Dear Editor:
Re: Point of no return, Sept. 5.
We need less alarmism as put forth in Ron Moore’s letter to the editor. The Amazon is in fact not the lungs of the world. That is a myth. The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration, so it’s a wash. Half of the world’s oxygen is produced via phytoplankton photosynthesis. The other half is produced via photosynthesis on land by trees, shrubs, grasses and other plants all over the world.
Saying that the fires in Brazil are set by greedy people is far from true. Why should poor people be denied an existence like when North American farmers cleared their land long ago so that they could plant crops? Brazilian farmers clear their land in the rainy season and wait until it dries, then burn brush and dead trees in the summer. That is the smoke the media reports on – 80% of the rain forest remains standing. Several of the pictures posted by Hollywood stars and celebrities were from 20 and 30 years ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo posted pictures from southern Brazil, nowhere near the rain forest. Deforestation is neither new nor limited to one nation. In Indonesia, 50,000 orangutans have died so that farmers can plant palm oil trees to satisfy the world’s demand for palm oil.
The Brazilian fires are not new and were not caused by climate change. Farmers are planting soy and corn and clearing land for cattle to graze. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans and second largest exporter of corn. Brazil competes with Canada for many of the same international markets. Europe uses soy as a biofuel because it is renewable but is a dirty fuel.
To say we are polluting the world with single-use plastic is misleading; 90% of plastics polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers from South Asia and Africa. If anything, we should be helping them deal with their garbage rather than blaming ourselves.
No wonder children are scared to death that the world is doomed when so much misinformation is repeated by people who should know better.
Peter Mandic,
Fergus