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A Fierce Green Fire response

wtruslow
Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:01:16 GMT

A Fierce Green Fire is a fantastic documentary unlike any of the others that we have had to watch thus far for class. The film recaps the history of the environmentalist movement from the 1960s to present day. The film is primarily composed of found footage shot at various political events, protests, demonstrations, among other relevant events and venues. This footage is put together with interviews with different activists and environmentalists which lend perspective and insight to the topic at hand. The film is broken down into five acts, each covering a different chapter in the history of environmentalism. The act that affected me the most was act 3. In this section, the film covers the Greenpeace movement and their efforts to combat the slaughter of whales and seals. A former member, Paul Watson, tells a story about his attempt to save a couple of sperm whales from a pursuing Russian Whaling ship. Watson and another activist were in a skiff and positioned themselves between the whales and the Russian vessel. The vessel couldn’t hit their desired targets but continued pursuit. Eventually the crew member manning the harpoon was instructed to ignore the activists and proceeded to fire anyway, and killed the two whales. Watson’s recounting of the story is heartfelt and tremendously intense. I honestly had to pause the film and give myself a moment before continuing. In this same section, there is a quick shot of a baby seal being clubbed in the head. This shot, despite its brevity affected me even more so than the story Paul Watson told. The film was so matter-of-fact in its manner of showing this clip. The film was simply plodding along with an interview discussing Greenpeace’s campaign to save seals in the arctic, when amidst the footage they display this shot. Within the context, perspective, and narrative of the film, this is such an insignificant moment, but for some reason, the image really stuck with me. In the fourth act of the film, they discuss the efforts of Chico Mendes and other Brazilian activists to save the Amazon Rainforest from deforestation in the 1980s. In order to stop the loggers, Mendes and the rubbertappers would have to physically put themselves in front of the trees to prevent them from being cut down. This was immensely successful and forced the loggers to stop cease their efforts at the time. When this is mentioned, I had a bit of a realization. The people who want to exploit the resources of the earth are only deterred once humans come directly into harm’s way. This applies also to the story that Paul Watson told, even though the whalers still shot past them. It just sickens me that humans hold each other in higher regard than any other living organism, like we act like we’re the only species that matters on this planet. I don’t know, that notion bothered me quite a bit.