Somebody: I find it noteworthy how often Green parties outpace traditional social democratic parties in moving to the right.
Marina Silva's mixture of anti-hydroelectric and nuclear power, anti-GM crops technophobia and Pentecostal Christianity has precious little in common with progressive politics. And Silva's running mate is a cosmetics tycoon and billionaire, one of the richest men in the country. But, hey, he does care about the Amazon rainforest.
The rise of environmentalism has done zero for the left, internationally. Maybe because the issue has nothing inherently to do with the traditional left-wing project of class revolt, social welfare, and development of the productive forces. With all due respect to the Partido Verde, Brazil is still a middle-income country, and needs to balance protecting biodiversity (which is important, but not as important as infant mortality or literacy) with developing industry. Funny enough, all socialist countries know this well, being even more pro-industry than petty bourgeois regimes like Lula's.