11/18/2024

Biden Visits the Amazon Rainforest

This is a first for an American president

President Joe Biden stopped Sunday in Manaus, Brazil in the heart of the rainforest, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the Amazon, as he sought to emphasize the importance of taking on climate change two months before a successor who is far less sympathetic to that effort takes office.

Biden took a dramatic aerial survey of this portion of the world’s largest tropical rainforest in his Marine One helicopter, as well as a tour of Museu da Amazônia, a “living museum” showcasing the forest’s diverse ecosystem. He traveled to this remote spot during a break between the conclusion of one international summit in Lima, Peru, and the beginning of another in Rio de Janeiro.

"I'm proud to become the first sitting president to visit the Amazon,” he said as he signed a U.S. proclamation designating Nov. 17 as International Conservation Day. Climate change, he added, "may be the only existential threat to all our nations, to all humanity."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.