I have been watching the images of fires burning in the Amazon with horror. Not only are trees that are hundreds of years old burning, and the animals that live in them, but the forest homes of the Indigenous people are burning, too.
Losing parts of the Amazon rainforest affects the whole planet. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most unique, bio-diverse ecosystems on the planet, and it absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, something that helps reduce climate change. So, when we lose parts of the forest we lose something that helps sustain our planet. The fires burning in the Amazon are not due to climate change.
The fires are being started by people who want to clear the forest so they can grow soy and raise cattle. And these people are emboldened by the President of Brazil, who wants the forest to be cleared to increase economic activity. He said he wants to weaken the rights of Indigenous people who live in the forest and he wants to reduce the amount of their land.
The choices we make can make a difference. It’s not enough to be outraged at the loss of the forest and the cruelty to the Indigenous people. But reducing the amount of beef that we consume we will reduce the incentive to burn forest land. And, it turns out, reducing our consumption of beef will also dramatically help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which will make a huge impact on climate change.
By making smart decisions and changing our lifestyles we will be able to look our kids in the eyes and say that we are doing everything we can to help pass on a healthy planet. And we will be supporting Indigenous people who are asking for our help. I am compelled to walk upon this Earth more gently and I hope you will join me, too.
Jean-Michel Cousteau, President, Ocean Futures Society
The shorter winters in Greenland are making life increasingly difficult for those whose jobs depend on snow.
Mugu Utuaq is a professional dogsledder. During the long summer months he hunts whales to feed his dogs while they are unable to race. Taking to the water in a small boat, armed with his rifle, Mugu Utuaq is on the hunt for whales. Utuaq is the fourth-ranked dogsledder in Greenland and lives in the small village of Kulusuk. During the increasingly long summer months his 23 dogs cannot race – but he still needs to feed them. Which is why he goes on the hunt for whales.
But today was not a fruitful day: “Today we went whale hunting. It’s important for hunters. We looked for them for a long time. But sometimes we just don’t find any,” he explains. 34 year old Utuaq says shorter winters are making his job increasingly challenging, but that life in Greenland wasn’t always this way: “When I was a boy there was a lot of ice, a lot. 10 months a year sometimes. But in the latest years there is only 4-5 months of ice.
In October everything used to be locked in ice, but now only in December, not before. Even January. And in April and May it’s already breaking up,” he says. The town’s mayor Justus Paulsen says that many residents are leaving to look for work elsewhere. “Beginning of 70s there was many people here, 500 people, now there is half, 200 people.”
The sparsely populated island, which is four times zones behind Copenhagen, became a Danish colony in 1775 and remained that way until 1953, when Denmark revised its constitution and made the island a province. In 1979, Greenland and its 56,000 residents, who are mainly indigenous Inuits, got extensive home rule but Denmark still handles its foreign and defense policies, as well as currency issues. Denmark pays annual subsidies of 4.5 billion kroner ($670 million) to Greenland whose economy otherwise depends on fisheries and related industries.
The island is part of the Danish realm and has its own government and parliament. It is so warm here, just inside the Arctic Circle, that on a recent August day in Kulusuk, the morning temperature reached a shirtsleeve 52 degrees Fahrenheit (10.7 degrees Celsius).
The mayor embraces the longer days and warmer temperatures : “Its more warmer than before and we like it because we have a longer summer.” However summer this year is hitting Greenland hard with record-shattering heat and extreme melt. By the end of the summer, about 440 billion tons (400 billion metric tons) of ice — maybe more — will have melted or calved off Greenland’s giant ice sheet, scientists estimate.
That’s enough water to flood Pennsylvania or the country of Greece about a foot (35 centimetres) deep. In just the five days from 31 July to 3 August more than 58 billion tons (53 billion metric tons) melted from the surface. That’s over 40 billion tons more than the average for this time of year. And that 58 billion tons doesn’t even count the huge calving events or the warm water eating away at the glaciers from below, which may be a huge factor.
The government intends to expand and deepen the River Amazon’s tributaries to allow passage for large container ships and is meeting stiff resistance from the region’s indigenous peoples.
A decrepit old cargo ship is the only means of transport on the Amazon in Peru. South America’s great river is still relatively narrow here, but it’s also the only lifeline for the region’s people and economy. We travel on the Eduardo III, an overcrowded steamship on its three-day voyage up the winding river from Yurimaguas to Iquitos. Timber and other goods are loaded in chaotic ports, and people doze in hammocks on the cramped passenger deck as the ship passes through one of the last untouched natural paradises in the world. If Peru’s government goes ahead with its plans, the Amazon region in the northeast of the country will soon be developed and links to the country’s economic infrastructure significantly improved. A Chinese company, for example, is to deepen the Amazon tributaries Marañón, Ucayali and Huallaga to allow large container ships all-year passage. But the excavation project is highly controversial and the region’s indigenous peoples are putting up a stiff fight against it. Water has a deep spiritual meaning for the tribes of the Amazon, who believe the spirits of their ancestors live on in the river. But will Peru’s advocates of progress allow objections like that to get in their way of their plans?
