The Amazon Rainforest has been burning for several weeks. The Amazon produces 20% of the earth’s clean air, and is a vital part of the world’s ecosystem. Without the forest, the world will be forced to make major changes. The Brazilian government is under a lot of scrutiny for the fires and how they have spread.

“The US started hearing about the fire after it had already burned a whole part of the rainforest down. I know the fire was definitely exacerbated by human intervention, all that deforestation,  the illegal taking down of trees, and bad farming,” biology teacher Miranda Grabowski said.

Almost 200,000 miles have been lost in the rainforest over the last 40 years, and one of the greatest things suffering from this is all the species that live in the Amazon. Thousands of these animals are near extinction due to being over hunted and losing these creatures along with losing the rainforests plant life will cause huge drop in biodiversity. Some species such as the South American Tapirs, Giant Otters, The Hyacinth Macaw, only exist in the rainforest. Conservation programs  are trying to take as much action as they can in preserving the life that struggles to be in the Amazon. 

“I’m very sad about the thought of all those species entering extinction. The earth is a finite resource and many believe that humans don’t have the right to force extinction. I also think that when more and more extinctions and loss of biodiversity happens, it will start to be the end of humanity,” sophomore Sorcha Wilson said.

 For at least two weeks many people were oblivious to the news of the fire raging in the Amazon partly due to the lack of mainstream media coverage, but word has finally gotten out to most of the world. Attempts are being made to fix the devastation, but in the end no one is totally sure of what the outcome is going to be. Some believe that the fire cannot burn up all of the forest and some sort of life will remain, while others think that the fire is unstoppable and will consume the entire forest, destroying the worlds lungs. 

“The whole world will suffer as a result of this, especially if something isn’t done to try and put out the fires soon,” Sophomore Kate Martin said. “To help the amazon fire please inform your fellow colleagues about this situation and keep in contact with the updates of the problem as it develops.”