The Amazon Rainforest is considered by many to be the “lungs of the planet” and a good portion of it is now on fire.
Now the question is, who is to blame for the 75-thousand fires raging there. French president Emmanuel Macron inserted himself into the fray when he called the wildfires an international crisis and said the leaders of the G7 should urgently discuss the situation at their summit in France this weekend.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has been under fire for some time for his lack of desire to curb deforestation. Bolsonaro took offense to Macron’s statement, saying “I regret that Macron seeks to make personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries. The sensationalist tone he used does nothing to solve the problem.”
Then there’s the conspiracy theory we shared earlier. The Waorani tribe of Pastaza won a huge lawsuit against big oil. Ecuador sold off a half million acres of land to oil companies for drilling and the small tribe fought it in court and won last month. It’s now protected land, but did the fight cause someone to seek revenge by destroying the rainforest?
While leaders fighting a war of words, many of the fires… believed to be started by man in most cases… aren’t being fought, but left to burn. You can see them from space.
For more on this check out today's bonus segment with Michael and Joe...