wastelands left by gold mining in the heart of the amazon. everything you see around me is part of what s called la pampa. until just a couple of years ago, all of this was virgin rainforest. but hundreds of gold miners were granted concessions here, turning this into a vast desert that goes on for mile after mile. we traveled here to survey these gold mines with paul rosolie, a conservationist who co-founded jungle keepers. what we saw was apocalyptic. we re in the heart of what should be the pristine amazon, and right over our shoulders is a sandstorm. that is just mind boggling. the western amazon is said to be the most biodiverse spot on the planet. but a trio of scourges is killing the amazon gold mining, logging, and slashing and burning for agriculture. these kinds of burns are what are causing 10% to 15% of all the co2 in the atmosphere, right? that s right. almost a fifth of human carbon emissions are coming from this. all we have to do is not burn down forests.