
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


In this episode of Bionic Planet, we finally catch up with Michael Greene — the carbon developer branded a "land grabber of epic proportions" in The Washington Post, and now at the center of an unfolding saga that feels more like a political thriller than a conservation story.
When Greene began building carbon projects in the Brazilian Amazon, he didn't expect to end up battling organized crime, corrupt officials, and a $220 million land grab. But that's exactly where the trail has led.
You'll hear how a businessman who thought he was protecting forests found himself targeted by powerful interests — his properties invaded using forged documents, his bank accounts frozen, and his reputation attacked by the very institutions meant to enforce the law.
Along the way, Greene describes the human cost of the fight — from schools he built that became flashpoints for local politics to community programs twisted by rumor and manipulation.
This is a story about how conservation collides with corruption — and how one man's attempt to save forests spiraled into a struggle for survival in one of the most dangerous frontiers on earth.
By Steve Zwick5
5959 ratings
In this episode of Bionic Planet, we finally catch up with Michael Greene — the carbon developer branded a "land grabber of epic proportions" in The Washington Post, and now at the center of an unfolding saga that feels more like a political thriller than a conservation story.
When Greene began building carbon projects in the Brazilian Amazon, he didn't expect to end up battling organized crime, corrupt officials, and a $220 million land grab. But that's exactly where the trail has led.
You'll hear how a businessman who thought he was protecting forests found himself targeted by powerful interests — his properties invaded using forged documents, his bank accounts frozen, and his reputation attacked by the very institutions meant to enforce the law.
Along the way, Greene describes the human cost of the fight — from schools he built that became flashpoints for local politics to community programs twisted by rumor and manipulation.
This is a story about how conservation collides with corruption — and how one man's attempt to save forests spiraled into a struggle for survival in one of the most dangerous frontiers on earth.

465 Listeners

1,253 Listeners

398 Listeners

501 Listeners

477 Listeners

167 Listeners

103 Listeners

300 Listeners

64 Listeners

503 Listeners

91 Listeners

174 Listeners

419 Listeners

270 Listeners

227 Listeners