The Amazon rainforest is still on fire, and while world leaders called for attention to the crisis ahead of this weekend’s G7 summit, it seems the most they could actually agree to do was throw a few bucks at the problem and shrug.
As the Associated Press reported, the G7 countries agreed to launched a $20 million fund “to help Amazon countries fight wildfires and launch a long-term global initiative to protect the rainforest.”
In response, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro accused the leaders of treating the Amazon region “like a colony.” He’s previously blamed the fires on nongovernmental organizations and warmer weather for helping them spread. He’s provided no evidence for his former claim, while experts say the latter is also false.
Alas, it’s truly alarming that world leaders, in response to an area of the world that produces 20 percent of Earth’s oxygen being on fire, can only justify putting up $20 million to help Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and other countries that share the Amazon rainforest. Comparatively speaking, $20 million is nothing. (According to the AP, the G7 summit cost just over $20 million to put on, and that was called “thrifty.”) For example, here are five other things that put that number to shame:
1. The budget for the gloriously awful movie Venom was $100 million. But don’t worry, the G7 commitment is apparently on par with such productions as Apple’s upcoming series The Morning Show.
2. NFL quarterback Andrew Luck, who just retired from the Indianapolis Colts, made money that makes $20 million look like pocket change:
And other professional athletes’ salaries, of course:
3. President Donald Trump’s golf trips have cost the U.S. far more than what G7 countries will give to fight the Amazon rainforest fires. Who would have guessed!
4. Remember that time the Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire, and more than $1 billion was raised for its recovery in just a couple days? Yeah, far more than this $20 million pledge (and also the inspiration for my favorite Tik Tok):
5. Finally, the combined national wealth of the seven countries that have committed to this laughable sum is more than $300 trillion:
WILD!
Meanwhile, one single rich person by the name of Leonardo DiCaprio has donated $5 million via his group Earth Alliance to help the Amazon rainforest fire-fighting efforts, a quarter of what these countries have put up.
Of course, we might have expected this chunk of petty change from our own president, but internationally? You really do hate to see it.