ahhh, Frack

In a Environmental Studies class of mine, we watched a documentary that some of you might have seen titled Gas Land,  by Josh Fox. In this film, it starts out with some vivid imagery of some of our natural gas wells, and takes us inside a some sort of congress meeting, discussing the importance of drilling for natural gas, saying that there is “no real credible threat to underground drinking water from hydrolic fracturing,” however, Josh seems to come up with some different findings along his journey for the truth. What he finds is frighting, and I encourage all of you to watch Gas Land, for I cannot get the whole feeling of the movie in one small post. This film is available on HBO and Netflix right now, and I’m sure you can find it a thousand other places online, because it is a pretty relevant issue. In the first minute of the film, those in favor of fracking have been giving misleading information, such as :” … entire process is imperceptible under the surface” and, “Mostly water and a few chemicals are used”. However after watching the film, and doing some independent research, I found that the fracking could drill us into a darker future.

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Canada Dry

As I flipped through the channels the other evening, I came across a commercial that was incredibly reminiscent of the Sun Maid Raisin commercial. The advertisement was for Canada Dry (ginger ale) and shows several men and women working the picturesque land with their hands. One man uproots a plastic bottle of this soda, and another soon after unearths what is revealed to be a Canada Dry vending machine that they then make use of. Like the Sun Maid commercial, this does not account for the true ingredients or integrity of the product, nor does it represent the actual methods of production.

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Salmon Is Everything

It was a treat to have Theresa May, the author of Salmon Is Everything, join our class on Thursday. Her presence stimulated great discussion, and we learned about the steps she took to write the play. From what I gathered, it took a lot of time and research to come up with the content. Through rehearsal, editing, and discussion with locals, May was able to produce a great play that has now become a piece of history.

Many of the locals were skeptical that her work on the play was just her effort as an environmentalist to help a cause in the moment. They did not think that she would dedicate so much time to the environmental issue. May has thrown herself into the lives and culture of the Klamath people in order to ensure that the play accurately portrays the characters thoughts and feelings about the issue.

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