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1/ It cannot be exaggerated what a threat to the planet Jair Bolsonaro is. From the @washingtonpost: “Huge tracts of the Amazon, which serves as the lungs of the planet by taking in carbon dioxide, storing it in soils and producing oxygen, are ablaze.” washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/0…
@washingtonpost 2/ The cause is not in doubt: “INPE tracks deforestation in Brazil, and its data has shown a huge increase in the Amazon this year. In early August, INPE found 1,330 square miles of rainforest had been lost since January alone, which is a rate 40 percent higher than in 2018.” 
@washingtonpost 3/ Shown by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, "the fires have led to a clear spike in carbon monoxide emissions as well as planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, posing a threat to human health and aggravating global warming."
@washingtonpost 4/ This satellite image from @NASA has horrified Brazil and the world. It’s a potent omen of what Bolsonaro is doing to the world:
@washingtonpost @NASA 5/ Yesterday, as pressure grew, Bolsonaro claimed the fires were started by environmental groups. That got International coverage. What many don’t know is 3 weeks ago, Bolsonaro fired a key scientist for warning - with data - of exploding deforestation: sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/b…
@washingtonpost @NASA 6/ It’s well-known that Bolsonaro’s political coalition relies on religious fanatics & supporters of a reversion to the country's military dictatorship. But as important is the country’s toxic agro-industry, which is getting everything it wants and more. theguardian.com/environment/20…
@washingtonpost @NASA 7/ This agro-business industry, and Bolsonaro's subservience to it, is destroying not only the Amazon with fires & deforestation, but also the ecosystem that sustains it. Look: bbc.com/news/newsbeat-…
@washingtonpost @NASA 8/ There’s also a grave human cost: the Amazon is where many indigenous tribes live. Their leaders have often been murdered by industrial interests. Bolsonaro has been explicit in his contempt for them, giving implicit license for violence against them: nbcnews.com/news/latino/we…
@washingtonpost @NASA 9/ A key figure in all this is Bolsonaro’s Environment Minister - Ricardo Salles: an extreme, previously obscure extremist from a “new” radical anti-government party: @partidonovo30. Salles ran twice for Congress & lost, including 2018. It's vital the world understand who he is:
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 10/ Last year, when Salles ran for Congress with @partidonovo30 & lost, he used an ad showing *bullets* as his political platform to "solve" political adversaries and environmentalists. Few ads are more deranged & psychopathic. Look: theintercept.com/2018/08/19/can…
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 11/ Salles was such a fringe & despised figure that even federal prosecutors, in the chats we obtained, spoke of him as a monster. One leading prosecutor, @jcarloscr, said last year: Salles Is “not just any fucking crazy. He’s an enormous crazy fuck.” #VazaJato
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr 12/ As we reported in February, Salles - as a state environmental official - got caught altering an environmental map to benefit miners. He was convicted on Dec 18: fined & lost political rights for 3 years. 2 weeks later, Bolsonaro chose him as Minister theintercept.com/2019/02/03/ric…
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr 13/ Salles is now the subject of an impeachment petition. He was loudly booed when he appeared in public yesterday. But even with him gone, Bolsonaro remains captive to, & supportive of, the destruction of the Amazon which endangers the world bbc.com/news/world-lat…
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr 13/ Bolsonaro is a genuine, archaic monster of the type frequently seen during the Cold War. He is already threatening Brazilian democracy. But he also arguably poses the greatest danger to the planet, as @newrepublic recently argued: newrepublic.com/article/154547…
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic I should add: one valid grievance the Brazilian Right has about the Amazon is anger over other countries - the US and in Western Europe - who already developed industrially & are destroying the planet, now demanding Brazil save them by not exploiting its own internal resources.
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic Preservation of the Amazon is imperative for the survival of the planet & the species. That's a scientific fact. So they world should work with Brazil to ensure it happens, not just demand it of them. Rich countries that are destroying the planet - US, Europe, China - should pay.
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic Bolsonaro responds to President Macron by basically accusing him of exploiting the Amazon fires for political gain, dismissing the global outcry as interference in Brazil's "internal affairs," and claiming Macron is "sensationalizing" the problem. Typical Bolsonaro - but....
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic There are valid points buried in Bolsonaro's derangement: you can't live in an already-developed western country that is destroying the planet, enjoying the benefits of that development, & demand others not exploit their resources to save you - at least without paying. And....
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic Macron's call for G-7 nations to take action about the Amazon - without involvement from the countries in the region - does smack of arrogant colonialism. The Amazon isn't France's to control. It's nice that France is already rich & developed. They can't dictate to others.
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr @newrepublic All that said: Bolsonaro's appeals to national sovereignty and the need to exploit the Amazon would be more compelling if they intended to use that for the benefit of the Brazilian people. They don't. They intend to strip it & sell it to the highest bidder & enrich themselves.
@washingtonpost @NASA @partidonovo30 @jcarloscr Bolsonaro is simultaneously denying the severity of the Amazon crisis and, worse, recklessly claiming environmental groups started them, because he knows the world recognizes he's to blame. He can't escape that responsibility, as @davidmirandario said today in Congress [English]:
