Sludgefest (Sludgefest)

From mines in the jungle, to shining company towns, to refugee tents, to the deep ocean floor- join us as we follow the story of the island in part 1 of our 2 part series.

Thank you to those who helped make Sludgefest possible:

Editor, sound designer and logo artist Shannon Rawlings (@bbytengu on Twitter).

Music by by California Death Worm.

You, dear listener!

Jesse speaks with Dr. Julia Morris, author of the book Asylum and Extraction in the Republic of Nauru. It's a great book and tremendous piece of research which deeply informed our series on Nauru. If you haven't listened to the previous two episodes of our series on Nauru, you may want to check those out first.

Dr. Morris is Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she researches migration policy with a focus on western outsourcing of asylum processing and offshore detention to other nations- often “former” colonial holdings. Her research has taken her to Australia, Geneva, Fiji, Jordan, Guatemala, Jordan, and of course, the Republic of Nauru.

In her book Asylum and Extraction in the Republic of Nauru, she traces the path of extractive colonial industry imposed on the island nation by multiple countries throughout its history, particularly Australia. She draws parallels between the industries of phosphate mining and offshore detention, exploring how media representations and discourses in Australia have helped these industries grow and create toxic legacies for Nauruans and migrants.

Jesse's Notes:

You can donate to support refugees in Gaza at anera.org. DM Jesse a picture of your receipt and he'll give you free access to some (upcoming!!!) movie bonus eps.

Americans, please call your representatives to demand a ceasefire and end to the occupation of Palestine today. Ceasefiretoday.com has a bunch of useful links here.

Support the show at patreon.com/sludgefest

Sludgefest is produced by Jesse Black and Shannon Rawlings.

Music by California Death Worm (californiadeathworm.bandcampcom

Special thanks to Dr. Julia Morris for taking the time to speak with us!

Remember,

despair is useless, and i love you

3M and Dupont carry on the legacy of colonial violence by poisoning water, wildlife, people, and Indigenous ways-of life with "forever chemicals".

• Donate to mutual aid programs to benefit Indigenous communities at indigenousmutualaid.org.
• Donate to the Western Klamath Restoration Project, a partnership of conservation researchers and the Karuk Tribe to restore their ancestral lands and fisheries.

Editor, sound designer and logo artist Shannon Rawlings (@bbytengu on Twitter). She’s a triple threat!

Background ambience by California Death Worm.

Intro and outro by PUP the Band.

You, dear listener!

Action items:Thank you to those who helped make Sludgefest possible:

Full reference list here

"Mean, bad man"

The third in our series on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of US uranium mines in The Navajo Nation. In this episode, we cover the years 1868-1960. The Navajo return home after being ethnically cleansed by the American military to Bosque Redondo. After losing nearly everything, they rebuild their lives, herds, and communities. The United States continues to attempt to forcibly assimilate the Navajo into the “American way” through through cruel boarding schools and draconian regulations on livestock. World War II, the Code Talkers, and the birth of the toxic uranium mining industry on Navajo lands.

Content warning for violence, upsetting content, and reference to SA.

Learn more, donate, help out:

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment

• “MASE is rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities of the southwestern U.S. We are communities working to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment through respectfully promoting intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations.”

Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC, @SRICorg on twitter)

Noel Lyn Smith at Inside Climate News (@nsmithdt and @insideclimate on twitter)

• Noel Smith has written a ton of really informative pieces on the modern state of uranium mine cleanup in The Navajo Nation- highly recommend giving them a read.

Red Nation Podcast. Uranium Stories: the largest nuclear disaster in US history, 43 years later. Episode link on patreon here.

• “The Red Nation Podcast features discussions on Indigenous history, politics, and culture from a left perspective. Hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley with help from our friend and comrade Sina. The Red Nation Podcast is also the home of Red Power Hour, hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz. Our show is entirely supported by our patrons on Patreon, support the show and get access to bonus content and other patron-exclusive benefits here: Patreon.com/redmediapr”

  
  

  
  

Sources:

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools, PBS Utah, 2023.

