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Shellenberger's Apostasies Episode 2: The Amazon is not the 'Lungs of the World'

15 Jul 2020 | Science Notes

We reported two weeks ago on the remarkable essay by long-time green activist Michael Shellenberger in which he recanted, and apologized for, climate alarmism. His essay was published in Forbes magazine then promptly canceled and thrown down the memory hole when activists protested that he was peddling falsehoods. But fortunately it was preserved elsewhere online so we can see his heresies for ourselves. This week we look at his claim “The Amazon is not the ‘lungs of the Earth’”. Verdict on this “falsehood”: It’s true.

We covered this issue last year in our Fact Check video on the Great Amazon Fire Scare of 2019. You all remember the Amazon fire scare, don’t you? It was when global warming was burning up the lungs of the Earth, aka the Amazon rainforest, and we were all going to die. Except, as we discovered, 2019 was far from a record year for Amazon fires, there were worse fires happening elsewhere that no one seemed to be concerned about, and of course we not only did not die but instead everyone quickly forgot about the Amazon and swung their alarmist attention to Australia’s wildfires now also apparently forgotten. In the process of reviewing expert opinion on the claims of the Amazon being the big source of oxygen for the planet, we quoted IPCC Lead Author Daniel Nepstad who pointed out “There’s no science behind that. The Amazon produces a lot of oxygen but it uses the same amount of oxygen through respiration so it’s a wash.” And if you want to know his pithy response to the “lungs of the Earth” slogan, click here and watch the video.

One comment on “Shellenberger's Apostasies Episode 2: The Amazon is not the 'Lungs of the World'”

  1. The video created to show that forest fires in the Amazon were misrepresented needs to be seen by everyone, especially young people. John Robson, your style of educating is excellent! Thank you again!
    Is is possible to make a list of your archived videos that could be offered to parents who are planning to 'homeschool' their children in September?
    The material these students might be accessing through on line courses or in the classroom if classes resume, is heavily laced with propaganda from climate alarmists. Having seen how the alarmist message woven through textual material being used at a high school level and having witnessed the pressure students are under to regurgitate misinformation in order to pass their courses, the decision to control and cut back on the amount of brainwashing our young people would be receiving would be an opportunity for their recovery.

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