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Stand.Earth and Mundano Call On US Billionaires to End Ecosystem Destruction in South America

Stand.earth and Brazillian Artivist Mundano are 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 on a 15,000+ square foot mural unveiled just off São Paulo, Brazil’s Paulista Ave, one of the the largest commercial streets in South America.

A massive mural spanning over 15,000 square feet just off Paulista Avenue, one of South America’s busiest streets, is sending a powerful message to the billionaire family owners of Cargill Inc.: it’s time to stop their role in the destruction of South America’s forests and other critical ecosystems. As the largest privately owned company in the U.S. and the world’s top agricultural giant, Cargill has repeatedly faced backlash for fueling deforestation, displacing Indigenous peoples, and perpetuating child labor, slavery, and other human rights abuses across the globe. The Cargill-MacMillan family, with a staggering net worth exceeding $60 billion, is at the center of this global crisis.

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 São Paulo’s largest, was crafted by celebrated Brazilian street artist Mundano in collaboration with the Burning Legacy Campaign at Stand.earth. Painted with the ashes of forests destroyed for Cargill’s plantations and mud from flood-ravaged regions of Brazil, it serves as a haunting reminder of the environmental disaster unfolding across the continent. This summer alone, South America endured one of its most catastrophic wildfire seasons, with most of the fires intentionally set to clear land for industrial agriculture. Meanwhile, unprecedented flooding has ravaged southern Brazil, exacerbated by rampant deforestation and environmental breakdown.

The mural vividly portrays the devastation wrought by the Cargill-MacMillan family’s empire and the fierce resistance led by Indigenous communities.  Twenty organizations have signed a letter urging the family to end Cargill’s legacy of human rights abuses and environmental destruction throughout its supply chain.

Though Cargill pledged in November 2023 to stop destroying forests and other critical ecosystems in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay by 2025, the company’s history of broken promises raises serious doubts.

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?

The mural’s unveiling marks the start of Stand.earth’s next bold move: delivering a message directly to the Cargill-MacMillans’ doorsteps. Indigenous leaders, villagers, and Mundano are creating posters emblazoned with the family members’ names, written in ash from the mural, alongside the demand: “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 have decimated South American forests and ecosystems for grain production, Cargill is also pushing for the construction of the Ferrogrão mega-railway. This controversial project threatens to carve through over 600 miles of the Amazon rainforest, driving an estimated half a million acres of deforestation. Ferrogrão would expand grain production and slash shipping costs to supply animal feed to China and Europe, using the Tapajós River to reach the Atlantic. Though currently suspended by Brazil’s Supreme Court, this project would wreak havoc on Indigenous lands and local communities, violating their rights and intensifying environmental destruction.

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.

The time for action is now. The Cargill-MacMillans must decide whether they will leave behind a legacy of devastation or step up to protect our planet for future generations.

About the artist

Mundano began doing street art in the early 2000s.[3] In 2007 he painted graffiti on the legislative assembly plaque in Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo. The plaque, which is in the form of a concrete block, is normally grey in color. The São Paulo prefeitura repainted the block in grey, and Mundano repainted the graffiti. This back-and-forth sequence was repeated twenty-five times.[4]

In 2012 he instigated a movement called Pimp My Carroca, working with other artists to paint the carts of Brazilian trash collectors.[5][6][7] The movement is named after the American television show Pimp My Ride.[5]

His São Paulo mural Workers of Brumadinho is a memorial to the 270 miners who died when a dam burst at Minas Gerais, Brazil.[3] In 2021, using ash from fires in the Amazon rain forest, he painted a 1000 square metre mural in São Paulo. He created the work, titled The Forest Brigade, to bring attention to the fires and the resulting deforestation.

Family Members to Receive Hand-Delivered Message from the Amazon

From November 11-26 Stand.earth Campaign Director Mathew Jacobson will bring handwritten messages from Indigenous and their communities to the homes of one of America’s wealthiest families, the billionaire Cargill-MacMillans, calling on them to end their company’s role in the destruction of South America’s forests and other critical ecosystems.

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