Timestamps and names of speakers quoted in this episode:

• Notation given as: speaker name; timestamp in podcast; timestamp in documentary

• Forrest S. Cuch, Ute ; 7:40 ; 9:48

• Harry Walters, Navajo Diné; 8:09 ; 10:19

• Joseph Abeyta, Santa Clara Pueblo; 8:41 ; 10:50

• Forrest S. Cuch, Ute; 9:07 ;14:43

• Amanda Blackhorse, Navajo Diné; 9:27; 15:01

• Forrest S. Cuch, Ute; 10:09 ; 15:43

• Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Navajo Diné; 10:49 ; 16:24

• Roy Smith, Navajo Diné ; 11:26 ; 19:41

• Harry Walters, Navajo Diné; 11:54; 28:00

• Carl Begay, Navajo Diné; 12:22 ; 28:23

Boissoneault, Lorraine. "A spoonful of sugar helps the radioactive oatmeal go down." Smithsonian Magazine (2017).

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. University of Arizona Press, 2015.

Nez, Chester, and Judith Schiess Avila. Code talker: the first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII. Penguin, 2011.

Pasternak, Judy. Yellow dirt: A poisoned land and the betrayal of the Navajos. New York: Free Press, 2011.

Welsome, Eileen. The plutonium files: America's secret medical experiments in the Cold War. Delta, 2010.

Voyles, Traci Brynne. Wastelanding: Legacies of uranium mining in Navajo country. U of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Art and Music:

Country music by Alex Black (science_party on instagram)

Ambient music by CALIFORNIA DEATH WORM (@grouchyjerk on twitter)

Cover art by Emily, check out her Etsy page at cicadaxxseason!

If you want to support the show and help pay for books and coffee, you can toss us a couple bucks at patreon.com/sludgefest. If not, no worries- all the eps are free :)

We’ll see you next time. Remember that despair is useless and I love you!

"I hope they are a little bit more than intrigued"

The fourth in our series on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of US uranium mines in The Navajo Nation. In this episode, we cover the 1950’s and 60’s. The Atomic Age promises endless energy and domestic convenience for middle-class white America, but is sustained Navajo miners and millers working long days in uranium mines at great expense to their long-term health and that of their families. Mining companies and government agencies fail to inform the Navajo community of the hazards for decades- until it is far too late to deny.

*Content warning* for upsetting content, discussions of illness, and reference to SA.

Learn more, donate, help out:

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment

• “MASE is rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities of the southwestern U.S. We are communities working to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment through respectfully promoting intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations.”

Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC, @SRICorg on twitter)

• “In the late 1970s, Navajo uranium miners and their families asked for help to show that their lung diseases had been caused by their work in underground uranium mines in the 1940s-1960s. SRIC staff responded with medical and scientific data, in-community education strategies, and legislative support. As a result, Congress adopted legislation in 1990 to compensate former miners and their survivors. Ten years later, with SRIC's on going technical support to advocacy groups, the law was amended to cover virtually all uranium miners who worked before 1971. Currently, the Uranium Impact Assessment Program provides information on mining and community health, the legacy of uranium development, regulatory and policy issues related to remediation of contaminated sites, and current and proposed uranium development.”

Noel Lyn Smith at Inside Climate News (@nsmithdt and @insideclimate on twitter)

• Noel Smith has written a ton of really informative pieces on the modern state of uranium mine cleanup in The Navajo Nation- highly recommend giving them a read.

Red Nation Podcast. Uranium Stories: the largest nuclear disaster in US history, 43 years later. Episode link on patreon here.

