Non IA reflection

Non-IA Reflection

I attended an Environmental Film Series screening of “A River Below” on Monday, November 19th, which fulfills a Non-IA requirement. This screening was shown, on campus, in the CBEC building. The documentary was about the endangerment of the pink Amazon dolphins. Watching “A River Below” I realized that there is so much that I am uninformed about, and that people are out there constantly trying to make a difference.

Going into more detail, the film centered around two main characters. One man, Fernando Trujillo, played an important role within the documentary. Fernando is a Columbian scientist that has spent most of his life protecting dolphins and trying to make the government aware of the dangerously high mercury levels within piracatinga, a fish that was commonly sold. Once this information does get out to the public, however, Fernando began to receive threats from those who were catching and selling the piracatinga. He then mentioned something akin to that when biologists are afraid to tell the truth, there is something wrong with the world.

The other important character was Richard Rasmussen, a host of a very popular nature show in Brazil. Richard helped to show the horrific treatment of pink Amazonian dolphins to the world. The video that got out was of several men capturing, killing, and using dolphins as bait to catch the piracatinga fish. In the video, a pregnant dolphin was butchered and used as bait to catch fish. This discovery and the world’s reaction to it eventually led to a ban on piracatinga fishing.

Although two men helped to put a. ban on the fishing practice, there were several arguments over whether or not the video was accurate. Many wondered how the video was obtained and if it was legal or not. Also, the men in the video, whom of which were asked by Richard to go and “do what you [they] normally did” began to bear a hatred to the TV show host. They claimed that Richard essentially ruined their life, their standing, and the economy of their community.

All in all, the video made me realize that although some actions are taken for the greater good, there will be consequences. The men in the video made a living by catching that fish, and with the release of the video their community suffered the price. People are responsible for their actions. From now on, I will consider all the outcomes thoroughly before rushing head on into something. With this being said, I also believe that sticking to one’s beliefs and fighting for them is important as well. What is probably one of the hardest things is maintaining the balance between fighting for beliefs and causing others to suffer. In the end, people should look out for people. Richard, who seemingly paid off the people to attain a video, did a bad thing for a good cause. Also, as a side note, watching this documentary made me truly glad and proud to be vegetarian, seeing as there were some very gory scenes.

Moving on, the relation between this film and IA is that the documentary inspires people have a better understanding of what else is occurring in the world. In the end, I think this idea is very important. The film was really interesting and I am glad to have seen it.

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