Maine Astronaut To Bike Across Amazon In Climate Change Film

PORTLAND, Maine - An astronaut who hails from Maine is biking 600 miles across the Amazon to raise awareness about climate change.
 
WCSH-TV reports that Chris Cassidy is traversing the Amazon with a team of environmental scientists to record the effects of climate change in the region as part of a documentary. The team will bike across the Trans Amazon highway.
 
The Amazon is vital to understanding climate change on a global scale. Scientists say as deforestation destroys more of the massive jungle, there's less vegetation to absorb carbon. Greenhouse gases that would normally be absorbed are released directly into the atmosphere instead.
 
Cassidy says the world is affected by every action we take. The Maine native and his team members are documenting their travels on social media under the handle TransAmazon25.