• “The Red Nation Podcast features discussions on Indigenous history, politics, and culture from a left perspective. Hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley with help from our friend and comrade Sina. The Red Nation Podcast is also the home of Red Power Hour, hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz. Our show is entirely supported by our patrons on Patreon, support the show and get access to bonus content and other patron-exclusive benefits here: Patreon.com/redmediapr”

Sources: Brugge, Doug, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis, eds. The Navajo people and uranium mining. UNM Press, 2007.

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. University of Arizona Press, 2015.

Pasternak, Judy. Yellow dirt: A poisoned land and the betrayal of the Navajos. New York: Free Press, 2011.

Voyles, Traci Brynne. Wastelanding: Legacies of uranium mining in Navajo country. U of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Art and Music Country music by Alex Black (science_party on instagram)

Ambient music by CALIFORNIA DEATH WORM (@grouchyjerk on twitter)

Cover art by Emily, check out her Etsy page at cicadaxxseason!

If you want to support the show and help pay for books and coffee, you can toss us a couple bucks at patreon.com/sludgefest. If not, no worries- all the eps are free :)

We’ll see you next time. Remember that despair is useless and I love you!

"Soup Will Be Your Salvation"

The second in our series on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of US uranium mines in The Navajo Nation and abroad. Before we talk about the mines, we need to discuss the historical context of settler-colonial oppression of the Navajo by the United States. In this episode, we cover the years 1849-1868, during which the United States military subjects the Navajo people to horrific, genocidal violence and displacement as a means to secure their land and resources as they expand westward.

Content warning for violence, upsetting content, and reference to SA.

Learn more, donate, help out:

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment

Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC, @SRICorg on twitter)

Noel Lyn Smith at Inside Climate News (@nsmithdt and @insideclimate on twitter)

• Noel Smith has written a ton of really informative pieces on the modern state of uranium mine cleanup in The Navajo Nation- highly recommend giving them a read.

Red Nation Podcast. Uranium Stories: the largest nuclear disaster in US history, 43 years later. Episode link on patreon here.

• “The Red Nation Podcast features discussions on Indigenous history, politics, and culture from a left perspective. Hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley with help from our friend and comrade Sina. The Red Nation Podcast is also the home of Red Power Hour, hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz. Our show is entirely supported by our patrons on Patreon, support the show and get access to bonus content and other patron-exclusive benefits here: Patreon.com/redmediapr”

  
  

Sources

Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo by Utah PBS, 2007

Timestamps and names of Navajo speakers quoted in this episode:

• Notation given as: speaker name; timestamp in podcast; timestamp in documentary

• Luci Tapahonso; 20:00 ; 14:49 

• Harry Walters; 20:32 ; 15:24

• Lucy Willie; 26:46 ; 16:46

• Arlene Tsosie; 27:10 ; 17:09

• Luci Tapahonso; 27:25; 17:25 

• Luci Tapahonso; 28:04 ; 18:04

• Shirley Clark; 28:19 ; 18:19

• Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale; 28:37 ;18:37

• Shirley Clark; 29:30 ; 20:45

• Blackhorse Mitchell; 29:42 ; 20:59

• Harry Walters; 30:00 ; 21:16

• Luci Tapahonso; 30:23 ; 21:38

• Blackhorse Mitchell; 30:56 ; 22:30

• Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale ; 31:08; 26:24

• Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale ; 32:24 ; 29:45

• Dr. Peter Iverson; 32:55 ; 30:17 

• Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale; 33:25 ; 30:48

Denetdale, Jennifer. The Long Walk: The Forced Navajo Exile. Infobase Publishing, 2009.

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. University of Arizona Press, 2015.

Sides, Hampton. Blood and Thunder. Anchor, 2007.

Pasternak, Judy. Yellow dirt: A poisoned land and the betrayal of the Navajos. New York: Free Press, 2011.

Voyles, Traci Brynne. Wastelanding: Legacies of uranium mining in Navajo country. U of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Art and music

Country music by Alex Black (science_party on instagram)

Ambient music by CALIFORNIA DEATH WORM (@grouchyjerk on twitter)

Cover art by Emily, check out her Etsy page at cicadaxxseason!

