I Surrounded by fag butts and Lucozade bottles in the brown belt that Thames Water describes as “our most important water source”, listen to Dead River as you head home after a quick swim. But listening to accounts of 43.7 million cubic meters of toxic brown mud filling more than 645 kilometers (400 miles) of waterways from the collapsed Fundão dam, “tailings” from a Brazilian iron ore mine near Mariana, the Atlantic Ocean As I made my way up to it, I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about Dead River.
Billed as a true crime podcast, Dead River has everything from environmental disaster to colonial history, from family tragedy to perilous chase scenes, from Indigenous anthropology to how a river covered in a million dead fish… Everything is covered, right down to the sheer brutal facts of what it is like. This is the story of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.According to this podcast, the collapse of Fundão tailings dam The 2015 plan to store toxic byproducts from iron ore mining caused even more immediate devastation than the continued clearing of the Amazon rainforest for cattle ranching. Nineteen people died and hundreds were left homeless, and the scale of the disaster was so vast that it could be seen from space. More than eight years later, those responsible have not been fully held accountable. This has led to the largest class action lawsuit ever held in the UK, with more than 700,000 claimants seeking justice for Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP through the courts of England and Wales. The company denies the claims.
“This is one of the most layered, complex and fascinating stories I’ve ever been involved in,” says biologist Liz Bonnin. She has a podcast and is probably best known for her appearances on wildlife television series such as Our Changing Planet and Blue Planet Live.
“When producer Prama Kaufman approached me, they wanted to tell not just the systemic failures of mining companies, but also about indigenous peoples, their culture, and how it affected them. I said right away, I jumped right in.”
The podcast includes interviews with residents of the nearby village of Bento Rodriguez. The village of Bento Rodríguez was destroyed by a deluge of toxic sludge pouring out from a failed dam. Written by Christina Serra. Mariana’s tragedy Ultimately, much of the research featured in the podcast was done. There are lyrical explanations by local fishermen about what their connection to the land means to them through generations. And see how a team of lawyers, including Welsh maverick Tom Goodhead, waged a legal battle against the dam’s owners, BHP and Brazilian company Vale. I wonder if Liz ever worried about how to tell a story like this without provoking the kind of ecological despair that would cause even the most well-meaning listeners to look away. thought.
“After years of immersing myself in these topics and causing considerable pain, the conclusion I’ve come to is that we need to examine the root causes of our overwhelming feelings,” Bonin said in a Zoom interview. I’ll talk about it. .
“We are constantly bombarded with news headlines full of rape, murder, violence, war, and despair. Stories so overwhelmingly depressing and harrowing that they narrow people’s thinking skills and make us think like this. I think we’re trying to prevent them from having the ability to accept these stories.” Bonin says, putting his hand on his chest. “But we need to lean into the discomfort and understand the reality of what we have created as a global society so that we can all be part of the change.”
Bonin is keen to point out that the podcast also tells beautiful and emotional stories about people on the ground and their connection to nature. This book introduces us to a variety of people she calls heroes who are fighting for justice, fairness, and what’s right. Environmental law groups like the Good Law Project, Friends of the Earth, and Pogust Goodhead are among the groups that take companies to court and win. And hold the government accountable. There are also people in this story who behave like action movie heroes. When people like Paula Geralda Alves heard that the dam had burst, they immediately jumped on their bikes and raced through the forest, trailing waves of toxic brown filth, to warn local villagers and residents.
“Paula was very connected to the community, so her first thought was to save the community, putting her own life at risk,” Bonin says. “And then there are the indigenous peoples, from the Krenak to the Tupiniquim that I mentioned on the podcast. They had their homes destroyed and their livelihoods destroyed, but with the loss of the river they also lost their identity and their spirituality. We know that just hearing how people talk about the land can stir people’s emotions.”
For me, one of the most evocative images evoked by the podcast occurs in the third episode. There, acres of fetid mud, filled with torn vegetation and dead animals, are transported and dumped into poorer areas, forming more clouds. Toxic dust. This says a lot about the role money always plays in who bears the brunt of environmental damage.
After newsletter promotion
“There were two moments where I had to stop,” Bonin says. “One was reading out the names and ages of the people who died. The second time was when I had to explain to Pamela’s daughter what had happened.” He was one of 19 people who died at the time. “Pamela’s father told her that his daughter was unrecognizable and that she did not need to see him.” Chemicals in the water and mud had begun to rot the child’s body from the inside out. “She was found entangled in a branch. For me, that symbolized not only the enormity of the accident, but also the disregard for precious human life,” Bonin said.
As I ran home from my river, smelling the earth and the faint smell of TCP on my skin, I heard a biologist on a podcast describe the aftermath of the spill: I threw the periodic table into the river. ” So what can those of us in the UK, with our dysfunctional privatized water companies and environmentally reckless government, learn from this incident?
“As a biologist and conservationist, I have learned over the years how deeply interconnected and interdependent all life on Earth is, and I have always wondered why we are so deeply interconnected and interdependent. I wonder if it’s possible to be principled,” Bonin says. “For me, it’s clear that this is important to us. The natural world is not something we can exploit. It is something we must protect so that we can survive safely. For that reason alone, We have a responsibility to understand and care for the damage we are all causing as part of a system created by colonialism and capitalism. This is not a story about Brazil, it is about all of us. It’s a story.”
