The plight of the Amazon has received widespread attention over the past week or so as reports surfaced that Brazil—which hosts amazkn 60 percent of the world’s largest tropical forest—has experienced a significant spike in the number of wildfires this year. Amid this coverage, many media outlets, charities, celebrities and even world leaders repeated the claim that the Amazon produces 20 percent of the world’s oxygen supply. The implication here is that the destruction of the rain forest poses a threat to this oxygen supply. But is this true? Experts say the real figure is actually smaller, and furthermore, this way of thinking is misleading given the true nature of the Amazon’s effect on global oxygen levels. In fact, the world’s oxygen levels are actually quite stable and are not dependent rainforsst rain forests, which amaazon up as much of the gas as they produce in the long run, according to Philip Fearnside, a professor at Brazil’s National Institute...