The Amazon is Burning
Fire in the Amazon as seen from Google Earth. Google Earth link
The Amazon, often described as ‘the lungs of the Earth’ is burning. The UK’s The Independent has this story; South America chokes as Amazon burns.
From Santa Cruz in the east of Bolivia, where flights have been grounded, to the Brazilian frontier city of Porto Velho, where the river Madeira has been made unnavigable, burning smoke has blocked out the sun and local communities have begun to complain of respiratory disorders.
Roberto Smeraldi, head of Friends of the Earth Brazil, said the situation was out of control: “We have a strong concentration of fires, corresponding to more than 10,000 points of fire across a large area of about two million sq km in the southern Brazilian Amazon and Bolivia.”
Mr Smeraldi was clear on who was to blame for this year’s fires: “They are mainly, I would say more than 90 per cent, the result of expanding cattle ranching.”
Two million square kilometres is a massive amount of forest. I know being a vegetarian is really the way to go but I’m simply not prepared to give up all meat. I only eat meat a couple of times per week these days however and when I do it’s always sourced locally, from Richard the Butcher whose shop is just over the road from my house and whose meat is organic, reared out in the open and about the best quality meat I could possibly hope to find.
But I have to admit that when I see stories like the above I am anguished. I know, deep in my heart, that eating beef, especially in a country like Australia where cattle have done such harm, is simply wrong. And if you eat any kind of ‘fast food’, your diet is probably a direct cause of the fires we see today. So if you, like me, won’t give up meat, then at least be sure you eat meat sourced locally and farmed in a healthy and sustainable way. Say no to junk food burgers and eat a lot less meat. It’s better for you, better for the planet and better for your local economy. — DS
Technorati Tags: Amazon, avoided deforestation, beef, business, climate change, farmers, forest fire, forests, global warming
