Palo Verde

Palo Verde is based on the event when river water was contaminated and spread from Colorado to New Mexico. 

This river served as the main source of drinking water for the Navajo Nation. The pollution was caused by Colorado’s Gold King Mine spill and spread toxic waste down the river. 

As mentioned before, in the article, “Navajo Blame EPA Inaction for Suicides [64],” the spike in suicides that occurred after the incident was because of the EPA’s inactions. Russel Begaye commented on the EPA saying, “One of the things that they seemingly do is that they wait you out,” he told The Daily Beast. “I mean, they—they’ll say all the nice things, all the right things. They’ll put the proposals on the table, but you know that there’s no real action, there’s no real meat behind what they say.”

The disintegration of the character in the game is symbolic of mental deterioration from the pollution that affects the mind, spirit, body, and ultimately the community.