NPR

Amazon Rainforest Sees Biggest Spike In Deforestation In Over A Decade

Not since 2008 has the Amazon been destroyed at a faster rate, according to Brazilian authorities. They say an area more than 12 times the size of New York City was deforested in the span of a year.
A burned trunk stands amid the devastation left after wildfires tore through parts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest earlier this year. During the yearlong period ending in July, deforestation claimed a span of the Amazon 12 times the size of New York City.

Picture, for a second, just how vast New York City is. All told, including Staten Island, the Bronx and every block in between, the massive metropolis takes up more than 300 square miles. Now, try to picture a hunk of land more than 12 times that size.

That's about how much of the Amazon rainforest was

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