Poorly regulated mining and refining facilities are causing enormous devastation, while corporate interests are pushing ever harder to exploit the untapped mineral resources of the continent.
Memories of Red: Hungary's Sludge Disaster
Published January 5, 2012
Pulitzer Center grantees Dimiter Kenarov and Nadia Shira Cohen traveled to Hungary to document the process of recovery after one of Europe's biggest environmental catastrophes. In October 2010, a red toxic sludge engulfed residential areas and farmland near the Ajkai Alumina plant, about 160 miles southwest of Budapest. The substance was a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina and contained heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and chromium that burned through human tissues and created wounds that never healed properly. The disaster killed 10 people, injured more than a hundred, and heavily damaged waterways and soils. Today residents have returned home to persisting environmental and health problems, including lead poisoning, respiratory issues, and infertile farmland. Despite the dim outlook, the disaster has produced at least one positive outcome: better social integration of Hungary's Roma minority.
For their project Toxic Europe Dimiter Kenarov and Nadia Shira Cohen wade through the hidden toxic waste in the European Union's new member states, where EU environmental standards are still very difficult to enforce.
Project
The Romanian government is eager for investment from international mining companies, but local residents in a historic mining town fear an environmental disaster.
Zulbie Ahmed, modern-minded mayor of Ovchari, takes a strong stand against a modern mining company—she confronts the managers of Dundee Precious Metals and consistently votes against their plans.
Gateways
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Grantee
Dimiter Kenarov is a freelance journalist based in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a contributing editor at The Virginia Quarterly Review. His work has appeared/is forthcoming in Esquire, Outside,...
Grantee
After she received her first camera at age 15, Nadia Shira Cohen began exploring and documenting the world around her. She continued to pursue her passion for photography at the University of...
