ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the environmental issue in contemporary Brazil from a radical political economy standpoint. The increasing environmental pollution of industrial chemical waste in the countryside and the uncontrolled emission of carbon dioxide in large urban centers, in addition to frequent nuclear leaks, were important triggers of this political process. The failure of the progressive strategy of the 'Lula years' opens a unique opportunity to reassess the human/capital-nature relationship model in Brazil. The world looks very closely at developments in the country in the environmental sphere. In addition, most new credit creation by the banking system now flows in to real estate rather than productive activity. The intensification of production in the field, which produces social and environmental costs in terms of river pollution, increased deforestation of riverbanks and hilltops, reinforces economic pressure through the increasing differential of productivity in the lands, source of the land rent mass in the economy.
