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The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

theatlantic.com

41–50 of 152 posts

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It might make you feel good to write that, but there are much bigger lies being told. For example, tons of people believe that CO2 released by human activity does not cause global warming, and tons of people are promoting that idea. Arguing over just how much photosynthesis the Amazon is responsible for seems like a stupid article in light of that. Perhaps we can be selective over what we argue about and what we pay…

> It might make you feel good to write that, but there are much bigger lies being told.

if you held the opposite position in this debate, you would probably call this "whataboutism".

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#42
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.

People already don't believe the truth and I struggle to think of a time in history when they did.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#43
post #27
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

He is not just voice acting, he is presenting. And a lot of astronauts (Chris Hadfield is the only one I can remember right now). I haven’t finished watching though.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#44
post #10
post #7

Please refrain promoting deforestation

The article does not promote deforestation. > Losing the Amazon, beyond representing a planetary historic tragedy beyond measure, would also make meeting the ambitious climate goals of the Paris Agreement all but impossible. It discusses a misconception that has been propogated lately. > The Amazon is a vast, ineffable, vital, living wonder. It does not, however, supply the planet with 20 percent of its oxygen. > As…

Characterizing 6% of the oxygen supply as “more or less zero” (as the author does) seems to signal approval of deforestation to me.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#45
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…

If we increased the cost of transportation from far away producers, it seems that we kill two birds with one shot. I'm not an economist and I don't know what ramifications this would have, and not exactly what form this "increase in cost" would take.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Bu…

Do we have time to do it "just a few cents extra every half a year or so"? From what I read, that would have worked if we started in the 80's or so.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#47
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…

The main export destinations of Brazilian beef are Hong Kong, China, Egypt, Russia, Iran and Chile.

https://www.datamyne.com/blog/markets/brazilian-beef-exports...

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might make you feel good to write that, but there are much bigger lies being told. For example, tons of people believe that CO2 released by human activity does not cause global warming, and tons of people are promoting that idea. Arguing over just how much photosynthesis the Amazon is responsible for seems like a stupid article in light of that. Perhaps we can be selective over what we argue about and what we pay…

> It might make you feel good to write that, but there are much bigger lies being told. if you held the opposite position in this debate, you would probably call this "whataboutism".

No, lying is bad and for whatever critiques you can have of my point, it's not whataboutism. You can say it's cynical, but I believe people lie all the time and I should be economical with my precious time when arguing on the internet. But if you think the categorization of the Amazon as the Earth's lungs is above that criteria for you, then I will not stop you even though I will think it's ridiculous.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#49
post #39
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…

> having the earth temperature go up 5 degrees would kill most phytoplankton, and that would end the oxygen supply (eventually) The global average temperature has been higher than that in the past, and there was plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere.

> The global average temperature has been higher than that in the past Yes > there was plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere. Well, citation needed.

Re: The Amazon Is Not the Earth’s Lungs

#50
post #39
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…

> having the earth temperature go up 5 degrees would kill most phytoplankton, and that would end the oxygen supply (eventually) The global average temperature has been higher than that in the past, and there was plenty of oxygen in the atmosphere.

Agreed, that seems like the sensationalism he’s willing to ignore. Which as everyone else pointed out is harmful.

Can GP explain if these plankton did not exist in these times of higher temperatures? Because I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t, but we’ve had whales and plankton separately for millions and millions of years over drastically different climates. So I’m curious how they are making such absolute statements.

I don’t know nearly enough about plankton, maybe someone could explain?

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