Giving Compass' Take:

• As international concern grows over the rapidly spreading fires that are destroying large swaths of the Amazon rainforest, NPR highlights several powerful pictures.

• What can environmental funders do to address this issue? How can funders work to slow the damage to the Amazon Rainforest? 

• Learn more about the Amazon Rainforest and the environment. 

The fires were most likely started by farmers clearing land, but have spiraled out of control. In just the past month, about 36,000 fires have ignited — nearly as many as in all of 2018, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. Overall, there have been 74,155 fires so far this year — mostly in the Amazon — an increase of about 80% compared to last year.

World leaders are starting to sound the alarm.

"Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest – the lungs which produces 20% of our planet's oxygen – is on fire," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a tweet Thursday.

Calling it an international crisis, he urged asked those attending the G-7 Summit this weekend — hosted by France — to put the fires at the top of the agenda.

Read the full article about photos of the rain forest by Suzette Lohmeyer at NPR.