The Green Language of Change

Abstract

This research analyses how the Greenpeace Amazon campaigns (2016-2020) and the changing political climate of environmental policies by Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil influence one another. First, through a historical analysis of the envirnmental politics under Bolsonaro in Brazil. Second, through a visual analysis of three campaigns of the preservation of the Amazon forest by Greenpeace. The analysis includes the following campaigns: Oil Spill and Burnt Forest Action in Brasilia (2019), Ice Sculptures of Melting Leaders Trump and Bolsonaro in New York (2020), and Monument to Destruction in the Pantanal in Brazil (2020). The visual analysis is informed by the theory of “mythologies” (1957) by Roland Barthes exploring the signification of the selected images which accompany the campaigns. The research shows a strong influence of the political climate on the campaigns, but lacks a significant influence of the campaigns on the narrative of Bolsonaro.