The Brazilian Midwest
5/26/202627 min
Industrial agriculture has wrapped itself in a green cloak in Mato Grosso, promising jobs, money and endless opportunities, all in the name of "sustainability." But the good times are only happening for a select few. Local residents are dealing with extreme weather, lack of access to fresh food, and a pesticide overload that has increased the risk of birth defects and lowered lifespans.
This season is a collaboration with the Intercept Brasil. You can get the show in Portuguese on their feed as well, and companion stories at: https://www.intercept.com.br/
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First 90 secondsAmy Westervelt· Host0:00
This is an iHeart podcast, [upbeat music] Guaranteed Human.
Speaker 20:03
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be buried in an avalanche?
Alexandre Silveira· Soundbite0:08
Weird foreign feeling of despair.
Speaker 20:10
Or how it feels to crash a skydive?
Amy Westervelt· Host0:13
I remember feeling my body hit the ground.
Speaker 20:16
These are the stories you'll hear on the podcast called What Was That Like? True stories told by the actual person who went through it, and you'll hear actual 911 calls.
Speaker 40:26
911.
Speaker 50:27
There's a man at my back door trying to get in.
Speaker 20:29
Search for What Was That Like? on any podcast app, or at whatwasthatlike.com.
Amy Westervelt· Host0:34
[upbeat music] Pushkin. [birds chirping] Last summer, we went to the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso to get a better feel for Bruce Rastetter's Brazilian partners. One of the first things we wanted to understand, because it's at the center of their US operations too, is how they're handling land in Brazil.
Ricardo da Costa Carvalho· Soundbite1:08
So there are the Franz brothers, Marino Franz and Paulo Franz, here as we can see, and Miguel Vaz Ribeiro.
Amy Westervelt· Host1:18
Ricardo da Costa Carvalho is an indigenous rights activist with the NGO Associação Amazônia Nativa, or APAN. They recently did a survey