Bryan Fischer
Everything you've heard about the Amazon fires is wrong
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Facebook at "Focal Point" and on Twitter @bryanjfischer
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1:05 pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
Everything you've heard about the fires in the Amazon is wrong. The jungle is not on fire.
The fires have been set by farmers who are burning their fields to prepare them for the next growing season. The land they are burning has been cleared for years. They're using the fires to control weeds, insects, and pests, and enrich the soil, something farmers and ranchers have been doing for hundreds of years.
Climate scientist Roy Spencer has another term for the fires: "normal agriculture." Said Dr. Spencer, a former NASA scientist who does consulting on global crop-market forecasting, "The driest years in Brazil will have the most fires set by farmers. That isn't a climate story, it's normal agriculture in a country where 50 million people living in poverty are trying to survive."
Plus natural fires do not typically occur in tropical forests anyway – too much humidity, too much dense foliage, and almost daily thunderstorms.
Even the New York Times was forced to sheepishly admit that "Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rainforest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use." In fact, the Times writer goes on to state flatly, "These fires were not caused by climate change."
It's worthy of note that there are fires burning in Bolivia, but they are being ignored by the media because Bolivia's government is socialist and hence does not fit the media narrative that evil right-wing politicians are to blame for everything. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's new president, is the Donald Trump of South America, so he makes a tempting target. (In some circles, even Trump is being blamed for the fires in the Amazon – his trade policies with China, don't you know?)
Second, according to NASA, the number of fires is about normal for this time of year. While the number of fires is up this year, what the Talking Snake Media won't tell you is that about half of the years prior to 2019 were higher, and about half were lower. This year's fires are just 7% above the average of the last decade. Many of the heart-rending photographs the TSM tearfully trot out were not even taken this year, or even in Brazil. Some were taken as far back as 1989, and a number of them – especially pictures of charred animals – weren't taken in the Amazon at all but in places like India, Sweden, and California.
Third, the Amazon forests are not the lungs of the earth. They don't provide 20% of the earth's oxygen, contrary to the latest fashionable lie from the left. The Amazon is in effect a closed system that absorbs all the oxygen it produces.
One of the world's leading experts on the Amazon, Dan Nepstad, said, "The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration so it's a wash."
Fourth, because CO2 is not a pollutant but plant food, more and more of the earth's surface is greening up. There are more trees and vegetation now than there were 30 years ago. Deforestation in the Amazon, in fact, has decreased markedly since 2005. According to Climate Depot, "For every acre of rainforest that is cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing." On top of that, deforestation is 75% below its 2004 peak.
Because CO2 is plant food and not a pollutant, the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the better for growing things. Because of the increase of CO2, Nature magazine, not exactly the home of global warming skepticism, said last year that the world's tree cover has increased over the past 35 years. In the last three decades, 865,000 square miles – an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined – have been added to the world's already existing tree-covered land. CO2 is not our enemy, it is our friend.
We are not "climate deniers" – the earth's climate has been constantly changing since the end of Noah's flood. We are pseudo-science deniers. We are against global warming hysteria which is based on fear, not facts. We are against the deception, the dishonesty, and the distortions of the brain-addled media.
The Amazon fires are not Donald Trump's fault, even though enviro-extremists want you to think they are. The Talking Snake Media are playing an uneducated and gullible American public for chumps. Don't let them lie to you.
The author may be contacted at bfischer@afa.net
© Bryan Fischer
August 28, 2019
Follow me on Facebook at "Focal Point" and on Twitter @bryanjfischer
Host of "Focal Point" on American Family Radio, 1:05 pm CT, M-F www.afr.net
Everything you've heard about the fires in the Amazon is wrong. The jungle is not on fire.
The fires have been set by farmers who are burning their fields to prepare them for the next growing season. The land they are burning has been cleared for years. They're using the fires to control weeds, insects, and pests, and enrich the soil, something farmers and ranchers have been doing for hundreds of years.
Climate scientist Roy Spencer has another term for the fires: "normal agriculture." Said Dr. Spencer, a former NASA scientist who does consulting on global crop-market forecasting, "The driest years in Brazil will have the most fires set by farmers. That isn't a climate story, it's normal agriculture in a country where 50 million people living in poverty are trying to survive."
Plus natural fires do not typically occur in tropical forests anyway – too much humidity, too much dense foliage, and almost daily thunderstorms.
Even the New York Times was forced to sheepishly admit that "Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rainforest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use." In fact, the Times writer goes on to state flatly, "These fires were not caused by climate change."
It's worthy of note that there are fires burning in Bolivia, but they are being ignored by the media because Bolivia's government is socialist and hence does not fit the media narrative that evil right-wing politicians are to blame for everything. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's new president, is the Donald Trump of South America, so he makes a tempting target. (In some circles, even Trump is being blamed for the fires in the Amazon – his trade policies with China, don't you know?)
Second, according to NASA, the number of fires is about normal for this time of year. While the number of fires is up this year, what the Talking Snake Media won't tell you is that about half of the years prior to 2019 were higher, and about half were lower. This year's fires are just 7% above the average of the last decade. Many of the heart-rending photographs the TSM tearfully trot out were not even taken this year, or even in Brazil. Some were taken as far back as 1989, and a number of them – especially pictures of charred animals – weren't taken in the Amazon at all but in places like India, Sweden, and California.
Third, the Amazon forests are not the lungs of the earth. They don't provide 20% of the earth's oxygen, contrary to the latest fashionable lie from the left. The Amazon is in effect a closed system that absorbs all the oxygen it produces.
One of the world's leading experts on the Amazon, Dan Nepstad, said, "The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration so it's a wash."
Fourth, because CO2 is not a pollutant but plant food, more and more of the earth's surface is greening up. There are more trees and vegetation now than there were 30 years ago. Deforestation in the Amazon, in fact, has decreased markedly since 2005. According to Climate Depot, "For every acre of rainforest that is cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing." On top of that, deforestation is 75% below its 2004 peak.
Because CO2 is plant food and not a pollutant, the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the better for growing things. Because of the increase of CO2, Nature magazine, not exactly the home of global warming skepticism, said last year that the world's tree cover has increased over the past 35 years. In the last three decades, 865,000 square miles – an area the size of Texas and Alaska combined – have been added to the world's already existing tree-covered land. CO2 is not our enemy, it is our friend.
We are not "climate deniers" – the earth's climate has been constantly changing since the end of Noah's flood. We are pseudo-science deniers. We are against global warming hysteria which is based on fear, not facts. We are against the deception, the dishonesty, and the distortions of the brain-addled media.
The Amazon fires are not Donald Trump's fault, even though enviro-extremists want you to think they are. The Talking Snake Media are playing an uneducated and gullible American public for chumps. Don't let them lie to you.
The author may be contacted at bfischer@afa.net
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
