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Two real-life horror
stories
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A report from the Food For
Thought Film Series
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by Ruth Ann Smalley
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My kids were talking
recently about how they could tolerate scary stories in books much more
than when the horror takes place on screen. This makes sense--we're
visual creatures, responding more viscerally to graphic images,
especially when presented dramatically on the big screen. The
filmmakers of the June and July screenings use this to their advantage.
In effect, Gasland and The Cove are horror stories that
aim for our hearts and minds by shaking up our nervous systems.
Gasland
tracks Josh Fox's journey to discover the effects of natural gas
"fracking" in the United States. The
Cove documents a team effort to expose the large scale, inhumane
slaughter of dolphins in a hidden cove in Japan. Gasland has the feel of a personal
narrative, The Cove that of a
high tech action movie, but both are strongly driven by an intimate
connection with their subjects.
In Josh Fox's case, he's been offered a contract for natural gas
exploration on his family's land. Louie Psihoyos, director of The Cove, is a National Geographic
photographer, scuba-diver and co-founder of the Oceanic Preservation
Society. He's determined to help Ric O'Barry shed light on the
exploitation of dolphins. O'Barry caught and trained the five dolphins
used in the TV show Flipper.
He eventually came to see the use of wild dolphins as cruel and
unethical. He's dedicated himself to their release, even at risk of
incarceration himself.
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Drinking
Water Supplies Threatened
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Fox's
approach is deliberately low-budget and low-tech, as he follows the
trail of ignitable tap water, exploding wells, contaminated landscapes,
and animal and human health problems across the country. In his
encounters with working class Americans living near high pressure
hydraulic fracturing operations, Fox finds anger, puzzlement, fear and
despair. People's drinking water becomes toxic and their family members
and pets develop mysterious skin conditions, headaches and other
ailments. Some have managed to get the natural gas company to supply
them with bottled water; many feel their property has been devalued.
The natural gas industry disputes the links Fox draws between these
problems and the hundreds of thousands of these fracking sites across
the country. They also refuse to divulge the complete list of chemicals
they use (Fox estimates over 250) on the grounds that this is
proprietary material.
The film also features testimony from the likes of Dr. Theo Colburn,
environmental health analyst specializing in endocrine disruption;
Wilma Subra, environmental scientist who served as vice-chair of the
EPA National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology;
and Weston Wilson, a retired EPA environmental engineer. These experts
appear to support Fox's contention that an enormously hazardous, vastly
under-examined set of issues surround these operations. The
environmental impact of fracking is multilayered. It includes
everything from the exhaust from the thousands of trips by trucks that
serve the sites, to the fumes from condensate tanks. All these hazards
are exacerbated by the lack of government oversight: The 2005 energy
bill exempted the oil and gas industry from the Clean Water Act. While
individual states may have recourse, they lack the resources for
monitoring.
Clean water is probably at the greatest risk in this scary story. Apart
from the instances of accidental contamination of individual wells with
benzene, ethane, propane, heavy metals and other carcinogenic
chemicals, there is the "produced water" knowingly created during the
fracking process. This is where the magnitude of the problem starts to
become clear. Fracking a single well contaminates from 1 to 7 million
gallons of water. While industry officials claim the water is held in
tanks, Fox shows us sites where it is held in questionable "evaporation
pits." He also believes it is sometimes dumped into fields and streams.
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Dolphins
Killed for Mercury-laced Meat
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The Cove juxtaposes scenes of the
investigative team preparing and covertly placing high tech cameras in
and around the cove, with scenes filmed at a meeting of the
International Whaling Commission. Even during the meeting, officials
from a number of countries openly cast doubt on Japanese claims about
their fishing practices, and Ric O'Barry's constant run-ins with
Japanese police suggest that they regard any scrutiny as threatening.
There have been claims that the filming team deliberately insulted and
provoked the fishermen, and allegations that they misrepresented some
of the Japanese politicians in interview segments. But the footage they
obtained of the dolphin capture itself appears unequivocal. After
dolphin trainers from around the world make their selection-- at prices
of around $150,000 each--the rest are herded into a secluded cove.
There the fisherman stand in low boats, spearing the dolphins
repeatedly with long poles. While the cove water runs red with blood,
the dolphins are loaded up to be sold in markets, the film alleges, as
whale meat.
While dolphins are, indeed, whales, and the fishermen reportedly
explain their activity as a cultural custom, the Japanese shoppers
interviewed on the street seem surprised and uncomfortable at the
suggestion that they may actually be eating dolphins. The added wrinkle
in the story is that dolphin meat tends to be very high in mercury,
perhaps 20 times higher than the standards set by the World Health
Organization.
"I was as ignorant as I could be for as long as I could be," Ric
O'Barry says, describing how in his Flipper
days, he had ignored his own experiences
with dolphin intelligence so that he could keep driving his Porsche.
With mercury in our wildlife, and strontium and cadmium in our wells,
we can't afford to be ignorant for much longer. It is hard not to feel
that the industrial basis of modern life has come back to bite us. As
long as profits rather than civic principles dictate business practices
this will be the nature of the marketplace. Meanwhile, the uninformed
consumer expects that the heat will come on and the water will stay
clean, that the seafood will be harmless, and that the dolphin show
will be fun for all involved.
Fortunately,
we don't have to remain ignorant. The websites for these films offer
information, action steps and contact information for organizations
working on these issues:
www.gaslandthemovie.com
http://gaslandthemovie.com/take-action
www.thecovemovie.com
www.takepart.com/thecove
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Food For Thought: An Evening of Socially
Relevant Cinema is co-sponsored by Honest Weight and
WAMC/Northeast Public Radio. Along with a documentary film, the monthly
event features food samples from the Co-op and a panel discussion
highlighting social, political, environmental and community issues.
Next up:
Queen of the
Sun
Thursday, September 16
What are the bees telling us?
A profound, alternative look at the tragic global bee crisis.
Juxtaposing the catastrophic disappearance of bees with the mysteries
of the hive, Queen of the Sun tells a dramatic story of the heartfelt
struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers worldwide to renew
a culture in balance with nature. Featuring Michael Pollan, Gunther
Hauk and Vandana Shiva.
All screenings at The Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio, 339 Central
Ave., Albany. 6pm reception, 7pm film. More info and tickets ($6): www.wamcarts.org/artsched.html,
or call 518-465-5233 ext 4.
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