Changing the Climate of the Amazon Rainforest

Last week I was going to write about climate change, but the weather was so awful I struggled to do anything at all, let alone put on my wellingtons for the lengthy walk (aka 5 yards) to my office to write a blog entry.

So this week, I am still going to write about climate change, but with a lightly stronger sense of urgency and focus.

The Amazon Rainforest is on fire.

Ok, not *all* of it, though frankly the maps suggest rather a lot. But these are fires that a) are largely man-made in origin, and b) have been burning for over a month.

I know that some forest fires are good for the forest. The redwoods in Yosemite, for example, appreciate a good burn of ground cover occasionally so that the light can get in and the seeds can germinate.

But this is different. This is the planet's lungs, effectively, being destroyed in the name of greed. (Read this article for some in-depth info that will shock you.) The European media have finally noticed too.

We rely on the Amazon rainforest for more than just an interesting range of flora and fauna. The amount of carbon dioxide stored in all those plants is remarkable. And for those who can't remember how the carbon dioxide cycle works, if it's released from plants into the atmosphere, it helps create that Greenhouse Effect that non-scientists don't believe in. It needs to be stored, and we need *lots* of trees to store enough to stop the Greenhouse Effect wreaking havoc.

Nature had reached a reasonable balance between the amount of CO2 we breathed out and the amount the plants could absorb. And now we are wrecking it. How long before we reach a point of no return?

It's no longer a case of remembering to sort your rubbish into the different recycling bins. If this planet is to remain habitable for our children's children, we need to start behaving differently in the first place. Even the politicians have finally realised.

All of which puts my complaint about the August rain that stopped me mowing our 'lawn' last week rather in the shade.

Educating Us All on Climate Change

Most of us have accepted the concept of climate change, rather than global warming, as the weather around the globe becomes more extreme. There are still deniers, who appear not to understand basic science, or who point to harsh winters and think that's incompatible with global warming, or who don't believe that the activities of the human race are accelerating a possibly cyclical process.

Here in our village, many of us have solar panels on our roofs, a small contribution to the diminution of fossil fuel use and its subsequent impact on the environment. Of course, the lack of support for public transport means we usually have to drive to get out the village as the buses are few and far between. But we try. At least, some of us do.

Today a number of UK schoolchildren joined a growing global youth protest against the lack of effort being made to do something about climate change. Emission reduction targets are feeble at best, and at worst not even being met. For the younger generations, this has a potentially catastrophic effect, and it is no surprise that they are annoyed at the lazy reactions of an older generation that will have died before the sea levels rise to a significantly destructive level.

Younger people are becoming more mobilised on a number of issues. It is a year since the Parkland shootings in Florida, and thanks in part to the protests led by the survivors of the shooting, 67 bills have been signed in various states, by Republicans and Democrats, to curb gun violence. It's a start, though the Parkland students would ask for more; adolescent hormone-driven emotions and guns are not a good combination.

In the UK, young people have been the driving force behind other protests, not always with noticeable success. Tuition fees still went up, though they have stalled for now. Many young people who want to be part of the EU blame the older generation for the Leave vote, and feel betrayed by people that they think won't be around to reap the whirlwind.

Have young people always been this politically engaged? They were certainly active in the 1960s, and formed part of the protest against the poll tax in . But now they are more organised, and that must be thanks to social media. Today's protesters were asking for the voting age to be lowered to 16, and politicians will have to change their ways radically whether they grant this demand or not. Young people know what they want more than we realise, and they're not afraid to ask for it vociferously.