perhaps Brazil should be paid from a…

> perhaps Brazil should be paid from a global fund to not cut down the rain forest

It used to be. Bolsonaro called it "bribery", and said Merkel should mind her own business (Germany was the main benefactor).

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/norway-halts-a...

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#52
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few problems are solved by simply ignoring them. General awareness of a problem is needed to mobilize political action. If the solution to the problem is political, awareness of the issue might inspire direct action, or at least voting for policy that effects change.

That might be a good statement for a motivational book but it isn’t true. A massive amount of problems have been solved throughout my life without me even being aware of them. The key is that the people aware of those problems were exactly in the right position to do something effective about them.

This. I would go even further and say that, if anything, bringing attention to an issue in this day and age makes it highly politicized and increases the likelihood that those with an agenda on any side of the issue will try to manipulate perception, thereby making it harder to make an honest assessment of the issue.

A month ago I would have been more likely to find a more cut and dry factual assessment of these fires than I could today. The attention economy coupled with pandering to the lowest common denominator and the ROI of manipulating perception is paralyzing our ability to solve any problem.

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#53
post #15

I see this meme pop up on social media all the time now about how the Amazon rainforest is burning and to spread the “awareness”. But really, what are you supposed to do? Merely being aware of some tragedy occurring far away doesn’t do anything. The people who perpetuated it don’t give a damn. Are we supposed to go put out the fires? Are we supposed to go kill the people who did this? If there’s nothing I can do, the…

The fire is not purposeless. The land will be reused for livestock, to have more cows and food for them as well. A big chunk of it will be exported to countries that buy these things. Chances are that it includes your country as well. So maybe rethinking your / your network diet is a big incentive to prevent further fires. Despite that, your excerpt on "(...) they should be judged accordingly in the future." is almos…

But if he doesn't eat the steak someone else will!

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#55
post #7

The same president who recommended pooping every other day [1] in order to protect the environment. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49304358

It was a joke. He does this kind of jokes on a daily basis during his morning interview with journalists.

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#56

Bolsonaro's government is a criminal regime. One of his first goals was to destroy the agencies that regulate the environment and disable the reporting mechanisms (which were "fake news" according to him). He personally fired the president of INPE, a state research agency, for publicizing a report about Amazon deforestation.

> Bolsonaro's government is a criminal regime

I live in Brazil and I disagree. I think his government is messy, but the previous ones were pretty bad as well. They almosted bankrupted the country, which was why Bolsonaro managed to elect himself as president with the argument of "I'm not them". He is simply incompetent, which shows.

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#57
post #8

The fires are in Bolivia, Paraguai and in the state of Amazonas and Rondonia in Brazil. Here is a picture of the emissions: https://twitter.com/m_parrington/status/1163834182860247040

That seems to show it burning in the ocean? That seems to include all the exhaust and not be a picture of the fires themselves.

Ah OP mentions that, I read the comment wrong or it was edited.

Re: Brazil's President Blames NGOs for Amazon Fires

#58
post #55
post #7

The same president who recommended pooping every other day [1] in order to protect the environment. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49304358

It was a joke. He does this kind of jokes on a daily basis during his morning interview with journalists.

I'm aware of that yes...
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