Why Everything They Say About The Amazon (Incl. 'Lungs Of The World') Is Wrong

**Beetlegeuse** · 08-27-2019, 10:15 AM

Can only reproduce in dribs and drabs to prevent Forbes' copyright police descending on the website but it's worth reading if you're into rubbing your thumb in the Enviro-Nazis' eyes.

Why Everything They Say About The Amazon, Including That It's The 'Lungs Of The World,' Is Wrong

A couple of key points:

"...The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration so it’s a wash...”

...But the “lungs” myth is just the tip of the iceberg. Consider that CNN ran a long segment with the banner, “Fires Burning at Record Rate in Amazon Forest” while a leading climate reporter claimed, “The current fires are without precedent in the past 20,000 years.”

While the number of fires in 2019 is indeed 80% higher than in 2018, it’s just 7% higher than the average over the last 10 years ago, Nepstad said...it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration

... One of Brazil’s leading environmental journalists agrees that media coverage of the fires has been misleading. “It was under [Workers Party President] Lula and [Environment Secretary] Marina Silva (2003-2008) that Brazil had the highest incidence of burning,” Leonardo Coutinho told me over email. “But neither Lula nor Marina was accused of putting the Amazon at risk....”

... What increased by 7% in 2019 are the fires of dry scrub and trees cut down for cattle ranching as a strategy to gain ownership of land...

...Deforestation declined a whopping 70% from 2004 to 2012. It has risen modestly since then but remains at one-quarter its 2004 peak...

"...One of the grand challenges facing newsrooms covering complicated emergent, enduring issues like tropical deforestation,” said journalist Revkin, “is finding ways to engage readers without histrionics. The alternative is ever more whiplash journalism — which is the recipe for reader disengagement....”