The film Dark Waters is based on a true story following the life of Robert Bilott, an attorney who starts to investigate unexplained deaths in relation to the company DuPont in West Virginia. Bilott’s grandmother illuminated the serious connection, further driving the investigation. It starts with a farmer named Wilbur Tennant, who knows Bilott’s grandmother, who asks Bilott to look into why his cattle are dying. Tennant suspected the DuPont company had everything to do with the case because they bought land next to his house. Bilott reluctantly took the case; however, upon further investigation into the DuPont company, Bilott found much more than he expected. DuPont had been polluting the drinking water and air with the chemical perfluoroctonic …show more content…
Despite DuPont’s knowledge of the harmful side effects of PFOA, they consciously released the chemical into their products and water systems. As individuals consumed PFOA, they began experiencing intense adverse effects, such as blackened teeth, kidney cancer, liver cancer, and other prominent health issues. In response to this issue, a class action was filed on behalf of all individuals living near DuPont facilities. Bilott won three cases against DuPont, with jury awards of $1.6 million, $5.6 million, and $12.5 million. With that in mind, DuPont agreed to settle 3,535 cases for $670.7 million. This movie demonstrates DuPont’s negligence in mishandling harmful chemicals through the intense impacts on the environment and the population’s health. It is important to protect public health and the environment from dangerous substances, which is Bilott’s main argument. After watching Dark Waters, I felt incredible sadness and anger from knowing that the company directly harmed thousands of individuals. It reminded me a lot of that film I watched earlier in the semester, Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your
In Yusef Komunyakaa’s essay “Dark Waters”, the sense of environmental injustice is highlighted, expressed by the conditions that communities with lower socioeconomic status endure. Komunyakaa indicates his disgust in returning with beginning his piece in a harsh tone, which implied reluctance within his return due to the discrimination within his environment, compared to Wordsworth, who felt a sense of nostalgia and inner happiness when returning to Tintern Abbey. This discrimination begins from the very beginning in the youth, where lower economic societies are condemned to “taste the chemicals in the air” (Komunyakaa 106). Compared to the typical pastoral environment that a Romantic poet such as Wordsworth was able to experience and write
In the 1970s, engineers found contaminants in the local wells: Well H and Well G. They found suspected carcinogens including trichloroethylene (TCE) known to cause cancer. Families gathered after the Anderson family noticed the recurring events of a rare disease in a small town. Although Woburn had a history of industrial activity, the two major companies that contributed to the contaminants were W.R. Grace Co. and Beatrice Foods. The families sought help and went to a Boston lawyer, Joe Mulligan, and signed his firm. No one picked up the case due to not enough evidence, but Jan Schlictmann, who was a newcomer, picked up the Woburn case. Although advised to neglect it, he still looked into it. He joined with a non-profit firm who were seeking an environmental case like Woburn’s. They quickly filed a complaint against the two major companies.
This is portrayed in the film, starting out in the community of Norco and Diamond, which respectively contain majority Caucasian (which are financially thriving) and African American (which are financially declining) people. Near the homes of these citizens, a Shell refinery is located which releases chemicals in the air and this negatively impacts the health of these residents. However, the difference in opinion of the health impact is clearly seen between residents of Norco and Diamond. In Norco, many of the citizens have either worked or work for Shell refinery and deny that any adverse health effects were caused by this company. On the other hand, the citizens of Diamond voiced their concerns about what chemicals the air contained, along with the adverse health impacts. Concerns that arose include the impact on health, how the pollution is affected the community, the types of chemicals that were inhaled, economic conditions, etc. The Shell company tried to propose a solution by buying out two out of the four streets, however, this is a smaller community, which means by doing this then families would be separated and left in this community that is still polluted. This offer was rejected, and instead these
Theatre as a unique, live art form does not only consist of theatrical performances that tell stories, but are significant as to how they cover certain topics that portray issues within the world. Because of this, theatre is an art form that can be used as a platform to discuss and bring awareness to issues that affect one’s community. The play, In the Red and Brown Water by Tarell Alvin Mccraney follows the upcoming of age story of Oya, a young African-American woman, that struggles to find her true self and identity within the projects of San Pere, Louisiana. With the presence of Yoruban tradition, In the Red and Brown Water explores the themes of poverty and racial injustices among minorities through the distinctive use of design clues,
In the movie Erin Brockovich not only were children affected by the water contamination but the adults were also negatively affected. In this film the families were directly exposed to carcinogens that were used for water pressure in a multi-million dollar company located a few miles away from the home. One particular family that caught my attention was the first family that filed a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Donna Jensen and her family filed a lawsuit again this company because of a real estate issue. Fortunately, Erin Brockovich worked as the lawyer's assistant and was the first individual to realize that this company was hiding the truth about the chemicals used in the facility.
