The Burning Economics

The Amazon rainforest was on fire last month burning down record swaths of the forest. What raised global concerns was the indifference of the governments that reign over the Amazon.

The Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro even sacked the scientist and head of space research, Ricardo Galvao, after criticizing the research institute data that showed accelerated Amazon deforestation.

The president even accused the NGOs working in Amazon to have set the fires because the government slashed their funding. “These people are missing the money,” reasoned the president.

The alleged deliberate criminal acts seemed a lie as the president never provided any evidence but environmentalists have also been criticized by other world leaders for creating a hoax of human's negative impact on climate, for the sake of getting funds.

US President Donald Trump's repudiation of climate change is well known and he has also previously accused the climate scientists of manipulating the facts to get budget increases.

The increasing need of funding on environment as expressed by the environmental agencies and scientists is explainable as the climate issues increase and science and research being an expensive work.

President Trump slashed funding of many environment projects, relaxed environmental laws for the industries and even withdrew the US from Paris Agreement which he believed would 'undermine' the US economy.

The world leaders, under pressure for producing great economic growths and governments like in Brazil burdened by debts and struggling to provided for the masses, often prioritize immediate industrial and economic gains over the environment conservation.

The economy of Brazil and the companies involved in Amazon may be experiencing growth but that does not account for the loss of oxygen being produced by the forest. Metrics like Green GDP, that monetizes the loss of biodiversity and measures costs caused by climate change, is barely used and the global rating agencies seem to completely overlook environmental factors in their practical criteria.

The Amazon is known as the 'Lungs of Earth', producing more the 20 percent of the world's oxygen. That means the world resources can not be just the domestic property of a single country but should require clear and binding international jurisdictions.

Or maybe let the capital decide if the public needs oxygen or timber. With the advancing technology the world might just reach the capability to perhaps control the flow of air, and provide Brazil and other Amazon countries opportunity to export its oxygen to the world. This might also solve the problem of getting the environmentalists funded by creating a strong economy for environment conservation.

What better than the freedom to buy the basics of life.