An Inconvenient Truth

          The movie “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore is truly inspirational. Former presidential candidate Al Gore tries to inform the public of the ever- growing concern of climate change. The biggest challenge he faces is getting people to see this as a real problem and not a politically driven movement. For many years the Republican Party has tried denying the existence of global warming despite the massive amounts of scientific data proving it as a real issue.

          Al explains many of the points in the film in a presentation which he has given over 1000 times in various locations across the globe. He hopes to give people an understanding of what’s going on by presenting them with real data. Al was first introduced to the concept of global warming when he was a young college student; long before it had been brought to the attention of the general public. He had been shown by his professor the recent discoveries made. His professor had recorded Co2 levels in our atmosphere and had discovered that levels were rising rapidly. The connection was then made that this would, and has since caused global warming. Even though it is now known that greenhouse gases like Co2 cause the temperature of the planet to rise it was not accepted then, and many people denied the data, and the implications of global catastrophe. Al along with other scientist and activists struggled for many years to get politicians and the public to accept the facts and take action to change. Unfortunately many people still deny the existence of global warming and continue to see it as a political debate rather than the ecological concern that it really is. Many people even saw this film as a campaign ploy by Gore, which is funny because he never even ran for president again.

        The effects of global warming are real and they can be seen worldwide. In the film real data of ice core samples show the rapid change in Co2 levels and the direct correlation between Global temperature and rising Co2 levels. The melting of the polar ice caps is one effect that is shown in the film and Al Gore states that predictions of a 20 foot rise in sea levels in the next life time is very possible. This point has brought with it much controversy and skeptics. However within the 10 years that have passed since the film was released we have seen rising sea levels; the effects of which have caused unpredictable weather changes across the globe. The Hurricane Katrina incident in Louisiana which broke the levees was mentioned as an example of this in the film and many more strange weather events have happened since, causing alarm for people everywhere. This is ironic because the panic that Gore was criticized for creating when the film was released was later proven with even more bizarre weather changes and events. Gore doesn’t want people to give up, in fact he shows how we can change this with the very way that we live. Many changes have taken place since the film that have proven effective; like the increased use of high efficiency cars and appliances and a reduction in dependency on fossil fuels. These positive predictions that he made have shown dramatic environmental impact, and can be seen with a recent decline in the rate of global warming.  

Avatar

 Avatar by James Cameron is the story of an alien race known as the Na’vi that inhabit the planet Pandora. The story is full of struggle, as humans try and understand and become a part of the Native culture; while other humans use the planet and the natives for their resources. The main character Jake is given the task of communicating with them in an alien hybrid body. He is led by Dr. Grace Augustine who is played by Sigourney Weaver. Dr. Augustine has had contact with the natives for a long time, and she is a strong female. She has an understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the natives and their planet, and she wants to help them no matter what it takes.

  The Dr. and especially Jake form a close bond with the Na’vi; Jake even becomes one of their own. The Na’vi have a connection to their mother god whom they call Ewya. Jake is taught of this strong connection by one of the female warriors who is given the task of teaching him their ways by the Female Shaman leader. This film embodies Ecofeminism; which is a philosophical and political movement combining feminine ideas and ecological concerns. In the film one thing that really stood out was when they stated that humans had already killed their own mother (Earth), and now they are threatening to kill ours (Ewya). This is very similar to the views of Ecofeminists who see our own planet as being a mother who provides for us. The Na’vi are under the threat of humans destroying their planet just for the profit of their resources. The sad thing was that only the Na’vi and the scientists involved in communicating with them were able to see how much stronger a bond they had with Ewya than us humans had with our own mother (Earth). The Na’vi were truly connected with the planet and felt her pain and shared with her; only taking what they needed for survival. This connection is most evident with their Tree of Souls. The Tree of Souls had the spirits of the deceased Na’vi flowing through its branches, and the Na’vi were able to communicate with these spirits.

In the end the humans want to destroy not only the home tree but also the tree of souls just so they are able to obtain the “unobtanium” located under the trees. It is a horribly tragic scene when the humans destroy the home tree and you see the Na’vi hysterically scream and cry. There are four strong female roles in this film which really capture the essence of woman in ecology. The Dr., the military pilot, the female shaman, and the female warrior all have strong leading roles in protecting Pandora and its people. They show how important it is that woman take active roles in ecology, and how strong of an asset they can be in the fight for environmental conservation.

