Could we be facing a rapid destruction of the world’s forests?
Smoke and flames rise from an illegally lit fire in an Amazon rainforest reserve, south of Novo Progresso in Para State, Brazil, in August. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams For the past months the news has been filled with articles describing the massive wildfires going on around the world in their increasing numbers, size and intensity. They are being reported in Russia, Brazil, and of course the United States, in both California and Colorado. The question is why more, larger, frequent and intense fires and not the same amount that has been naturally occurring for millennia. NASA reports “Abnormally warm temperatures have spawned an intense fire season in eastern Siberia this summer. Satellite data show that fires have been more abundant, more widespread, and produced more carbon emissions than recent seasons.” The Guardian reports, fires in Brazil’s Amazon “increased 13% in the first nine months of the year compared with a year ago,