Review of Documentary: "GREEN"

Summary:
The documentary “Green” by graduate student Laura Dunn has been my favorite documentary so far. It focuses on Cancer Alley, the one hundred-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Cancer Alley got its name because 150 petrochemical plants that lie between the two cities. The film focuses on the problem of Cancer Alley and the local people it affects. By particularly providing evidence of what it is like to live on polluted land, being condemned to illness and poverty and not being able to sell their land.

According to a website I found, “Louisiana is consistently ranked among the poorest states per capita in the country, it has one of the nation's worst educational systems, the highest illiteracy rate, and the lowest proportion of people connected to the Internet. Lastly, one-third of the state's children live in poverty.”

The residents interviewed that live in these towns along the Mississippi are confident that there is a link between their health and the petrochemical plants. The saddest part of watching this documentary was the fact that all the young children were acquiring advance stages of such rare cancers.

Another alarming fact is that these big cooperations keep track of their own data and are suppose to report when there is a problem. I remember them comparing this to turning yourself in for a speeding ticket. Except the side effects of this is a little more intense.

The truth is, that no one can realistically eliminate the products of the petrochemical industry because it supplies the key ingredients used in every single nonorganic product. The big businesses are continuing to make money off Cancer Alley because it delivers 25% of the nation's petrochemical product…



New Terms:
Cancer Alley: is an area along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, of Louisiana, which contains numerous industrial plants.

Neuroblastoma: is the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood and the most common cancer in infancy, with an annual incidence of about 650 new cases per year in the US.

EPA: EPA leads the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.

Louisiana Chemical Industry: Mission is to improve the quality of life through the power of chemistry.

Environmental racism: refers to intentional or unintentional racial discrimination in the enforcement of environmental rules and regulations, the intentional or unintentional targeting of minority communities for the siting of polluting industries, or the exclusion of minority groups from public and private boards, commissions, and regulatory bodies.

My thoughts:
As I mentioned in class this whole documentary reminded me of the movie, Erin Brokovich. For those of you who have never seen it here is how it all goes down… Erin Brockovich is an “unemployed single mother who becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California Power Company accused of polluting a city's water supply. She finds herself in a series of events that would involve her lawfirm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.” Except in the movie, they go to court and win lots of money and everyone lives happily ever after. I just wish the same thing could happen with the plants in Louisiana.

This is such a sad situation because I feel that there is nothing we can do to prevent this from happening. I mean I can try and not purchase things made of plastic but that probably wouldn’t last very long. It’s so easy to go on and live your life without considering the damage that these plants are causing when it’s not in your backyard.

A women on the documentary said, “Some people could sell a soul for some green,” and I think that’s true. What do you think? Is there anything we can do to help this situation? Lastly, do you think that environmental racism is an issue in Louisiana?

Here's a link to the Cancer Alley Blog- Check it out!

That’s all, thanks for reading. =)

REVIEW OF READING #1: "The Challenges We Face"

In the reading, “The Challenges We Face” there was a great importance on helping one another with the idea that helping people could result in helping the environment. The problems addressed in the reading were Population and Health, Food, Water, Energy and Climate, and Biodiversity. My favorite quote from the reading is found in the first paragraph. It states, "The globe doesn't need to be saved by us, and we couldn't kill it if we tried. What we do need to save-and what we have done a fair job of bollixing up so far-is the earth as we like it, with its climate, air, water and biomass all in that destructible balance that best supports life as we have come to know it." "In the end, then it's us we're trying to save-and while the job is doable, it won't be easy."

Population and Health:
The number of people on the earth is still rising rapidly although the good news is the growth rate is slowing. Programs such as family-planning programs and economic development have helped slow the birth rate is some places. Although the population is going down the situation could still be improved if the rich nations did more to help out the developing world reduce the birth rates and slow the spread of disease.

Food:
"Up to a third of the world is in danger of starving. Two billion people lack reliable access to safe, nutritious food, and 800 million of them-including 300 million children are chronically malnourished." Agriculturally policies now in effect define the idea of unsustainable development and planting techniques and overreliance on pesticides further degrade the soil. Lastly, the idea of better crop rotation and irrigation can help protect fields from exhaustion and erosion.

Water:
"Only 2.5% of water is fresh, and only a fraction of that is accessible. Meanwhile, each of us requires about 50 quarts per day for drinking, bathing, cooking and other basic needs." With that said it is estimated that, "by the year 2025, two-thirds of the worlds population may be living in countries that face serious water shortages." In order to cut back on water usage we'd have to cut back on agriculture usage considering they use about two-thirds of the fresh water. Lastly, improving water delivery systems to reduce the amount of water that is lost en route to the people who use it could also help.

Energy and Climate:
"About 2.5 billion people have no access to modern energy services, and the power demands of developing economies are expected to grow 2.5% per year." If these demands are met by burning fossil fuels those gases will hit the atmosphere. This could result in promoting global warming which results in rising seas, fiercer storms, severe droughts and other climatic disruptions. An immediate concern is the heavy air pollution caused by combustion of wood and fossil fuels. The answer is to convert to a better way to meet the world's energy needs by developing cheaper and cleaner sources. Ideas such as alternative energy, wind power and micro-hydroelectric plants which divert water from streams and rivers and use it to run turbines without complex dams or catchment areas have all been proposed. In the end, the key is to match the right energy source to the right users.

Biodiversity:
"More than 11,000 species of animals and plants are known to be threatened with extinction, about a third of all coral reefs are expected to vanish in the next 30 years and about 36 million acres of forest are being razed annually." The main problem is that many of the species dying provides us with both food and medicine and people are only interested if the situation is local. Lastly, the reading touched on how businesses are getting right with the environment too.

Reflection:
For me, the most shocking fact in this reading was that up to a third of the world is in danger of starving. Along with that is the fact that “by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may be living in countries that face serious water shortages,” stated by the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. I find it hard to imagine a shortage in my source of food and water. But later this semester I will be participating in “The Food Stamp Challenge” for another class. The challenge is to pledge to live on an average food stamp budget which is just $3 a day!!! After reading the reviews from the challenge I expect to feel a little hungry throughout that week because of how little food $21 a week can buy. Not to mention how difficult it would be to eat a balanced diet!

Another topic covered in the reading is that businesses are actually trying to improve the environment, as well. As said by Nitin Desai the secretary-general of the Johannesburg summit: “We’re hoping that partnerships-involving governments, corporations, philanthropies and NGOs-will increase the credibility of the commitment to sustainable development.” By following the actions of the government and trusted companies may result in a more people working together to improve the environment. Here is a website I found that listed a few companies that are doing their part to improve our surroundings, check it out! =)

“The key now is to put people first and the environment second, but also to remember that when you exhaust resources, you destroy people,” as stated in “The Challenges We Face.” Recently I sponsored a child from the Dominican Republic named Yiraldi. The thought of people starving in many third world countries really made me want to help out. My sponsored child is a four year old girl that likes to play with dolls. =) For more ideas of how you could help out check out: WorldHelp, WorldVision, or SEOL.

New terms:

Sorghum: is a genus of numerous species of grasses, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture.

Cassava: is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates.

Biodiversity: is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems.

Malthusian: was originally foreseen to be a forced return to subsistence level conditions once population growth had outpaced agricultural production.

"Do one thing everyday that scares you." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Welcome to Shar's Virtual Environment

Hi, my name is Shar and I created this blog to meet the requirements of my Environmental Health course during the Spring of 2009.

There are 5 possible types of posts on my blog. They include:

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