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Comment by TeMPOraL | Hacker News Reader

Well, the fires in Amazonia are fake news, in the sense that unlike what social media tells you, it's not out of control but done purposefully by Brazil, it's not record but just like last year and the year before, and the whole "20% oxygen" meme is bullshit. :).

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I think most of the hype is about the current state of affairs, but the genuine concern is about the political policy of burning rainforest for crop lands. While it has short-term economic benefits for the people of Brazil, it has the _potential_ to impact others around the world significantly. The fact that it is done on purpose it what is at odds, not the scale of it in a given timeframe.

That I agree with. It's an environmental disaster, but the true causes and scope are completely drowned under the bullshit reporting comparing it to Notre Dame (Q: why there aren't millionaires donating money to firefighting? A: because it's not an uncontrolled fire, but purposeful action) or talking about "lungs of Earth" and running out of oxygen.

The true story is about whether sovereignty of Brazil should be violated to protect the rainforest.

What’s your source on it being the same as last year and the year before? From https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49433767:

> The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) says its satellite data shows an 85% increase on the same period in 2018.

> The official figures show more than 75,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of the year - the highest number since 2013. That compares with 40,000 in the same period in 2018.

> Roraima saw a 141% increase, Acre 138%, Rondônia 115% and Amazonas 81%. Mato Grosso do Sul, further south, saw a 114% increase.

From https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49415973:

> Meanwhile, US space agency Nasa said that overall fire activity in the Amazon basin was slightly below average this year.

> The agency said that while activity had increased in Amazonas and Rondonia, it had decreased in the states of Mato Grosso and Pará.

Also this chart:

https://twitter.com/valmasdel/status/1165295012709634048

EDIT:

The link from 'mikedilger in a parallel reply is even better. It seems that if you include data from previous decade, and not just since 2012, then current fires are nothing special.

perhaps https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/24/world/america...

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