A Climate Bomb in the Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon is burning, threatening the world’s largest repository of biodiversity. If the fires are not controlled soon, they could release a “climate bomb” of stored carbon that would accelerate climate change.

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Host
  • Gabrielle Sierra
    Director, Podcasting
Credits

Asher Ross - Supervising Producer

Markus Zakaria - Audio Producer and Sound Designer

Rafaela Siewert - Associate Podcast Producer

Episode Guests
  • Monica de Bolle
    Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
  • Thomas Lovejoy
    President, Amazon Biodiversity Center
  • Stewart M. Patrick
    James H. Binger Senior Fellow in Global Governance and Director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program

Show Notes

Deforestation has reached a tipping point in the Amazon Rainforest under the leadership of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Unprecedented fires, set intentionally to clear land for development, threaten to destroy biodiversity, alter weather patterns, and release vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. The consequences will reach the entire planet, but some argue that Brazilians have a sovereign right to use the land as they please. In this episode, three experts examine what’s at stake and what can be done. 

 

From CFR

 

The Amazon and You,” CFR President Richard N. Haass

 

Deforestation in the Amazon,” InfoGuide

 

How Brazil’s Burning Amazon Threatens the Climate,” Amelia Cheatham

 

The World Waits for No Country,” Richard N. Haass

 

The Global Impact of the Amazon Rainforest Fires
 

From Monica de Bolle 

 

The Amazon Is a Carbon Bomb,” Peterson Institute for International Economics

 

Amazon Deforestation Is Fast Nearing Tipping Point When Rainforest Cannot Sustain Itself,” Peterson Institute for International Economics

 

From Thomas Lovejoy

 

Amazon Deforestation: Exploring What’s Left of Brazil’s Rainforest,” Into the Unknown

 

Read More

 

The Amazon Is Completely Lawless,” New York Times

 

Fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest jump in October,” Al Jazeera

 

Could a Biden Administration Help Save the Amazon Rainforest?,” TIME

 

Brazilians, more than others, say climate change is ‘catastrophic risk’,” Thomson Reuters Foundation

 

The Glimmer of a Climate New World Order,” New York

 

China Wants Food. Brazil Pays the Price.,” Atlantic 

 

The Brazilian Amazon is still burning. Who is responsible?,” Washington Post

 

Who Owns the Amazon?,” New York Times

 

Watch or Listen

 

Brazil’s Environmentalists Worry Fire Season Will Worsen Amazon’s Deforestation,” NPR

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