Put on your tin-foil hats because the President of an entire country is blaming a Hollywood A-lister for the fires that ravaged parts of the Amazon rainforest in August.
In August wildfires engulfed the Amazon rainforest, although fires are predicted to blaze from June to October every year, findings from The National Institute for Space Research shows a 76% increase in fires from 2018, being some of the worst in almost a decade.
With the expectations of fires in the driest part of the year, the forest infernos are higher than predicted with most pointing to multiple reasons including anti-indigenous lobbyist’s, carelessness when clearing land for cattle ranching or more likely the intentional deforestation that has been endorsed by the President Jair Bolsonaro as he continues his stance as an anti-environmentalist.
In a strange twist instead of taking the blame, or reviewing lax policies on forest clearing, President Bolsonaro has blamed actor Leonardo DiCaprio for the blazes. Speaking from his residence on Friday the President went on a tirade saying.
“This Leonardo DiCaprio is a cool guy, right? Giving money to torch the Amazon.”
He doubled down with a lack of evidence proclaiming “So what did the NGO do? What is the easiest thing? Set fire to the forest. Take pictures, make a video. [WWF] makes a campaign against Brazil, it contacts Leonardo DiCaprio, he donates $500,000… A part of that went to the people that were setting fires. Leonardo DiCaprio, you are contributing to the fire in the Amazon, that won’t do,”
The bizarre accusations come after the arrest of four NGO volunteer firefighters’ on allegations of deliberately starting fires to create donations to protect the rainforest. Activists, critics and NGO’s claim the police acted with political motivation to silence environmental groups.
DiCaprio announced he and his group Earth Alliance would pledge $5 Million Dollars to help fight fires and protect the Amazon, calling on his followers to donate what they could and join the cause.
While promoting his new film ‘Once Upon a time in Hollywood’ in August he told ET Canada “what’s going on in the Amazon, which is really the lungs of the earth is vital to protecting us in the future, they’ve gotta do a lot more I think the president has to do a lot more.”
DiCaprio replied to the absurd claims of the President taking to Instagram to calmly state:
“The future of these ecosystems is at stake and I am proud to stand with the groups protecting them. While worthy of support, we did not fund the organizations targeted.”
He continued to praise the people of Brazil stating his support: “I remain committed to supporting the Brazilian indigenous communities, local governments, scientists, educators and general public who are working tirelessly to secure the Amazon for the future of all Brazilians.”
No matter where you stand the Amazon fires are a real issue for not only today but the future of civilisation if you’d like to support the cause you can donate to the Earth Alliance Amazon Forest Fund at ealliance.org/amazonfund
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