Transcript:

Heres a program from our archives.Since time immemorial, the Yanomami people have lived in the Northwestern Amazon in isolation from the rest of the world. But the discovery of gold has brought thousands of outsiders on to their land. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.ambience, Hunter's song of Yanomami We're listening to a hunting song of the Yanomami.O'Connor: This gold rush in Yanomami territory was the largest in Brazil's history. And the workers in the pits were the poor and dispossessed of Brazil. And they were looking for some way within a troubled economy to eek out an existence, and the goldrush provided that.Geoffrey O'Connor is an independent filmmaker who recently directed a documentary on the Yanomami.O'Connor: The Brazilian miners feel they're benefiting Brazil by tapping into this unexplored resource, by bringing gold into the Brazilian economy, and by generating income for their livelihood and for the livelihood of their families.For the Yanomami, the gold rush may mean the end of their traditional way of life.O'Connor: What I saw there was a culture on the verge of devastation. Their traditional huts were in disarray. There were people dying with malaria in hammocks. The Yanomani also live on fish. And when you have mining and the use of mercury in order to extract the gold from the minerals, you have pollution. And that's poisoning the fish. It's poisoning the rivers. And people are dying from mercury poisoning.We have to ask ourselves, when are we finally going to work out some type of way in which we don't have the consequences of the decimation of a culture. And I think that that's what we're seeing in Brazil. Indigenous leaders and the Brazilian government and the international community are all trying to work a way in which these areas can be protected and preserved and that there can be some forms of development in the Amazon rainforest.This archival program is part of our thirtieth anniversary celebration. If you want hear more, check out our podcast.