“Until now, Donald Trump served as a support for the Brazilian president to act irresponsibly. Now with the U.S. adding to Europe’s pressure, Brazil is more isolated, and the government will find it harder to stay on this foolish path.” Alessandro Molon, the opposition Brazilian Socialist Party
The Amazon is half the world’s tropics, and some areas of the rainforest in this vast expanse have tipped from a carbon sink to a carbon source. That is just one of the nine horrifying tipping points that are currently active, and the loss of this critical piece in the climate system will increase the warming of the planet and threaten a livable planet.
The possible survival of the Amazon rainforest became a possibility during a debate between Trump and the president-elect. Joe Biden criticized Brazil’s President Jair Bolonaro for his role in the destruction of the Amazon. Bolsonaro was anything but amused. He is motivated purely by greed and genocide. They don’t call him the Trump of the Tropics for nothing. He ignores science to the detriment of all.
This extensive forest’s carbon sink, along with the world’s oceans, pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in the biodiverse richness of trees in the tropical forests. The ocean’s carbon storage is at the sea-floor. James Anderson of the University of California Irvine explains the role of “Deforestation and fire-driven forest degradation affect the carbon cycle in two ways. First, there is a direct release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the conversion process. Second, the loss of forest reduces the ability of the forest as a whole to absorb carbon. More forest fires in the Amazon will accelerate the buildup of greenhouse gases, and we will have higher levels of global warming”. Unfortunately, deforestation and fires for clearing land will turn the rainforest into a savannah.