M & Ms - Miners and Mercury :: essays research papers

Most miners of the virago lead a very pollutedway of manners. They pollute the purlieu they feel inand they pollute themselves. The, "garimpeiros" asthe miners are called in brazil are independent utmostmers of the prosperous that flows beneath the rivers ofthe Amazon rain-forest. Their daily spot of earlymornings, long hard days, and late nights drinkingand taking cocaine contribute to their way of life.Their only goal in life is to practice for the gold spreadwhich seems to collect at the bottoms of waterfallsthen use the pelf for mislabeled self indulgences likecocaine. To extract this gold dust they essentialcombine mercury with the dust, and because of themercurys chemical make-up it is suitable to extract thegold from the useless rock and debris. The mercury,however, isnt the cleanest element for theenvironment. some(prenominal) garimpeiros carelessly use themercury then dump it into the rivers polluting thewater and the food. Also, the dust from the mercu rygets inhaled and eating by the miners, contributingto their polluted way of life. all in all day dragas, whichare boats used for mining the bottom of rivers, arepulled to locations where gold is thought to befound, moving and polluting. Then there is thecommon dose use among these farmers. The authoreven quotes a man named Lincoln, an owner of adraga, saying, "not that I object to cocaine. Its noworse than anything else, as far as I know, andaddicts make good workers." To sum thegarimpeiros way of life, they live a life of drinkingand drugs, women and murder. So the polluted wayof life is obvious, men poison the waters and thefood and then ultimately themselves, with the illegalactivities of the mining trade in Brazil.Although most do not form their way of life andits defects, the struggling people of the Brazillianmining trade catch special situations and greataspirations. Most men are poor and the enticementto work as a garimpeiros is great. Their isnt muchwork ear ly(a) then that of an independent miner. Theirline of work has what the author describes as a,"free-spirited, dishonorable hero." Most men aspireto inevitably find that big demand thats just around thecorner, then get out and assist a decent life,however, this isnt the typical case, most do not,