The Amazon is Burning

Can We Still Douse the Flames?

Teddy Sandler

We did not start the fire but we are certainly making it worse. Each year the Amazon Rainforest loses biodiversity and plant matter essential to pulling key greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. If we don't step in soon, the fire season in the Amazon might start contributing more to carbon emissions than it can absorb. And with the trees gone, we could start a negative feedback loop that further warms the planet. 

Measuring fire cycles across months, years, and locations and tracking emissions to show their unnatural growth

Up in Flames
Climate change is the most likely contributor to these deadly fires. Although fires occur in every climate and location on a natural cycle, those across the world are getting larger and more frequent. The Amazon is no exception to this emergent trend. However, as one of the lungs of the earth, the Amazon Rainforest has historically helped reverse some of the damage humans have caused. The area that is currently burning, however, may show that the Amazon has been damaged so much by this climate disaster we have destroyed its healing property. 

How is fire distribution changing during the year?

The fire season is getting longer and more of the burning is occurring outside of the summer months when the Amazon is hottest. With climate change causing net warming on the planet and more extreme weather, dry and hot spells are more likely, and thus more fires pop up. A longer fire season is a worrying trend that leaves the rainforest with less time to recover during the rest of the year and could disrupt animal patterns. Explore how the monthly distribution across recent years, represented by tree rings, in the interactive below.



Putting out our fires

Knowing where the worst fires occur shows which regions are getting worse due to climate change and can inform teams to be wary and prepared early to douse the flames.





Creator to destroyer

The Amazon's role in the carbon cycle and as long as there are trees will help remove carbon and cool the planet. However, these fires are making these fire hotspots in the Amazon a CONTRIBUTOR of carbon to the atmosphere.





Is this a sign of how it ends?

Is it still possible to stop the feedback loop of climate change even after it starts destroying the solution?



Takeaways

The natural world is in desperate need of help and the Amazon might not work as the savior we once thought it to be. Drastic human action is needed to prevent this problem as it grows into a huge monster, warming the planet, destroying habitats, and displacing people. Putting out the fire in the Amazon is just the first step of many but the blaze will continue unnaturally large until humanity corrects its wrongs.