We Need Earth; Earth Needs Us

Earth is our home; a home we watch getting robbed, attacked and humiliated daily. It is our home! It is the land beneath our feet, and it gives us air to breathe… to live.

Home does not discriminate. Kings and queens, and homeless have reaped from it, drank its water and slept in its lap since time immemorial.

It pained me immensely to wake up to the news of the Amazonian fire, it pained me a lot more on learning that the fire has been going on for 3 WEEKS! The world is only just beginning to learn of it.

The Amazon Forest in Brazil, referred to as ‘the lungs of the planet’, generates over 20% of the world’s Oxygen. The oxygen that plants, animals, and humans alike, need to survive. The world’s largest forest has unparalleled control over Earth’s climate. According to the World Wildlife Fund, if it is irrevocably damaged, it could start emitting carbon instead — the major driver of climate change.

Most and major environmentalist organizations suspect that the wildfire in the Brazilian rainforest was set by cattle rancher who have been practicing the same since decades in order to clear out the land for their use.

Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research informed that the fire incidences have grown by 80% compared to the previous years. More than half of these occur in Amazon, and 99% are human-induced, either by purpose or “on accident”. The perpetrators have been emboldened by the country’s pro-business president.

When Bolsonaro was running for president, he made campaign promises to restore the economy by exploring the Amazon’s economic potential. Now, environmental organizations say he has encouraged ranchers, farmers, and loggers to exploit and burn the rainforest like never before with a sense of impunity, reported CNN.

Forests worldwide are ‘functioning’ without a break, selflessly to pump goodness in this world and to make it liveable. It is upon us to return the favour, considering that us living beings are the only ones to benefit from it.

The purpose of this brief article is slight yet potentially momentous; it is an attempt to make you AWARE. This calamity directly affects you, and so it is imperative that you know, that you understand, you empathize, and you BEGIN to realize the significance of climate conservation.