The shocking photo of fires in the Amazon …

The Amazon jungle burns and with it also the social networks. Twitter, in particular, has been filled with messages of support and images denouncing the tragic situation in this region, where fires increased by 83% last year, according to the National Institute of special investigations of Brazil. One of the most hectic clichés was captured by satellite by a NASA delegation specializing in fire monitoring.

In the picture, the points that identify the presence of a fire color the South American continent in red. However, the truth is that because of its composition, it can cause its observer to oversize an already serious situation. Flashes of fire are shown on the NASA map, not burned areas. Therefore, with a simple zoom, the image seems a little less dramatic.

Something similar is happening on Twitter. With a simple zoom and some details, it is easy to detect the uninterrupted flow of photographs that do not correspond in any way to the current lights. While support for the region and the unanimous condemnation of Bolsonaro's environmental policies have marked the social response to fires, the falsity of many images disseminated contributes to a general climate of misinformation that undermines the attempt to denounce. This serious climate situation.

In the animal section, many correspond to other events. In which a bleeding jaguar appears on the ground, it is really part of an article published in the journal People of Opinion published in 2016 on the abuse of animals on the road. Another animal that flees flames has also been viralized, it belongs to a Brazilian photographer who made it in 2011. One of the most sensitive, a rabbit burned by the flames, has already been collected by some means in 2018 California fires.

As for the pictures of the flames sweeping the landscape, there are many of them corresponding to other fires. A widely shared fire night image is actually published in a blog in 2015, so it is not related to current fires. Another of the most widespread, in which a hill is divided in two between the burned soil and the still green, really dates from 2013, as Maldito Bulo reports.

Although the efforts of the people to draw attention to the critical situation in the Amazon are laudable and commendable, especially for the well-known characters, it is also necessary not to fan the fire of misinformation.

The crisis in the Amazon jungle does not stem from the current situation, but from the worsening situation of lack of control that has been observed since the arrival of Bolsonaro and which has caused an 83% increase in forest fires in the region. In addition, this region is not the only one to be forgotten because recent fires have also occurred in the Canary Islands, Siberia or the Arctic, many of them falling into the Forgetfulness after their initial emergence. It seems that after the agitation of the initial spark, the fires continue their progression in silence.

Special of public for Page I12