Thousands of fires burning across the Amazon rainforest have captured international attention over the past week. Experts point to deforestation as the cause, which is often carried out illegally and which removed over three times as much forest last month as in July 2018. Fires have been reported in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Rondonia, Para and Mato Grosso. At least 305 indigenous groups live in the Amazon that depend on the forest and rivers for food and shelter. But the effects of damage to the Amazon go far beyond Brazil and its neighbors. The area's rainforest generates more than 20% of the world's oxygen and is home to 10% of the world's known biodiversity. The Amazon is referred to as the "lungs of the planet" and plays a major role in regulating the climate. Greenpeace has stated that as the number of fires increase, greenhouse emissions do, too. The world would drastically change if the rainforest were to disappear, with impacts on everything from farms to drinking water. The organizations included in the Fund address immediate measures to combat the current crisis and harm to indigenous communities, as well as long term initiatives to combat climate change and to advocate against pro-development policies that have relaxed the enforcement of laws against deforestation and have encouraged mining and farming across biological reserves and indigenous territories.

Trying to leave this planet a little better than I found it. This year, as with the rest of my life, I really tried to center my charitable giving around the cause that is most important to me: climate change. Of course, that’s not the only thing that’s important to me, so for my other giving I tried to focus on a few organizations that capture a reasonably wide net of my concerns around democracy and women’s rights. Lastly, I topped things off with a donation to the public library, since I benefit from it a lot personally and want to contribute to my local community.

The Wildlife Fund

The lungs of the Earth are in flames, join me in supporting this group that protects the rainforest, defends Indigenous rights and works to address climate change. 

The Amazon is currently facing record-breaking wildfires with the number of fires in Brazil being 80% higher than last year. More than half are in the Amazon region, spelling disaster for the local environment and ecology. Two states in the Amazon have already declared state of emergency: Acre and Amazonas. Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA is hiring hundreds of temporary firefighters to help fight the fires.

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world and vital to combating climate change. Nearly 73,000 wildfires have decimated the Amazon rainforest this year, a record amount for an ecosystem that produces a remarkable amount of Earth's oxygen. GitHub Created the Amazon Wildfires Relief Fund to assist with providing aid to help save the Amazon.

The Amazon is burning. Almost 73,000 fires have been recorded in the Amazon rainforest this year – nearly double the number for the whole of 2018.

Thousands of fires burning across the Amazon rainforest have captured international attention over the past week. Experts point to deforestation as the cause, which is often carried out illegally and which removed over three times as much forest last month as in July 2018. Fires have been reported in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Rondonia, Para and Mato Grosso. At least 305 indigenous groups live in the Amazon that depend on the forest and rivers for food and shelter. But the effects of damage to the Amazon go far beyond Brazil and its neighbors. The area's rainforest generates more than 20% of the world's oxygen and is home to 10% of the world's known biodiversity. The Amazon is referred to as the "lungs of the planet" and plays a major role in regulating the climate. Greenpeace has stated that as the number of fires increase, greenhouse emissions do, too. The world would drastically change if the rainforest were to disappear, with impacts on everything from farms to drinking water. The organizations included in the Fund address immediate measures to combat the current crisis and harm to indigenous communities, as well as long term initiatives to combat climate change and to advocate against pro-development policies that have relaxed the enforcement of laws against deforestation and have encouraged mining and farming across biological reserves and indigenous territories.

The latest IPCC report on climate change spells code red for our planet. Disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, flooding and drought are continuing to rise. There's no doubt that human impact is the main driver, but there is hope. People and organizations everywhere are working to reverse these impacts and preserve nature. And nature is resilient. Take Chernobyl, the site of a nuclear meltdown in 1986. Within 30 years, forests, marshes, fields and rivers reclaimed the land, reversing the effects of hundreds of years of human development. Diverse wildlife, including beaver, bison, birds, fish and more re-populated this no-man's land. Even more surprising, the wolf population in Chernobyl is seven times higher than nearby nature reserves. According to 1t.org, "Forests are an essential part of the solution to tackle climate change and biodiversity collapse. Forests make us healthier and more resilient; they filter air pollution and reduce heat islands in cities; and they can propel new drug discoveries to treat current and future diseases." For more on why forests are so critical, download the presentation "Why Forests Are Key to Solving Global Challenges Like Climate Change" -- https://www.slideshare.net/nekochan2000/why-forests-are-key-to-solving-challenges-like-climate-change In the words of David Attenborough, "A future with more forests is key to the resilience of our planet. If we choose to give forests time and space, they could re-clothe the earth with much of the rich and varied communities of animals and plants of which we have, so recently, robbed it." All of the nonprofits in this Fund are highly rated on Charity Navigator and Guidestar, and several are part of 1t.org's work to conserve, restore and grow one trillion trees by 2030. They include nonprofits working on these areas of forest conservation: 1. Conservation of U.S. forests 2. Conservation of forests across the globe, including critical rainforests 3. Forest conservation through carbon offsets 4. Legal protection for forests 5. Reforestation and support for indigenous people Read the blog to learn more about how the nonprofits were vetted - https://hello.brightfunds.org/blog/forests-for-the-earth-and-how-to-create-a-fund/