Litter is the enemy!

       For the class project “litter is the enemy” the class was split up into groups. Each of our groups was responsible for picking up litter on the side streets of Elmira around Elmira College.  We were each given the challenge of finding the nastiest garbage we could find, and one of the groups certainly accomplished this when they found not only used diapers, but also used condoms within only minutes of leaving the campus. 

       My group was on a role with finding garbage as well and after only a little while we found a dead bird on the side of the road. We also found loads of empty cigarette packs and other objects like plastic bags and disposable cardboard storage containers that had clearly been pitched out of people’s cars as they were driving. It was sad to see how disrespectful people were treating the environment, but on the other side of things it was nice to have people thank us and be appreciative of our help. One lady stopped and asked if she could take a picture of my group. She said that she thought it was great what we were doing.  This type of unity was really special for her to see; especially in the midst of all the racial tension, and lack of unity going on in Baltimore where a young African American male had been killed by police officers. 

       I really enjoyed doing this activity because it made me feel like I was giving back to the community. I was born in Elmira and have many family members who live there so keeping the community clean is personal to me. The highlight of our experience was finding a pair of used panties on the side of the road; which still makes me chuckle when I think of it. I hope that everyone one else in the class had the same experience that I did, and I hope that taking the initiative to do this will have an impact on the actions that other people in the community  take to keep the streets free of litter.

Earth Day

                                     

        Earth day is a reminder to all people that our planet provides for us and that we should treat it with respect. Many of the issues surrounding climate change and the extinction of so many species of animals have been pushed aside; often for monetary gains.
Having a day such as Earth day to celebrate the life that mother earth provides for all of us is of great importance not only for our species survival but that of all other animals. People are generally naïve when it comes to things that are beyond their own selfish motives. Having a day set aside to remind us is not only a good way to push for immediate action, but to also put some of the issues concerning climate change and pollution into perspective for those individuals who don’t concern themselves with it. Many of the more simple ways to take action like recycling and reusing are not being practiced by many people still.  There is so much more that could be done to help keep our planet safe, however if people allow themselves to set aside the time to do these things they may find that their mindset will change and further action will take place.
Having the general public understand the importance of keeping our planet safe is only a small piece of the larger more looming issue. The issue that I speak of is money. Large corporations make decisions based on profit alone; while rarely looking at the environmental effects of the choices they make. We the people should be better advocates for the planet and stand up for mother earth rather than using and abusing her. If we don’t take action and stand up for her then this day we call Earth day will never be rejoiced over again.

Plastic Island

              

 

               Plastic Paradise is an eye-opening documentary about the ever-growing issue of plastic usage in the world. The documentary explores how the plastic industry has boomed since its introduction in the 1930’s, and how it has grown to become one of the most heavily used products since.

The problem with plastic is that it’s not biodegradable, and this has taken a heavy toll on the oceans as seen in the movie. The film shows how there is a large cluster of floating plastic debris that has accumulated in the central Pacific Ocean. This cluster of debris ranges in size from roughly the size of Texas all the way up to the size of the continental U.S. This is disturbing to hear and I had no idea that it was such a large amount of debris. It was also troubling to hear how this has interrupted the fragile ecosystem, especially the breed of albatross that breed on Midway Island. Another portion of the documentary that pissed me off was when Angela Sun went to a large gathering for plastic companies and conducted interviews. The people she interviewed were not only ignorant, but plain stupid as well. One of the company heads interviewed was asked how he felt about the many species of birds that are swallowing plastic and dying; his response was priceless. He stated that any bird that would swallow plastic must be dumb. It was no surprise that these companies would be on the defense over their products, but you would expect slightly more intelligent responses to the many issues surrounding single-use plastic products. The sheds light on many other things; some of which include the estrogen like chemicals found in plastic, the potentially life threatening effects of plastic usage, and the ways in which we can reduce our usage. The fact that the largest U.S. export to China is plastic waste should be disturbing enough to people to motivate change.   

The issues associated with continued plastic usage are many, but talking about these issues and not taking action is pointless. Unless we all take the initiative and take action, instead of waiting for others to do it first; then we will surely kill this planet.