Bleifuss, Joel. "A Deadly Disorder at the EPA." In These Times. Mar. 2013: p. 20. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
Both Barnett’s claim that bottled water is not better than tap water (139-141) and Gleick’s claim that specialized water is not better than tap water (118-120) demonstrate that companies’ claims are unreasonable. Furthermore, consumers assume bottled water is better than tap water because they have the impression that tap water is dangerous because of the tap water incident in “2003 [where] 400,000 people [got] sick” from drinking tap water. One may wonder whether companies use this incident to remind consumers how dangerous tap water is with the way Gleick presents bottled water companies even after the tap water is taken care of. Because Gleick portrays the deception of advertisement from bottled water businesses, he makes it clear that Barnett hints that they are taking advantage of the case by informing consumers that their water is safer than tap water in an indirect, subtle way. However, Barnett ensures readers that tap water are safe to drink again after the incident by proving that both bottled water and tap water are equally safe to drink with a study she provides: The testing from Florida Trend (magazine brand) concludes that Publix brand bottled water and tap water both contains “0.020milligrams per liter [of] THMs (trihalomethanes)”, a “common byproduct…linked to increased risk of cancer” (139-140). Although other bottled water brands may not have
When a chemical company called Krane Chemicals poisons the ground water with chemical toxic waste hundreds of people die of cancer or get seriously ill. When Mary Grace and Wes Payton win the case the against the company, the shares drop dramatically. Carl Trudeau, who owns an impressive amount of shares looses over one billion dollars in one day, an...
This study analyses the controversy that has existed within general electric (GE). This is a company that has been running the electrical equipment plants. The company has been dumping wastes into Hudson River. The case involves recovery battle and the plight of dumping the Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River in New York, which had accumulated to more than 1.3 million pounds into a 40 mile stretch of the Hudson River. The cleanup programs supported by EPA, most of the environmental groups and some government agencies led to a lot of controversies since GE was not ready to take responsibility for the dredging expenses and even after their little cooperation, the dredging process is never complete.
There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Once it was proved that the company had knowingly dumped hexavalent chromium into the ground water, the utility company was found liable for a $330 million dollar verdict.
The movie, A Civil Action, relates to a true story of two corporation’s improper disposal of trichloroethylene and its consequences on a small town in Massachusetts. High incidences of leukemia arise and the affected families seek support to address the responsible parties by employing small firm, personal injury attorney, Jan Schlichtmann. Upon taking the case, he is greeted with unanswered questions and claims of improper hazardous waste disposal by local tanneries and corporations. The clients make clear that they are simply seeking ownership of those who caused the incidents and apologies for the committed actions that resulted in the deaths of their loved ones.
In the case about Triana, Alabama, residents in a small rural settlement were exposed to high concentrations of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) manufactured by the Calabama Chemical Company. The residents were primarily Black and were dependent on the fish in the contaminated streams for food. The people living in the area were not made aware early on that their water was
After the book was published in September 1972, many companies that produced these pesticides spent more than 250,000 dollars, equivalent to 1.4 million today, to stop Carson from publishing the book (Fletcher, Scherer 85). Despite their tremendous effort, the Silent Spring became a best seller and successfully proved the case against various chemical companies. As Fletcher and Scherer stated, “She did more than make the case against chemical pesticide industry. She made a case against uncontrolled human ‘progress’” (81). This book was a turning point of monstrous growth of pesticides, which lead people to look back at the “devils of their own creation”
Today's waters are constantly being treated like sewage dumps or trash cans. We use them as garbage cans every day polluting the water more and more. "Pollution is often by way of rivers, drains and outflow pipes." Causing an outflow of sewage into our ocean waters. This is not only affecting the community but also the marine life and other sea creatures living in the ocean." This pollution includes human sewage and domestic waste water, factory outflows of acids and poisonous metals, engine oil from roadside drains and garages, farm chemicals washed off the land by rain, building-site rubble, nuclear waste from power plants, and oil from wells, refineries, and tankers." Stating that most of today's waste is from factory or factory ran products that shouldn't be polluting the water