Ripe's video: Amazon Fires Rage on in Brazil Making Way for Cattle Ranching

On Monday, the Brazilian city of São Paulo suffered a severe blackout. The reported reason for the loss of power were clouds of billowing smoke caused by forest fires. This emergency comes shortly after a new report from the Brazilian space agency INPE, claiming that the Amazon rainforest has suffered a record number of fires this year. Surprisingly, the agency doesn’t think the severity of this year’s wildfires is the result of global warming. Instead, they suspect that people are to blame. INPE has detected more than 74,000 fires between January and August. More than 9,500 forest fires have been sighted in the last week alone, mostly in the Amazon basin. Wildfires aren’t unusual during the dry season in Brazil, but some are caused not by nature, but by humans looking to clear land for cattle ranching. "The dry season creates the favorable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident,” said Alberto Setzer, a researcher at INPE. He said that rainfall and other conditions in the Amazon are only slightly below average, and don’t explain the rash of fires by themselves. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed the threat of wildfires, while also weakening penalties for illegal deforestation. Several weeks ago, Bolsonaro fired the director of INPE, accusing the agency of fabricating its deforestation figures. Ripe is a 100% independent media production company dedicated to bringing the fringe plant-based lifestyle mainstream with original video content, documentaries and series. SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.youtube.com/ripewatch CHECK US OUT: Ripewatch.com FOLLOW RIPE: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ripewatch Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ripewatch Twitter: https://twitter.com/ripewatch