Good News, Bad News for Planet Earth

For sheer amount of damage done in the fastest time since assuming office, Jair Bolsonaro has got Donald Trump beat all to fuck. No telling how many people these fires will actually kill, but he’s giving Benjamin Netanyahu a run for his money as well. Boris Johnson looks set to preside over a disaster, and the U.K. may even lose Northern Ireland, but that fiasco was set in motion two Prime Ministers back. He’s a clueless twit, but he didn’t do all the damage himself.
Of course, you could say that forest fires are a natural phenomenon, but in the Amazonian rain forest, they are not. I don’t know whether to blame this on global warming, or commercial deforestation gone out of control, or if it’s actually deliberate, because Bolsonaro at first didn’t even try to fight it (although it seems he’s given in to public pressure and is making some, albeit shockingly late, effort. It totally fits in with his policy of kill all the Indians.
It’s a bad day for planet Earth, no doubt about it.
On the other hand, Bernie has revealed his climate plan, and it is awesome. Small organic farms (improving the environment while providing lots of jobs), high speed rail (getting cars off the road and forcing the airlines to be a bit more competitive), electric cars and charging stations, conversion of the grid to solar and wind power, all sorts of cool stuff with actual target dates, and, of course, because it’s Bernie Sanders and he’s the only politician to ever do this, an explanation of how it’s going to be paid for (largely by sale of all the newly created energy, but also a bit of reduction in the military budget and higher taxes on rich people)
It’s the Green New Deal on steroids, all grown up and ready to face the world, it’s a light at the end of the tunnel, it’s a blueprint for the survival of the human race.
Let us hope, for a change, the good guys win this one. I’d like the Earth to survive.