Twitter Users Call Attention to 'International Emergency' of Fires Devastating Brazil's Rainforest

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#PrayForAmazonia Goes Viral as Twitter Users Call Attention to 'International Emergency' of Fires Devastating Brazil's Rainforest

"The Amazon rainforest has been burning for three weeks! We are on the verge of losing it completely if the fire isn't put out. The loss of trees, the loss of biodiversity is what is accelerating climate change."

byJake Johnson,


A fire burns trees next to grazing land in the Amazon basin in Ze Doca, Brazil. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The hashtag #PrayForAmazonia went viral on Tuesday as social media users attempted to draw the world's attention to the Amazon rainforest, which has been devastated for weeks by fires so intense they can be seen from space.

According to Euro News, it is unclear whether the fires were caused by agricultural activity or deforestation. Both have accelerated rapidly under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who made opening the Amazon to corporate exploitation a key plank of his election campaign.

Twitter users on Tuesday slammed the media for paying too little attention to the Amazon blazes, particularly given the essential role the rainforest plays in absorbing planet-warming carbon dioxide—a capacity that earned it the nickname "lungs of the world."

"The Amazon has been burning for three weeks, and I'm just now finding out because of the lack of media coverage," wrote one observer. "This is one of the most important ecosystems on Earth."

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