Cryptos & Blockchain Steps in to Help Save the Burning Amazon

On September 4, an organization based in the United States reached out to the crypto and blockchain community, asking for their help and support in the fight against deforestation and forest fires ablaze in Brazil. Rainforest Foundation U.S., which is based in New York, is a non-profit NGO operating in Central and South America and considers itself as the guardian of the rainforest, its animals and its people.

August was a dark month for mother earth, as the lungs of the world were engulfed in raging fires. The world watched in horror as the thousands of ravaging fires consumed Amazon rainforest, which is responsible for producing 20% of the world’s oxygen.

Reports suggest that these were the most intense blazes in almost a decade, so intense that the city of São Paulo was plunged into darkness in the middle of the day because of the heavy smoke erupting from the forest, which was burning more than 2,700km (1,700 miles) away.

In the wake of such an atrocious calamity, people and organization are calling out to the crypto and blockchain community to do their part in order to help save the Brazilian Amazon. Proving that it isn’t just a problem for the people of Brazil, rather for all humanity.

The foundation’s website, while addressing the growing issue of deforestation and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon, revealed that since Jair Messias Bolsonaro took office of the President of Brazil in January, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is up 75% and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon have doubled compared to the past year.

Bolsonaro, a retired military officer, is serving as the 38th President of Brazil and the worse part about having him in the office of a country that is home to one of the largest forests in the world, is that he is blatantly inconsiderate of global warming.

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Brazilian scholar Augusto Zimmermann, shared in an interview with Sky News Australia that Bolsonaro ‘doesn’t accept the global warming hoax’. This is the leader of the country that should be highly sensitive towards climate change, because the world is heavily dependent on the Amazon forest.

It is the world’s most important ecosystem, covering 4% of the earth’s surface and it contains a third of all known terrestrial plant, animal and insect species. The enormous Amazon River, with all its tributaries, contains 20% of the world’s flowing freshwater. Furthermore it produces more than 50% of all the rain that falls in the Amazon region, and it affects rainfall patterns far outside South America.

Most importantly it contains 10% of all biomass on Earth. The forest thus stores vast amounts of carbon that is released into the atmosphere as deforestation takes place.

It is crystal clear how undeniably important the Amazon forest is for the entire planet. Hence, the Rainforest Foundation is working towards preserving it with ‘The Giving Block’, which is committed to building a network that unifies nonprofit organizations with top players in the cryptocurrency industry. The post on the foundation’s website states: 

We are working with The Giving Block to form a coalition of crypto sponsors; donors and media partners who will help stop this devastation.

The foundation further explained that the reason they were reaching out to the crypto community is because they are a part of the crypto ecosystem themselves. Back in 2014, they began working on their very own cryptocurrency dubbed “BitSeeds”, which was PoW/PoS hybrid crypto and Bitseeds was at one point listed on Bittrex.

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Despite its failure, the foundation kept on exploring the blockchain and crypto space and now they are in the midst of developing a blockchain transparency pilot with Regen Network, allowing donors to track the foundation’s work in the Amazon Rainforest and reward local communities who are protecting their forests with crypto.

The Rainforest Foundation is accepting crypto donations in various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and other cryptocurrencies.

Suzanne Pelletier, executive director at the Rainforest Foundation, said that the dreadful situation in the Brazilian rainforest has pushed them to come up with innovative solutions, hence they’re venturing into the crypto community. She added:

Business as usual has gotten us to this point. Philanthropy as usual won’t get us out. We need innovative solutions, and no one is more innovative than cryptocurrency users

Charity in the crypto space is growing significantly. One of the greatest acts of philanthropy was witnessed when the majestic, soul-lifting Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris was engulfed in in flames. And in order to rebuild the medieval monument crypto exchange Binance initiated a donation program.

More recently in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, a Bahamas-based blockchain company named PO8 is brining the crypto and blockchain community together in order to help bring relief to hurricane victims.

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