27. Alina Simone — Siberia's Black Snow and the Environmental Threat of Authoritarianism
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Imagine going up against a coal company to protect the health of your children and your community. Here in the United States, it's a daunting challenge; but in Putin's Russia, it's far worse.
Alina Simone is a documentary filmmaker whose recent film, Black Snow, tells the story of a brave woman in Russia, named Natalia Zubkova, who went up against a Putin-backed coal company in her small town in Siberia.
Natalia’s experience resonates with many environmental justice stories here in the U.S. I’ve recently released several podcasts related to Love Canal, the seminal environmental disaster that played out in the 1970s here in Western New York; and, in many ways, Natalia reminds me of Lois Gibbs, Luella Kenny, and other Love Canal activists. One of the key differences, however, is the dramatically different political situation in 1970s America compared to today’s Russia.
Over the last decade, we in the U.S. have experienced an unprecedented assault on truth. We are told regularly by politicians not to believe what we can see with our own eyes and what we experience in our own lives—not to mention the all-out assault on more abstract truths, like the realities of climate change. Putin’s Russia shows us the end game of a world where truth is what the most powerful players say it is and what it looks like in an authoritarian regime when you step out of line to point out the most obvious truths. As many prominent political figures in the United States push our country towards authoritarianism, like we’re living in a George Orwell novel, Natalia’s story becomes a cautionary tale about how much worse the threats to our health and our environment can become when our democracy is weakened.
I saw Black Snow last fall during Climate Week in New York City, at the Climate Film Festival, where my film Raising Aniya was also screening. Alina sat down with me after her screening to discuss the long arc of her documentary film journey and how she pulled off production of this incredible film.
Alina is also my first podcast guest to knit through the entire conversation.
I’m John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis. You can subscribe at johnfiege.earth, where you will also find show notes and all episodes of the podcast, plus my writing, photographs, and films.
Here is Alina Simone.
Notes and Media Recommendations:
- Black Snow
- https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/blacksnow/
- The Redford Center Emmy Nominations and Festival Nominations
- https://www.redfordcenter.org/news/emmy-nominations-cannes-and-two-weeks-left-to-apply-for-a-redford-center-grant/
- From Siberia, a Voice for Environmental Justice by Laura Ferguson
- https://now.tufts.edu/2025/02/10/siberia-voice-environmental-justice
- The Redford Center, Black Snow: After the Film
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MeoLPkdXc4
- Toxic black snow covers Siberian coalmining region by Marc Bennetts
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/15/toxic-black-snow-covers-siberian-coalmining-region
- Black snow falls from the sky in Siberia, and it's toxic by Brandon Specktor
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-snow-falls-from-the-sky-in-siberia-and-its-toxic/
- POV Behind the Lens: Black Snow
- https://www.pbs.org/video/behind-the-lens-black-snow-7v8upz/
- POV Black Snow DELVE DEEPER READING LIST
- https://cdn.prod.websitefiles.com/6733b7b0e0f4d5f62ca058ad/68d40230b7f50ace44ffa067_Black%20Snow%20Delve%20Deeper.pdf
Credits
This episode was edited by Maya Shook, with additional editing by Isabella Fleming. Music is by Daniel Rodríguez Vivas. Mixing is by Morgan Honaker.
