National Geographic reports that about 76,000 fires were burning across the Brazilian Amazon at last official count, according to data from INPE, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. A majority are being set by humans and are the result of deforestation efforts. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Earth Alliance foundation pledged $5 million in aid. Another celebrity who has stepped up in a big way is Bethenny Frankel. She’s sending the Global SuperTanker (a 747 manufactured by Boeing that is now able to fight fires) to the Amazon:
“Gearing up to attack the Amazon crisis,specifically saving the lives of indigenous tribes & animals,” she wrote in a tweet on Saturday. “Tomorrow I’ll get specific but,i’m chartering a full size supertanker(fire truck in a plane)to spray massive area. I’ll reach out w details for you to donate.Planning trip.#bstrong”
Over the next several days, Frankel, 48, responded to several tweets about her plans and specifically stressed the need to share real information — several celebrities have been calling for action to stop the fires, but sharing photos that were taken years ago.
“The reason people are posting historical inaccurate pictures is because there is basically no access,” she wrote in a tweet on Monday. “My team is meeting with the government army & I should have photos by Th then a plan and more detail within the next weeks.#bstrong #globalempowermentmission.”
On Tuesday, she shared several photos of what she says is the blazing Amazon, saying that the pictures were “legitimate” and taken within the past week.
“These are photos of the #AmazonFires that have been taken in the past week, verified by the local officials as legitimate,” she said. “I have these photos because my #BStrong team is on the ground now working on emergency response in the form of humanitarian aide & fire fighting support.”
Bethenny also tweeted a link to a CrowdRise fundraiser that she started, the #BStrong for the Amazon Initiative, with a goal of $300,000. As of Thursday evening, just under $13,000 has been raised.
We are fundraising now to make this mission possible – but my team is already on the ground because we KNOW that we can count on your support! Learn more below, and donate NOW at the link in my bio to help #SaveTheAmazon!https://t.co/LMYg4svz9d
— Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) August 27, 2019
This is a fantastic gesture by Bethenny and I hope that it manages to have a positive effect and help stop or slow the spread of fires. People spoke with Dan Reese, who is the president of Global SuperTanker Services. He said, “‘In all honesty, I think it’s going to take rain [to put out the fires].” And Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is cut from the same cloth as Trump, has agreed to accept the G-7’s offer of $22 million in aid if President Macron apologizes for saying for saying that “the fires are a world environmental crisis that Bolsonaro has allowed to worsen.” Macron also accused the Brazilian leader, whom NPR describes as a climate change skeptic, as having “lied about his effort to combat deforestation.” Bolsonaro is apparently more concerned about his ego than the fact that the Amazon is burning at a devastating and dangerous rate. Thank goodness for Bethenny, Leo, and everyone else who is stepping up to help, whether with donations or on the ground. Here’s a link to an article on how you can help support the efforts to end the devastating fires in the Amazon.
Warning that the last image in the slideshow below shows a deceased capybara.
You know what? I think very little of this woman – I think she’s mean and manipulative. But if all the mean and manipulative people want to do things that bring positive change – I’m all for it.
I’ m glad she – anyone – is doing something.
Because this is far from bring over – and in my homeland
(Germany) nearly everyone acts as if nothing happend
and if something happend – than it was long ago and far away….
But look! News cars! News season! AAAAAAARRGGHHH!
(Germany really loves ist automotive Industrie.)
GUYS, THIS PROBLEM WILL NOT GO AWAY. AND WE MUST DO SOMETHING. NOW
Sorry. Rant over. I’m off to our community center and better talk discuss directly with neighbours
Again sorry. But I feel so helpless.
So donate. Vote. Go green. Eat green. No one is helpless. Take action.
Point is:
Sometimes one Person is not enough.
I do not own a car
(but live in Berlin, great public transport, nearly everything can be reached in foot or bicycle my familiy in the countryside is totally dependent in their own car(s)
They swear existence without is not possible)
I am a Vegetarian
I recycle my Trash, my Garbage as good as I can.
I join Demonstrations.
I donate. As good as I can.
And what for? To have a good feeling? To pat myself on the back – “well done, everything will be allright”
No. Not this time.
I am really scared. And nothing that I can do as a single person helps
This is something we need to solve as a Team.
We don’t know about her real character, do we? Is she flawed…who gives…she GAVE a lot to Puerto Rico, those poor brown people who needed more than donny’s paper towel toss. Now she’s showing up for the rain forest…So tell me again about who she really “is”?
Actually, “mean is as mean does.” Meaning [ha] that what you do defines you a lot more than your words or people’s image of you.
She consistently has been stepping up, and even if she started by thinking, “that’s a logical way to get good PR,” she has gradually turned into someone who’s more woke.
Her actions have exposed her to a reality that is raising her in a way her parents weren’t able to. There was a core there and she’s growing.
The fact that she’s never been a political activist is OK because she’s had a seemingly natural evolution.
Shorter version, she’s growing, in front of our eyes.
If we refuse to believe what’s right there, it’s on us, not her.
And how much was raised when the church in France caught fire? It’s f*cked up to know how selfish and ruthless people in power can be. Breathing and keeping the earth from overheating seems to be a bigger priority than, oh I don’t know, a building. IJS.
“The church” is Notre Dame, a 300+ yr old symbol of France which has survived wars, revolutions and everything in between. Apples and Oranges.
Yes, I agree that the world should be kicking in millions and getting real about carbon trading and figure out how to price forests. I’ve been working in Intl Dev. for over a decade and this is an ongoing problem that (maybe) needed a crisis to focus the world.
And without the Amazon, no one will be around to give a crap about that symbol.
The Amazon provides around 20% of Earth’s oxygen…a little more important than Notre Dame.
Impressed and grateful
Say what you will about her, but I’m impressed by her charitable ways.
She is great for doing this. But if only we had a functioning government to respond to global emergencies, rather than having to rely on the benevolence of the .01%? Just a thought.
Finally someone is doing something tangible. The world is literally on fire and dying and everyone seems to be looking the other way. Like Ib says- ‘Impressed and grateful’.
I can’t believe how little attention the Amazon fires has been getting, compared to say, the Notre Dame fire.
When will people, govts, and businesses wake the eff up about climate change?
By the time real action starts being taken, it will be too late. It makes me despise greedy, selfish humans so very much.
Feels powerless when the Amazon feels more of a “House of God” than the notre dame….
This is the only place I’m reading about the Amazon fire unless I go look for it. My google news feed has one story under science not world news.
It’s insane that a celebrity is essentially tasked with saving the planet when countries are offering monetary assistance but hey, I’m just grateful someone is helping.
You may want to fact check a bit more… the #GlobalSuperTanker has been in Bolivia since August 23rd. You can check out their great work on Twitter or Facebook
Quimby, she’s not perfect, but I appreciate that she’s puts her money where her heart is.
She is something else. Her public personality on these shows is so not nice, but she rocks when it is time to step up to fight the good fight to help in a disaster. She is so good at it, it is almost she has a secret superpower.
I love what Bethenney is doing. She has stepped up to the plate in a big way more than once. She was boots on the ground in Peurto Rico, and now in the Amazon.
The fact that she plays a role on the Housewives franchise is a tiny side point. This woman is a BOSS!! I will donate a day’s pay gladly to help a tiny bit.
This one is a serious role model for me and has been for years. I don’t give a damn that she can be biting. She has a huge heart and is a doer unlike most people who just talk and do fcuk all. So thank you Bethenney.