US Billionaires Called On to End Forest Destruction in Mega Mural by Famous Brazilian "Artivist"

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Oct 23, 2024, 14:42 ET

Cargill-MacMillian Family Linked to Environmental Devastation in South America

SÃO PAULO, Brazil, Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Stand.earth unveiled an over 17,000 square foot mural off of Paulista Avenue, one of the busiest commercial thoroughfares in South America, calling on the billionaire family owners of Cargill Inc. to end their part in the destruction of South America's forests and other critical ecosystems. Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the US and the largest agricultural company in the world. It has come under repeated fire for its role in the destruction of forests, the dislocation of Indigenous peoples, child labor, slavery, and other environmental and human rights violations across the globe. The Cargill-MacMillan family, which owns the company, boasts a collective net worth of more than $60 billion and contains more billionaires than any other family in the world.

Image of mural asking the Cargill-MacMillian family to "Stop the Destruction" of Brazilian forests.

"I see this painting as a call to end the destruction that companies like Cargill continue to cause around the world. If we don't stop these practices, the only scenario future generations will know is the one depicted behind me in the painting: burned trees and dry rivers," Indigenous Activist Alessandra Munduruku said. "I hope that whoever passes by this building feels more connected to nature and becomes outraged at those who are destroying it."

The mural, one of Sao Paulo's largest, is the work of famed Brazilian street artist Mundano in collaboration with the Burning Legacy Campaign at Stand.earth. Painted with the ashes of forests destroyed to make way for plantations utilized by Cargill and mud from southern Brazilian states devastated by climate and deforestation-related flooding, the mural stands as a stark symbol of the environmental crisis gripping the region. This summer has been one of South America's worst wildfire seasons in history, with the overwhelming majority of these fires set intentionally to clear land for industrial-scale agriculture. Additionally, unprecedented flooding has swept across southern Brazil, exacerbated by the region's ongoing deforestation and environmental destabilization.

The artwork captures the devastation the company's owners–the Cargill-MacMillian family–have wreaked on the region, and the powerful resistance led by Indigenous communities on the frontlines of this environmental battle. About 20 organizations have also signed onto a letter asking the family to eliminate human rights abuses and the destruction of nature throughout Cargill's entire supply chain.

In November of 2023, Cargill committed to eliminating the destruction of forests and other critical ecosystems from their supply chain in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay by 2025. However, the company's long history of breaking their commitments raises doubts about its follow through.

"Artivism is a way to raise awareness about the climate emergency, humanity's greatest challenge. In Brazil and around the world, we are suffering from heat waves, severe droughts, and floods caused by the environmental imbalance that large corporations like Cargill are promoting. My country has been swallowed up by the smoke of greed," Muralist Mundano said. "I ask the Cargill-MacMillans, do you want to be remembered for being a family that accelerated the extinction of humanity or for being the family that understood the urgency and was one of the driving forces behind initiating major global change?"

Following the unveiling of the mural, Stand.earth will intensify its efforts by delivering the message directly to the family's doorstep with a series of posters created by Indigenous leaders and villagers with Mundano. Each poster bears their individual names emblazoned in the same ash as the mural accompanied by the phrase "Keep Your Promise–Stop the Destruction."

"The Cargill-MacMillian family says they're not responsible for the actions of Cargill because they aren't involved in the company's management," Mathew Jacobson, Burning Legacy Director at Stand.earth said. "That's like saying you're not responsible if your dog bites someone because you're not involved in training it. As the owners of Cargill, they bear the ultimate responsibility for its actions. They must decide now whether their family legacy will be one of changing course and protecting our planet or contributing to its demise."

In addition to sourcing from plantations that destroy South America's forests and other critical ecosystems to produce grain, Cargill is aggressively promoting the construction of a mega railway which would destroy forests through the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The project, called Ferrogrão, is proposed to cut through over 600 miles of Amazon rainforest between the Xingu and Tapajós river basins, and drive an estimated half a million acres of deforestation. The project aims to expand grain production and reduce shipping costs to supply animal feed to China and Europe using the Tapajós river to get to the Atlantic. Currently suspended by Brazil's Supreme Court, Ferrogrão would intensify ongoing violations in the region, affecting conservation units, Indigenous lands, and local communities without their consent or consultation.

"To boost their profits, Cargill's reckless push to build the Ferrogrão mega-railway would sacrifice the Amazon and the Cerrado, violating indigenous peoples' and local communities' rights," said Pedro Charbel, Brazil campaigns advisor at Amazon Watch. "This mega-project to further expand soy and corn production is the antithesis of the company's commitment to eliminate deforestation. The Cargill-MacMillian family must renounce Cargill's support for Ferrogrão, definitively halting its advancement."

SOURCE Stand.earth