The Amazon: Coming Up For Air
The May issue of Vanity Fair Magazine is their 2nd Annual Green Issue. Inside is a wonderful article, with outstanding photos, about the effects of global warming on the Amazon. Unfortunately the online version of the magazine doesn't include this story, so I'll have to tell you about the article myself and if you are interested, you can pick up a copy and read the rest.
First of all, a few shocking facts that I found in the article and wasn't aware of:
1) The Amazon, which spans 9 countries including Brazil and Peru, generates 20% of the planet's oxygen and contains 15 - 20% of its life-forms
2) Peru's glaciers have lost almost a quarter of their ice since 1970 and a study by Peru's National Council for the Environment predicts that most of them could be gone in 20 years
3) 17 - 18% of the Amazon rain forest is gone, and some scientists predict that when 40% of it is cut it will hit the tipping point where it starts to die back spontaneously
4) A computer model at the Hadley Center in England predicts that the Amazon will start to turn into a savanna by 2050 and complete the tranformation by 2080... that is in our children's, and possible our, lifetime!
5) 25% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation. 7% is from Brazil alone
6) The Quechua people who live at the base of the Qoyllur Rit'i glacier, in Peru, traditionally made an annual pilgrimmage to a symbolic rock below the glacier. The glacier has receded so far that it takes one hour to get there today and thus, the ritual has ceased. Most Quechua believe that the world will end when the glacier disappears.
The article follows the author's journey through the Amazon to find out whether the drought is part of a normal cycle or the beginning of a broader trend. His quest takes him from Cusco through the Urubamba valley, deep into the Andes and over to Manaus, Brazil, the capital of the Brazilian Amazon where he explores the issue from a different perspective.
Along the way he visits indigenous villages and local experts to find spiritual and scientific evidence that help him to draw an unfortunate conclusion: the forest is gasping.
Here's a shot from the Peruvian Amazon. If you really want some entertainment, check out the video on the Vanity Fair website of Knut, the adorable polar bear cub that makes his debut on the May cover. Or... plan your trip to South America and see the beautiful landscapes before they disappear!
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