Headline Roundup • August 21st, 2019
Amazon Rainforest Burning at Record Pace
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Featured Coverage of this Story
The Guardian
The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, has accused environmental groups of setting fires in the Amazon as he tries to deflect growing international criticism of his failure to protect the world’s biggest rainforest.
A surge of fires in several Amazonian states this month followed reports that farmers were feeling emboldened to clear land for crop fields and cattle ranches because the new Brazilian government was keen to open up the region to economic activity.
Massive fires burning in the Amazon rainforest caused a daytime blackout in Brazil’s largest city this week.
Day turned to night at around 3 p.m. Monday in São Paulo and the darkness lasted for about an hour, local paper Folha de S.Paulo reported.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed eerie scenes of cars driving with their headlights on and pedestrians walking against blackened skies in the mid-afternoon.
Al Jazeera
Fires raging in Brazil's Amazon rainforest have hit a record high number this year, according to new data from the country's space research agency, as concerns grow over President Jair Bolsonaro's management of the environment.
