Apple to donate in efforts help ‘preserve and restore’ the Amazon as fires continue to burn
In what’s been called a devastating event, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter to announce the company will be making a donation to help end the record breaking fires.
While it’s natural for small fires to appear in the Amazon this time of year, 79,500 fires have occurred in Brazil and more than half of those have took place in the Amazon rain forest. This number is up 85% compared to last year.
A report from the LA Times claims, “more than a soccer field’s worth of Amazon forest is falling every minute, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE. Preliminary estimates from satellite data revealed that deforestation in June rose almost 90% compared with the same month last year, and by 280% in July.”
It’s devastating to see the fires and destruction ravaging the Amazon rainforest, one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Apple will be donating to help preserve its biodiversity and restore the Amazon’s indispensable forest across Latin America.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) August 26, 2019
On a separate note, it was revealed that Cook personally donated $5 million worth of Apple shares to an undisclosed charity last week. This isn’t the first time the tech CEO has done it either. Cook made a similar donation last year around this time, also to an undisclosed charity. This news doesn’t come as a shocker though as he has previously said he plans to give away all of his wealth using a “systematic approach.”