The current environmental crisis: the case of northwest Rio de Janeiro State

Abstract

From the 19th century onwards, the history of great events, dynasties, kings, and battles was invaded by the working classes, women, the poor, the enslaved, the former European colonies in America, Africa and Asia. New objects were created by historians. Marxism and the Annales School revolutionized history. The political decolonization of the world created new national states and new histories began to be written from new perspectives. Underneath and outside the issues restricted to human beings, a new issue began to emerge slowly and progressively throughout the world. The developmental model born of the English industrial revolution was taken as the standard by countries that wanted to reach the level of “progress”. To do so, they had to industrialize, consume resources and generate waste. The limits of the planet began to be reached. The environmental issue emerged and became a new branch of history. It is a field that is still little explored by academia, but which is gaining ground. This article aims to summarize the environmental situation in the northwest of Rio de Janeiro from the perspective of environmental history, stimulating future research.