ABSTRACT
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro contested the data by calling it a “lie” and accused “bad Brazilians” of “campaigning against our Amazon”. The incivility that the Brazilian president has shown in dealing with this ecological crisis, further sharpened international attention and has put Bolsonaro and his government’s commitment to climate change under question in a series of international political and media commentaries. The mainstream news media in Brazil kept the focus on the present, giving priority to the consequences of Bolsonaro’s environmental position for commerce and international trade. The chapter provides the discussion by looking at different actors and their dissonant constructions of temporality in relation to the issue of climate change. The Brazilian military has shared the view of the need to defend the Amazon against an alleged international greed that would threaten national sovereignty in the region. Bolsonaro builds a nationalistic discourse through a nostalgic understanding of Brazil’s past and through science denialism.
