--- title: "Devastating Fires in Amazon Rainforest Can Be Seen From Space" description: "Bad news: record-breaking fires have been burning up Brazil's Amazon rainforest since January, an increase of over 83 percent since last year." date: "2019-08-21" modified: "2019-08-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/fire-amazon-rainforest-space" categories: - "Space" tags: - "amazon rainforest" - "brazil" - "fire" - "rainforest" - "the digest" - "wildfire" --- # Devastating Fires in Amazon Rainforest Can Be Seen From Space ![Bad news: record-breaking fires have been burning up Brazil's Amazon rainforest since January, an increase of over 83 percent since last year.]() *\Image: NOAA\* ## Fire! Bad news: a [record-breaking number of fires]() are burning up Brazil's Amazon rainforest. The blazes are so serious that they're [easily spotted]() from space. According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), it's the worst fire season since the agency began tracking the rainforest in 2013 — with [83 percent]() more fires than over the same period in 2018. https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/1163905235733155840 ## Bad News To re-iterate, that's really bad: the trees of the Amazon are said to be responsible for producing [20 percent]() of oxygen in our planet's atmosphere. Entire regions of the country stayed dark as massive amounts of smoke caused by the fire swept the north east. São Paulo — a city of over 12 million people thousands of miles from the Amazon — was engulfed in a [black shroud]() most of this week, blocking out the light of the Sun almost completely. Many of the wildfires are caused by farmers deliberately setting the land on fire to deforest land for cattle, as [*Reuters* points out](). The [relaxing of environmental controls]() by Brazil's current leadership under president Jair Bolsonaro aren't helping the situation either. ## "Lies" Bolsanero fired the director of INPE earlier this month after calling the agency's findings "lies," as [*CNN* reports](). While wildfires naturally occur in the dry season, this week's fire is on an entirely different scale. "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,” INPE researcher Alberto Setzer told *Reuters*. **READ MORE:** [Brazil's Amazon rainforest is burning at a record rate, research center says]() \[*CNN*\] **More on the Amazon:** *[Bad News: The Amazon Might Be Past the Point of Saving]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()