If you want to support the show and help pay for books and coffee, you can toss us a couple bucks at patreon.com/sludgefest. If not, no worries- all the eps are free :)

We’ll see you next time. Remember that despair is useless and I love you!

Northfolk Southern brings black skies and acid rain to Ohio. Special thanks to Shannon Rawlings for edits and sage wisdom.

Full reference list here:

Join Jesse and Lucy Valentine from the Boonta Vista podcast as we take a dip in the viscous, multicolored pools of Lemon Springs. We discuss one of Australia’s weirdest environmental crimes and what it could mean for wildlife and collectors of horror film-memorabilia.

Listen to the Boonta Vista Podcast here or anywhere you get your pods.

Sludgefest produced by Jesse Black and Shannon Rawlings

Intro/Outro by Chat Pile

Ambient music by California Death Worm

Backround image by Joe Armao, EPA

Sources and links:

Visual article from Sydney Morning Herald by Chris Vedelago and The Visual Stories Team

Article from The Age by Chris Vedelago, Sumeyya Ilanbey and Cameron Houston

Lemon Springs EPA Kaniva Community Meeting:

See Substack post notes for sources and to see Lucy’s visual guide

Everything is aggressively stupid and evil right now, so Lucy and I just talked about whatever we felt like for about an hour. With as few references to Elon Musk as we could manage. Need to tune your brain to TV static for an hour? This is the episode for you.

Energy drinks, television shows, AI slop, manosphere ghouls, edible books, biased steaks, and a sequel to the groundbreaking 2015 documentary Chappie.

CW: we do discuss briefly Criminal Minds, which is a pretty offensively shitty show about serial killers and sex criminals.

Please feel free to skip ~8-14 minutes in if you (understandably) don't want to hear about the television program Criminal Minds.

Working on the next proper Sludge episode too I promise <3

Supplementary materials:

Cathy Mitchell infomercials:

EAT THIS BOOK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1lZ44dQYmM

DUMP DINNERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQB9ervDEEM

Dog listening to kalimba

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4we73GHH9k

The second and final episode of our series on Nauru. After gaining independence and taking control over the phosphate industry, the island undergoes an unprecedented economic boom, followed by a devastating crash. Amid financial crises, Nauru finds temporarily lifelines in two new industries- lifelines that further entangle the island with extractive capitalism and a dark colonial legacy.

Hosted by Jesse Black and Shannon Rawlings

Music by California Death Worm (californiadeathworm.bandcamp.com)

Asylum and Extraction in the Republic of Nauru by Dr. Julia Morris

Nauru: Phosphate and Political Progress by Dr. Nancy Viviani

Dr. Diva Amon (@divaamon.bsky.social)

DSM Observer (dsmobserver.com) by Dr. Andrew Thaler (@drandrewthaler.bsky.social)

Donate to help asylum seekers in the Pacific:

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Gifts for Manus and Nauru

For full works cited list, see the episode description for on substack here.

(It should be free to access- you might have to put in your email first? Idk substack is weird sometimes).

Finally, all of our research episodes are entirely free, but you can get access to sillier and generally less disturbing premium content for just a dollar a month on our patreon (patreon.com/sludgefest)! We’ve got a bunch of cool stuff cooking!

The first in our series on the environmental and humanitarian legacy of US uranium mines in The Navajo Nation and abroad. Before we get there, we will need to bring along some history. In this episode, we outline the broader historical context, in which the Navajo find themselves beset by a succession of ruthless settler-colonial empires: first Spain, then Mexico, and finally the United States.

*Content warning* for violence, upsetting content, and reference to SA.

Next episode will be out in a week. Thank you for listening!

Learn more, donate, help out:

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment

• “MASE is rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities of the southwestern U.S. We are communities working to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment through respectfully promoting intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations.”

Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC, @SRICorg on twitter)

• “In the late 1970s, Navajo uranium miners and their families asked for help to show that their lung diseases had been caused by their work in underground uranium mines in the 1940s-1960s. SRIC staff responded with medical and scientific data, in-community education strategies, and legislative support. As a result, Congress adopted legislation in 1990 to compensate former miners and their survivors. Ten years later, with SRIC's on going technical support to advocacy groups, the law was amended to cover virtually all uranium miners who worked before 1971. Currently, the Uranium Impact Assessment Program provides information on mining and community health, the legacy of uranium development, regulatory and policy issues related to remediation of contaminated sites, and current and proposed uranium development.”

Noel Lyn Smith at Inside Climate News (@nsmithdt and @insideclimate on twitter)

• Noel Smith has written a ton of really informative pieces on the modern state of uranium mine cleanup in The Navajo Nation- highly recommend giving them a read.

Red Nation Podcast. Uranium Stories: the largest nuclear disaster in US history, 43 years later. Episode link on patreon here.

• “The Red Nation Podcast features discussions on Indigenous history, politics, and culture from a left perspective. Hosted by Nick Estes and Jen Marley with help from our friend and comrade Sina. The Red Nation Podcast is also the home of Red Power Hour, hosted by Melanie Yazzie and Elena Ortiz. Our show is entirely supported by our patrons on Patreon, support the show and get access to bonus content and other patron-exclusive benefits here: Patreon.com/redmediapr”
• Really can’t stress enough how much you should listen and support this podcast- extremely informative and motivating

Sources:

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. The Long Walk: The Forced Navajo Exile. Infobase Publishing, 2009.

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. University of Arizona Press, 2015.

Sides, Hampton. Blood and Thunder. Anchor, 2007.

Pasternak, Judy. Yellow dirt: A poisoned land and the betrayal of the Navajos. New York: Free Press, 2011.

Voyles, Traci Brynne. Wastelanding: Legacies of uranium mining in Navajo country. U of Minnesota Press, 2015.

Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo by Utah PBS, 2007

Art and Music:

Country music by Alex Black (science_party on instagram)

Ambient music by CALIFORNIA DEATH WORM (@grouchyjerk on twitter)

Cover art by Emily, check out her Etsy page at cicadaxxseason!

If you want to support the show and help pay for books and coffee, you can toss us a couple bucks at patreon.com/sludgefest. If not, no worries- all the eps are free :)

We’ll see you next time. Remember that despair is useless and I love you!

Join Jesse and Lucy Valentine of the Boonta Vista podcast as they wade through the sewage of yore. Waste pits below an ancient cathedral. The River Thames, swollen with turds. Favorite soups. Urine therapy. It’s all here.

Intro/Outro by Chat Pile

Political cartoon slideshow

References:

River Thames documentary, ITV 1991

Magnusson, Roberta J. Water technology in the Middle Ages: cities, monasteries, and waterworks after the Roman Empire. JHU press, 2003.

Craig, T. "Deaths of farmworkers in cow manure ponds put oversight of dairy farms into question." Washington Post (2017).

Come, enter the Landscape of Thorns and join Jesse and Lucy Valentine (of the Boonta Vista podcast) by the fire. New episodes of Sludgefest are coming soon, and they're pretty upsetting so, we're taking a brief psychic rest to discuss mildly less depressing topics. Jonathan Frakes’ haunted chalkboard, Spam musubi, radioactive cats, car salesmen with sharpened nipples. It's all here.

Things you can do:

American Friends Service Committee (@afsc_org on twitter) compiled a list of campus protest orgs that need support here.

Things we mentioned:

Environmental Warfare in Gaza: Colonial Violence and New Landscapes of Resistance by Dr. Shourideh C. Molavi

Ray Cats Song

Beyond Belief with Jonathan Frakes crazy chalkboard episode