In the U.S., we are rapidly approaching the most important election in generations. We’re voting for our elected representatives and for policies that defend one of our planet’s most important ecosystems: the Amazon rainforest. During the presidential debate, protecting the Amazon was recognized as critical in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change!

We know why: It’s a powerful weather pattern stabilizer, drives rainfall, and helps curtail climate change. But right now, the Amazon rainforest is approaching an irreversible tipping point, threatening our collective future.

Indigenous peoples have protected their rainforest territories for millennia and yet their rights, lives, and lands are increasingly under attack. Financial institutions and corporations enable this destruction by placing profit over people and our planet. Defending the defenders of the Amazon is an environmental, human rights, and racial justice priority. We must vote like the future of human life on the planet depends on it because this time it really does.

What we do in the next few years will make the greatest difference. Losing the Amazon would not only be catastrophic for Indigenous peoples, but for all of us. With criminal arson and fires rapidly increasing in the Amazon and with wildfires raging in the West Coast like never before, it is up to us to act now and vote!