After reading meteorologist/journalist Bob Henson’s comprehensive look at recent news that part of the Amazon is now contributing to – rather than working against – global warming, you may want to learn more. Here are some stories to complement his.
On the carbon study led by Gatti and published in Nature in June, these three pieces add additional details and contexts:
- “Brazil’s Amazon is now a carbon source, unprecedented study reveals” (Liz Kimbrough, Mongabay); the embedded short video about what happens when the rainforest is cut is also informative
- “Amazon rainforest now emitting more carbon than it absorbs” (Damian Carrington, The Guardian)
- “Southeast Amazonia is no longer a carbon sink” (Scott Denning, Nature News and Views)
As Henson’s and Denning’s pieces note, this study is part of a much larger and complex scientific exploration. Here are three articles that explore and explain aspects of the larger questions:
- “When will the Amazon hit a tipping point?” (Ignacio Amigo, Nature)
- “Could climate change and deforestation spark Amazon ‘dieback’?” (Peter Cox, Carbon Brief)
- “Why ‘Carbon-Cycle Feedbacks’ Could Drive Temperatures Even Higher” (Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360)
Perhaps you would like a refresher on the carbon cycle in general. Here is a good one from NASA. (For the role of forests, see the section “The Fast Carbon Cycle.”)
The pieces above tell stories of scientific inquiry, the atmosphere, carbon, forests, and climate change. Other stories focus instead on what these processes feel like on the ground, for the people living in Brazil’s embattled rainforests. Here are three current samples:
- “As soy frenzy grips Brazil, deforestation closes in on Indigenous lands” (Ana Ionova, Mongabay)
- “Brazil judge provides a lifeline for threatened Indigenous tribe” (Sam Cowie, AlJazeera)
- “Are Bolsonaro’s Attacks on the Amazon and Indigenous Tribes International Crimes? A Third Court Plea Says They Are” (Katie Surma, Inside Climate News)
This series is curated and written by retired Colorado State University English professor and close climate change watcher SueEllen Campbell of Colorado. To flag works you think warrant attention, send an e-mail to her any time. Let us hear from you.
