Ameer Shahul

Ameer Shahul is an author and environmentalist who is known for his work against Unilever in Kodaikanal mercury poisoning. His first non-fiction book titled Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal was published by Pan Macmillan in 2023. The book was longlisted for the prestigious Tata Literature Live! Literary Awards 2023 under the Best Non-Fiction First Book category. He has been involved with green movements in India since 2002 ranging from ship-breaking to industrial pollution and campaigns against pesticides and climate change.

Environmentalist
Shahul worked with Greenpeace since 2002 on a campaign against mercury pollution by Unilever in Kodaikanal, industrial pollution committed by the FMCG company in the hill station of Tamil Nadu, known as Kodaikanal mercury poisoning. He led the public affairs groups and ex-workers to force the company collect 290 tonnes of mercury waste disposed off in and around the factory site and send back to the United States for permanent retirement in 2003. This action of sending waste from a developing country to a developed country was widely hailed by the media as ‘reverse dumping'. Shahul along with campaigners like Navroz Mody led environmental and local community groups in lobbying for remediation of the site, and initiated an investigation by the Department of Atomic Energy of Government of India, which found that the mercury levels in the atmosphere of Kodaikanal was up to 2640 times more than what is found in normal conditions. Shahul also led a team of activists and volunteers to spook the annual general body meeting of Hindustan Unilever in Mumbai in 2003 and 2004.

He also campaigned against the practices of ship breaking in Indian shores for hazardous waste disposal, and against ground water exploitation and waste dumping by Coca-Cola in Kerala known as Plachimada Coca-Cola struggle. He also brought to notice the worst incident of a state owned company continuing to manufacturing the globally banned DDT.

Author
In 2023, Pan Macmillan published his book titled, Heavy Metal: How a Global Corporation Poisoned Kodaikanal. Deccan Herald described the book as 'a blunt and bold account of a tragedy', while Malayala Manorama termed it as the gripping take on an industrial tragedy, and of green resistance. Business Line described the book as 'a good pointer to be on our guard and save the environment.'

The Financial Express (India) called it a case study on corporate and regulatory failures, while The New Indian Express described it as an exceptional book that offers a comprehensive and compelling account of not just the disaster, but also its aftermath. The Indian Express described the book as a ‘crisp cinematic account of corporate greed and the struggle for justice in India.’ Describing the book as an ‘essential read', Open (Indian magazine) said ‘that it took Unilever more than 15 years to compensate affected workers is a reminder of the humongous costs of such mistakes’.

Hindustan Times said “This terrifying cautionary tale of corporate negligence is essential reading”. In its review, the paper said Heavy Metal, which recounts the struggle for environmental justice in India, also shows how elusive it is despite decades of social activism. “With activism having been throttled in recent times, corporate negligence of environmental regulations may remain lax. By telling the story of this disaster in a compelling way, Shahul clearly hopes to make readers vigilant about capturing future corporate manipulations of the system when it comes to environmental obligations,” it said.

In his interview with The Hindu Sunday Magazine Ameer Shahul is quoted as saying 'industrial corporations, such as Unilever, can be held truly accountable only with the help of science and data.'

In an interview to The Wire (India) he said 'both goodness and malice are inherent in humans. People prefer one over the other based on their culture, upbringing, and circumstances'.

In his interview to Down to Earth (magazine) Shahul said, "Factories dealing with hazardous raw materials or generating hazardous bye-products require close monitoring by the regulators, assisted by the local voluntary groups. Periodic audit of raw materials and hazardous waste should be made fool proof and should be done with the participation of the local community to ensure erring officials are not taken for a ride by factory management. Countries that are selling raw materials to other countries have a responsibility to take back the waste generated out of the raw materials."

In another interview to Article-14 he said, "In our quest for ‘economic progress’, we compromise many things, and the easiest of them are the environment and natural resources. That is a pattern we keep seeing. Our country is dotted with similar examples, whether industrial pollution cases or pollution caused by pesticides and chemicals, and so on and so forth. As long as people chase what we call ‘economic progress’, we all become very insular, and self-centric."

In an interview to BooksFirst, he is quoted as saying "Not all solutions can be balanced. What is fair to one may not be fair to the other. In cases like this (Kodaikanal mercury poisoning) where an atrocity has been committed, whether wittingly or unwittingly, the resolution can side with the victims. Therefore, the resolution is to support and recompense up to the last victim. As far as the larger crime against the ecosystem is concerned, there should be remediation of the land, soil and air as well as work to rejuvenate the last flora and fauna in the ecosystem that faces threat to its existence due to the toxic heavy metal."