#SaveThePlanet

California, Australia, and Brazil Wildfires

John Greene, Samantha Henchcliffe, and Eric P. Ricioppo

Save The Planet Overview
● The organization Save The Planet ONLUS was created to come up with
projects with real solutions to help our planet survive, and protect our
fragile environment.
● They have a great awareness of the real problems our planet deals with
such as climate change, worldwide diseases, and disasters.
● Innovative, Eco-friendly projects
A Disaster to Our Environment: Wildfires
● For the past two decades there have been nearly one hundred of wildfires in
the United States.
● Wildfires are very dangerous due to the fact that they can start basically
anyway.
○ Spread very fast
○ Uncontrollable fires in forests, grasslands, or brushlands
○ The land is dry
● Will be focusing mainly on California, Brazil, and Australia Wildfires, and the
impact social media has had.
California Wildfires
● California Wildfires have always been very common and extremely
dangerous, but in 2020 alone, we've seen the impact of them.
● Via CNN.com
○ 4 million acres of land have been burnt by wildfires
○ 16,500 firefighters are fighting 23 major fires in California as we speak
● California residents feel devastated, and they are always dealing with fires that
ruin their counties.
● Fires are so common to happen because of the lack of rain, the grasslands and
forests are dry.
California Wildfires cont.
● One of the latest wildfires that caught the media was spread due to a Gender
reveal party.
○ Dr. Giseler spoke on the media's affect on these gender reveal parties, “As long as we have
something like social media where a gender reveal party is so visible - it's all about the visual
cues and all this performative aspect - you’re going to continue to see this.”
○ Gives an idea on how there's a negative portion to the social media part of culture, there’s these
crazy ideas that come up like using a “smoke generated pyrotechnic advice.
■ People unfortunately didn't think before their actions
■ In conclusion of this fire spreading on Labor Day weekend, one fire fighter died
Climate Change Impacting the Fires and the Homeowners Affected
Harrison Ford on the Wildfires and the Heroism of
First Responders

Eric interviewing Harrison Ford on

Good Morning America
With social media, there will be memes
Brazilian Amazon Fires
The Brazilian Amazon has been one of the most significant victims of wildfires and climate
change. According to BBC, roughly 60% of the Amazon is located in Brazil. Of this, between
15% and 20% of the rainforest has been lost to fires, costing nearly one trillion dollars in
damage. According to analysis of satellite data provided by Dr. Michelle Kalamandeen, a
tropical ecologist on the Amazon rainforest, the first seven months of 2020 alone has seen
more than 5,019 square miles of the Brazilian Amazon burnt. The sheer total number of
Amazon fires is almost off the charts in 2019 and 2020.
Politics
According to CNBC, Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro told the United Nations
that the Amazon “remains pristine and virtually untouched,” which is
incredibly contradictory of scientific data from Brazil’s space agency show
that the number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon between January and
August surged by 84% from the same period in 2018. As The Guardian
reported, United States “Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden,
called for a world effort to offer [twenty billion dollars] to end Amazon
deforestation and threatened Brazil with unspecified “economic
consequences” if it did not “stop tearing down the forest”. Bolsonaro found
Biden’s comment to be a ““cowardly threat” to Brazil’s sovereignty and a
““clear sign of contempt”.” To no surprise, Bolsonaro praised Donald Trump
for his support for Brazil, despite Trump’s constant denial of science and
climate change. It appears to be no secret that Bolsonaro is only playing
politics for his own personal gain-- the environment and the people he
governs suffering as a result.
President of Brazil Blames Leonardo DiCaprio
for the Cause of the Wildfires
Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, attempted to blame Academy Award-
winning actor and well-known environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio for causing the
fires as a result of a “donation.” In reality, DiCaprio donated five million dollars to
the Brazillian Amazon relief fund.
Australia Wildfires
● Australia has a “fire season,” which is when the weather is hot and dry
● The fires usually start because of persistent heat and drought
● Most of them are caused by natural events, like lightning
● More than 17.9 million acres have burned in total

This image shows

the haze over a
beach in Sydney
from a fire
Australia Wildfires Continued
● The 2019-2020 bushfire season was the worst Australia has seen in years, they
even named it the Black Summer
● The first began in June and got severely worse by November
● Because of global warming, the weather brought hotter & drier temperatures
● These fires have killed at least 28 people, and destroyed over 3,000 homes
Effects on Social Media
● After seeing the damage from the wildfires, people took to social media
● Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook became places where
people spread awareness and ways they can help
● There were also people who took advantage of the situation, and
created fake posts for donations
○ For example, there was an account called @australiasaftey, who claimed they were
partnered with National Geographic
○ The account said that they would donate $1 for every “like” they received
○ After contacting National Geographic, it was learned that @australiasaftey was not
associated with them, and quickly deleted the account
#SaveThePlanet and Social Media Awareness

● Social Media during these times of global crisis comes together as a

community.
● On Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and even TikTok, there were posts to spread
awareness for the wildfires, and to collect money for those affected.
● The #savetheplanet is an active # of awareness for all global events.
○ Currently has 4 Million posts on instagram using this # and on TikTok, videos using this hashtag
have 220+ MIllion Views.
● It's More than a hashtag
○ The amount of shares that these posts reach brings attention to the cause
○ Leads to gofundmes, following environmental organizations, and treating the planet with
respect.
Celebrity Support for Climate Change
As previously mentioned, celebrities such as Harrison Ford and Leonardo DiCaprio are
avid activists for climate change and wildfire relief. Both have spoken in front of the
United Nations, DiCaprio being an official UN ambassador for climate change, even
produced and starred in the 2016 National Geographic climate change documentary,
Before the Flood.
Sources
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53893161

CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/24/brazils-president-attacks-amazon-rainforest-lies-thanks-trump.html

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/04/us/california-wildfires-sunday/index.html

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/australia/australia-fires-explainer-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/01/brazil-amazon-rainforest-worst-fires-in-decade

LAFD: https://youtu.be/G28PS-CVV1M

NBC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgFpahvqHtQ

NBC: https://youtu.be/kayfAQu7Z4g

Now This: https://youtu.be/8fmSJu7jgX0

NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/07/us/gender-reveal-party-wildfire.html

United Nations: https://youtu.be/NzsV0_PIKp0

CDP: https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2019-australian-wildfires/