DECEMBER 3 ― No doubt most of you will have seen the news of the recent Brazil mining disaster. On November 5, a tailings dam burst at an iron ore mine near Mariana, Brazil.

The resulting devastation included the covering of an 850km area with mud and mine deposits, pollutants entering the water system and the death of at least 13 people with more still missing.

The photos speak for themselves; post-apocalyptic scenes of rescue workers trawling over the desolate barren landscape, cars thrown on roofs, villages washed away.

Despite guarantees from the mining company to the contrary, it has now come to light that those deposits contained arsenic, mercury and other toxic substances capable of causing irreversible health damage to both humans and surrounding wildlife.

I imagine most people hear these stories and are filled with a sense of disgust and sadness. They ponder the futility of it all and question the seemingly pitiful value of human life... and then get on with their day; after all, we’re bombarded with awful news all the time.

I had much the same thoughts myself but this one I have to say stuck with me a little longer. You see, I just happen to be employed by a company that currently works with both Vale and BHP Billiton, the operators of the mine in question.

I’m not directly employed by either company but I do work in an industry that facilitates these particular mining companies and enables them to carry out their activities.

It is undeniable the damage that these corporations are inflicting on the planet. Not considering the Brazil disaster, or the countless other disasters before it, the mining activities alone are carried out on such an immense scale and with so little regard for local people, wildlife or the bigger picture of global impact that it would be naïve at best not to recognise the damaging effect they must have.

I myself, however, am a staunch believer in man’s detrimental influence on global climate change. I am fearful of the dangers it poses and a passionate advocate for change both on a governmental and an individual level. And yet I continue to contribute to the very industry responsible for exacerbating the problems. It is a guilty gnawing that I wrestle with on a constant basis.

How do I reconcile these two aspects of my life? My honest answer is “I don’t.” I try to ease myself with thoughts that I’m not directly carrying out these damaging actions, that stopping my involvement wouldn’t prevent it from happening but only shift it and, well, it’s my job and everyone has to pay the bills at the end of the day.

My actions are only a tiny cog in this behemoth of systems but they are my actions. Actions that in some small way are a stepping stone to what happened in Brazil and what is happening across the globe.

It’s an uncomfortable feeling to have such disparate paradigms wrestling away in your head but I imagine it’s one that many people will share.

As doing what’s right continues to take a back seat to turning profit, I know that I won’t be alone in my feelings of uneasiness with the workings of the world of big corporate. After all, very few major employers these days are squeaky clean and very few industries are without the odd skeleton in their closet.

Forest clearing in construction, sweat shops in retail, appalling factory conditions in manufacturing, environmental degradation in mining, unjust prices in farming, predatory lending in banking, tax dodging in technologies... the list goes on. Whether land or people, we seem to live in a world of accepted exploitation for higher margins.

So what must we do? We can take a dramatic stand, turn our backs on this current ethos of doing business and say “enough is enough.” We can risk ourselves, our jobs, our livelihoods for the greater good and allow our conscience to be at peace.

Sadly however, and I include myself in this, most of us will continue to do what little we can within the confines of existing and continue to bear the burden of the daily compromises one must make between right and wrong simply to muddle through.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.