Brazilian Dystopia | 147 Brazilian dystopia: development and Climate Change Mitigation (original) (raw)

The Amazonian Rainforest is an area of particular ecological importance to the world. And it is mainly its deforestation, rather than the usual combination of the carbonized energy and transport economic sectors, which make Brazil the world's fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Brazil, with its political and diplomatic alliances with Russia, India, China and South Africa also occupies a prominent position in the complex negotiations with developed countries over the manner in which the "right to development" is defined and understood on the one hand, and then, on the other, balanced with ecological concerns. There are many such concerns but the focus of this article is climate change mitigation. The "dystopia thesis" concludes that humanity faces a plethora of imminent inter-related crises in complex feedback loops. It also concludes that these problems cannot be solved, or even sufficiently ameliorated, from within the context of capitalist reform, or at least not so as to avoid suffering on a colossal scale. This extremely broad, abstract theoretical conclusion, is examined empirically in this article in the particular case of the relationship between the Brazilian economy and the development of the Amazon on the one hand, and climate change mitigation efforts on the other. The examination provides further evidence for the dystopia thesis's most pessimistic conclusions. For our own well being, indeed our very survival, we must protect the Amazonian Rainforest; but we are not going to be able to do so with mechanisms functioning within the context of the present world political economy.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact