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The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#21

Post by ajmurmann »

chisleu wrote: post #12

This is a great point. An important aspect of this is that most of the Amazon's deforestation is land owners developing their land and adding to the agricultural sectors of South America. If we want to stop them, we need to stop the excessive consumption of these goods. This doesn't just mean stopping over eating, it means changing what you eat and paying more for goods sourced locally. Unfortunately, that means from…

From what I've read most of the agricultural production in Brazil goes directly or indirectly towards beef and biofuel. So cutting down on beef consumption seems like a great step. I personally have cut down my meat consumption dramatically, but how can we move that further as not only a society, but a species? If I stop eating beef, but nobody else does, nothing is won. If the US cuts down on beef consumption, other countries will be happy to buy the now cheaper beef.

Collective action problems are a problem...

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#23

Post by cheez »

lelima wrote: post #17
alexcroox wrote: post #15

One Strange Rock, a nature documentary hosted by Will Smith (stay with me) actually goes into this in some detail and I would definitely recommend a watch. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7651892/

I saw it, a bit skeptic about Will Smith but the production is high Quality, I suppose with Will the show is pointing younger generations.

Isn't he 50 years old?

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#24

Post by partialrecall »

vfc1 wrote: post #20

It might be that burning down every living tree would not make a dent in the oxygen supply, but having the earth temperature go up 5 degrees would kill most phytoplankton, and that would end the oxygen supply (eventually). This type of articles is the last thing we need right now, it all piles up on the narrative that the consequences of climate change are really not that bad and there is no real urgency in doing any…

Adherence to the truth is more important than adherence to a narrative. Promoting a good cause by allowing falsehoods to spread may seem helpful in the short term, but in doing so you're building a house on a foundation of sand. When you promote trivial falsehoods instead of calling them out, you allow your opposition to be the one who calls out those falsehoods, and thus undermine your cause.

When somebody on your side says something well-meaning but wrong, you should be the one to call them out. In doing so, you deny your enemy the opportunity to do so.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#25

Post by BurningFrog »

vfc1 wrote: post #20

It might be that burning down every living tree would not make a dent in the oxygen supply, but having the earth temperature go up 5 degrees would kill most phytoplankton, and that would end the oxygen supply (eventually). This type of articles is the last thing we need right now, it all piles up on the narrative that the consequences of climate change are really not that bad and there is no real urgency in doing any…

> This type of articles is the last thing we need right now

We always need the truth.

If your agenda can't handle the truth, it's maybe not that great to begin with.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#26

Post by leetcrew »

vfc1 wrote: post #20

It might be that burning down every living tree would not make a dent in the oxygen supply, but having the earth temperature go up 5 degrees would kill most phytoplankton, and that would end the oxygen supply (eventually). This type of articles is the last thing we need right now, it all piles up on the narrative that the consequences of climate change are really not that bad and there is no real urgency in doing any…

posts like this decrease the credibility of climate change activism.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#27

Post by mc32 »

lelima wrote: post #17
alexcroox wrote: post #15

One Strange Rock, a nature documentary hosted by Will Smith (stay with me) actually goes into this in some detail and I would definitely recommend a watch. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7651892/

I saw it, a bit skeptic about Will Smith but the production is high Quality, I suppose with Will the show is pointing younger generations.

Haven’t watched it myself but often times these kinds of documentaries use voice actors to read the script and lend a good voice to their content. James Earl Jones, Leonard Nimoy, etc.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#28

Post by input_sh »

ajmurmann wrote: post #21
chisleu wrote: post #12

This is a great point. An important aspect of this is that most of the Amazon's deforestation is land owners developing their land and adding to the agricultural sectors of South America. If we want to stop them, we need to stop the excessive consumption of these goods. This doesn't just mean stopping over eating, it means changing what you eat and paying more for goods sourced locally. Unfortunately, that means from…

From what I've read most of the agricultural production in Brazil goes directly or indirectly towards beef and biofuel. So cutting down on beef consumption seems like a great step. I personally have cut down my meat consumption dramatically, but how can we move that further as not only a society, but a species? If I stop eating beef, but nobody else does, nothing is won. If the US cuts down on beef consumption, other…

> ...but how can we move that further as not only a society, but a species?

The answer is simple, the execution is hard and will piss a lot of people off: start treating red meat as a luxury item, and slowly introduce taxes on top of its price, like we do for alcohol and tobacco. Nothing drastic of course, just a few cents extra every half a year or so to make people reconsider their eating habits again and again.

But if we're talking about the US specifically, that's not even necessary. Just removing subsidies that are already handed out to the meat industry will achieve the same result.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#29

Post by mikepurvis »

abainbridge wrote: post #16
bestouff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well from the point of view of your body, your lungs bring oxygen in and take carbon dioxide out.

Ha, nice one! So if the Amazon is like lungs in this sense, where is it bringing the oxygen in from?

Released as waste via photosynthesis when it breaks apart CO2 in order to use the carbon to build plant matter?

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#30

Post by this_was_posted »

abainbridge wrote: post #16
bestouff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well from the point of view of your body, your lungs bring oxygen in and take carbon dioxide out.

Ha, nice one! So if the Amazon is like lungs in this sense, where is it bringing the oxygen in from?

from the air that it takes in, just like lungs do
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