At 3pm on Monday, Brazil’s largest city, São Paolo, plunged into darkness 0) as a result of smoke from ongoing fires destroying the Amazon rainforest—thousands of miles away. This year, Brazil is witnessing a record number of wildfires. And the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has said the country’s government lacks the resources to put these fires 1) ..., creating more concern surrounding rainforest damage and devastation to lands belonging to indigenous people. But what exactly caused these fires to begin with?  It’s fairly simple, and predictably, a source 2) ... debate between environmentalists and one politician.  As CNN reports, 3) ... environmentalist groups and researchers agree that local cattle ranchers, farmers, and loggers have intentionally lit fires 4) ... clear the land for cattle  and have been incentivized to do 5) ... by Brazil’s pro-business/climate-sceptic president). In a statement to the New York Times, a government agency stated that more than 1,330 square miles of forest cover have been cleared 6) ... the start of 2019 (a 39 percent increase as compared to this time last year). Generally, these fires are linked to Brazil’s reliance 7) ... beef production; the country provides nearly 20 percent of the world’s beef exports. Meanwhile, Bolsanaro has blamed non-profit groups, arguing that they’ve lit fires to “embarrass” the government after he cut their funding earlier this year. He has 8)... to offer evidence to back up these claims.