LIFESTYLE | September 3rd, 2019 2:14 PM

After fires in the Amazon this year have reached an unbelievable level, news of the blazes are finally reaching US citizens, who are rightly expressing a growing concern over the environmental crisis. I took to the streets in hopes of finding some people to comment on the situation and found a group of organizers gathered outside a vacant building which last housed a Circuit City. They were wielding signs with phrases like “Save Amazon,” “Heat Ain’t Neat,” and “We Didn’t Start The Fire!” When asked to comment on the Amazon inferno, one individual shouted, “Did you not read my tweet?”

One of the organizers, Michelle Acheteuse, had this to say: “People need to do more in times like these. Everyone is just so glued to the little world that’s in front of them that they don’t see disasters like this even when it will affect their daily lives. Everyone wants to continue to get their items shipped in two days or less. Why do you think we’re paying for Prime? To watch Jack Ryan season 2? Certainly not. The fire at Amazon affects everyone, and we all need to act now, or we risk losing everything. Do you know how many Subscribe & Save items I have? How am I supposed to remember to buy food for my dog?” When told that the fire is not at an Amazon warehouse but in the Amazon rainforest, she said, “That’s what Corporate America wants you to think. Because they have an agenda to harm big businesses by getting us to focus too much on the environment. Ask anyone. I, for one, am not convinced the environment even exists.”

I continued down the block and ran into a man outside an old Blockbuster. I asked him about the fire in the Amazon. With a look of abject confusion, he asked for clarification: “Are you talking about the Amazon Fire TV Stick or the Amazon Fire Tablet? I have both, and what I love is that you never have to stop looking at a screen. When I have to get up from watching Jack Ryan on my TV, I can turn to my tablet and play Harry Potter: Wizards Unite during my trips to the fridge or the toilet. Sure, I stub my toe or step on my cat every once in a while, but that’s a small price to pay to avoid the harsh reality of the world I live in, where my left ear is slightly higher than the right one and my living room doesn’t have the best lighting for my favorite Snapchat filter.”

Although I didn’t get the comments I set out to find, I left with a new grasp on the real problems facing the world today. With rekindled vigor I went home and played Sandwich! on my phone with The Tick playing in the background in order to distract me from my frustration that Amazon Prime Now isn’t available in my city yet.