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Celebrities rally to save the Amazon from three week fire

Thousands of blazes have seen the rainforest burning for three weeks straight. Photo: Reuters
Thousands of blazes have seen the rainforest burning for three weeks straight. Photo: Reuters

Roughly 2500 fires have been blazing through the Amazon rainforest for over three weeks, raising widespread concern around the world.

Now a slew of celebrities have leant their voices to the campaign to raise awareness and funds to fight the fires both now and in the future.

Leonardo DiCaprio is just one celebrity voice calling for action on the Amazon Rainforest fires. Photo: Getty Images
Leonardo DiCaprio is just one celebrity voice calling for action on the Amazon Rainforest fires. Photo: Getty Images

Leonardo DiCaprio is famous for his staunch and vocal support for the environment and was unsurprisingly one of the most famous voices to join the conversation.

Posting to Instagram yesterday the actor shared an update from The Rainforest Alliance asking for donations to the efforts, and ongoing conservation of the forest.

Zoe Kravitz compares it to Notre Dame

Zoe Kravitz is calling for the forest fire to take centre stage. Photo: Getty Images
Zoe Kravitz is calling for the forest fire to take centre stage. Photo: Getty Images

Other celebrities quickly joined the movement, with Big Little Lies actress Zoe Kravitz also pleading with her almost 5 million followers to sit up and pay attention.

Like many others Zoe compared the disaster to the fire that destroyed parts of Paris’ Notre Dame earlier in the year.

The star pointed out that while the medieval church’s disaster prompted an instant response and millions of dollars raised, the more environmentally crucial forest has largely escaped public attention until now.

Jaden Smith has spread the word to his 13 million followers. Photo: Getty Images
Jaden Smith has spread the word to his 13 million followers. Photo: Getty Images

Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and Jayda Pinkett-Smith was also an outspoken voice on the matter, sharing an image of the devastation and calling on his followers to ‘spread the word’.

Madonna points to Indigenous loss

US singer-songwriter Madonna has pointed to the human impact of the raging blaze. Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
US singer-songwriter Madonna has pointed to the human impact of the raging blaze. Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Madonna was another celebrity to join the fight, this time pointing to the devastating impacts on the indigenous people who reside in the 5,500,000 km forest.

“This is a devastation to Brazil—to the indigenous people who live there and the-plant and animal species that make this the most important bio-diverse Forest!!!” the pop star wrote.

“We need to WAKE -UP!! The future of the rainforest affects the future of the world!”

Madonna was referring to the fact that the enormous forest produces 20% of the world’s oxygen, something others haven’t failed to notice.

Emmanuel Macron leads the charge

French President Emmanuel Macron is one powerful voice who has directly confronted the issue, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

"Our house is on fire. Literally. The Amazon, the lung of our planet which produces 20 percent of our oxygen is burning," Macron said on Twitter.

The extent of the area damaged by fires has yet to be determined, but smoke has choked Sao Paulo and several other Brazilian cities in the past week.

The rainforest, the largest in the world, is a major player in the progression of climate change globally.

However fires in the Amazon are common every year in Brazil, especially during the dry season between July and October.

Some are naturally occurring while many are caused by farmers and loggers in what has become highly contentious deforestation methods.

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