Burning+The+Sun+CK

Chris Knortz 11/14/2011 Title: Burning the Sun

Director: Matlow, Cambria and Robinson, Morgan 2010

2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? The development of Africa by the western world has been a long and generally unsuccessful process. Many of the people still live without many of the necessities of healthy living, access to clean water, electricity, and education. The film follows the journey of Daniel Dembele as he works to bring electricity and water to remote villages in Mali. He is working to increase the education levels and therefore the quality of life of the people in across rural Mali.

3. How is the argument or narrative made and sustained? The largest social issue for people in the areas was the lack of good education. For many of the people in the region the only choice of life is to farm and raise animals to survive, however this leaves limited time for education. The children work on the farm during most of the day, and then go to school, originally at night when they should be doing their homework, there was no light because of the lack of electricity. The rate of children dropping out of school was extremely high, stagnating the development of the people. The film follows children in school before Daniel brought electricity, then their success after the installed lights into the school.

4. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?

The larges problem of the film was not an environmental issue of toxic waste or excessive pollution, but of social development. The people were unable to complete school and become full members of society because of their educational deficiencies. Without a full education the people were forced to stay in their village and preform menial labor. This situation shows the problems involved in the politics and economy of the nation and the world. The local government did not make the effort to see these people have the tools to develop, also the world was able to pass them by because there was not potential for profit in the region.

5. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? It has long been know that education in the key to bringing a better way of life to a group of people. Form many it is easy to just establish a school and allow the people to take responsibility of their own education. For this film the area that was looked at was so underdeveloped they had no electricity. This left the students studying by small lamps at night after their daily work was completed. For many this was too much of a challenge and they dropped out of school. This trend had continued for year and left the region underdeveloped and left behind by much of the rest of the world. Once there were lights in the school the students began to graduate at never before seen levels. There is great power in education, these people recognize that potential and took full advantage of their new lights. These people were able to work harder for their knowledge and were more willing to be educates. When looking at many in the western world, even with the resources and possibilities many squander there education with laziness and lack of interest. In this situation the instillation of solar panels to provide lights was much less expensive than running actual electrical wires many miles out to these villages. This could be a future model for environmental development across the world. Instead of maintaining large expensive electrical grids to power homes, areas could install more local solar power generation. This could possible provide cheaper more reliable power because of the lack of such a large support infrastructure.

6. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? In the film Daniel was working with the broken silicone cells form large solar panel manufacturers. This allowed him to produce panels at very affordable rates. This was one of only reasons he was able to provide villages with panels and have them repay his loans. During the film there was discussion of these cells becoming scares as other groups became interested in them. As with any product that is in demand, companies will find a way to make a profit. Daniel may be able to acquire these cells at affordable rates form some time, however when an entire industry begins to copy him the prices may become unattainable. installed the solar panels in villages because to him they were the only option to provide lights.

7. What audiences does the film best address? The film speaks well to any person who purchases electricity. It shows the affordability and reliability of solar energy. The people in Africa with few financial assets and little prior knowledge were able install working systems. Also the film shows the benefits of education and people’s desire to be educated. After the solar panels were installed the school attained almost perfect graduation rates for its students, where before the rate was about 20%. These people had the desire for education, and this was shown when they were given the opportunity.

8. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? This film only shows the people in Africa, it has very valuable information about the struggles and social issues of those people. For the film to make a meaningful attempt at changing people’s behaviors in a more environmentally friendly direction it should have also shown more correlations to the western world. The film is more directed to the social sustainability problems of the area.

9. What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film? One of the main focuses of the film was the social sustainability behind education. The solar energy was used as an example of an innovative and environmentally friendly way to provide education. The values of education can be drawn out across all areas of the world and social settings. Even people in developed countries benefit greatly from a better education. They have more potential to develop themselves and their surroundings. Also they are more able to make conscience logical decisions about their lives. The film suggest people work to provide education in every part of their lives. People should work to educate those around them, and work to educate themselves. In the film Dainiel only knew about the problems in the villages, then he learned about the different possibilities is solar energy. He was able to develop himself in his work.

10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? This film and the semester of learning about environmental issues has lead me to look in to the educational system, or more generally the learning and educational interests of the public. It appears that every sustainability problem, weather it is environmental or social can be drawn back to a lack to true education. For many cases this means not only an understanding of the situation and the facts but also an ability to ask questions to devise the corrected education. For many groups this is not a skill that is encouraged openly, often for younger children it is shunned. Even as adults or older students many are reluctant to look outside their small world of direct knowledge citing a lack of time and energy to do so. My first article I looked into was about the value of education, when I began reading was thinking of the quality of living values of being an educated person. However this article spoke more of the monetary values of attaining a higher education. This is not a surprising fact, the part that was surprising was the percentage of people who were at low levels of education. The article cites that only 82% of Americans over 25 have received a high school diploma. This was an astonishing fact, to live in such a complicated modern society and be an active member more education must be necessary. With this low level of knowledge pertaining to the world, people less likely to make well founded decision about their lives falling prey to emotional advertising and stagnation in their personal development. Even more recently there have been discussions of cutting public funding of schools because of the current financial issues. When the country needs more educated people than ever, some are discussing reducing the potential of that education. The next article I found was discussing some of the main problems facing the educational system in the U.S. The three main topics were the attrition of teachers, lack of parent involvement, and poor reading. These problems originate with a lack of interest and needed investment in many public systems. The first problem mentioned is the high dropout rate of teachers, 46% of new teachers leave their job after less than five years. For many teaching is seen as an easy professions, when it is actual one of the more stressful and demanding. The high turnover rate in the profession forces many schools to expend great amounts of money into finding new teachers, this money could have been spent elsewhere developing students. The next issue discussed is parental involvement. Many families are forced to have both parents working full time jobs leaving little time to ensure the children are receiving the full benefit of their education. The final problem is poor reading rates. Many students are unable to read and comprehend at their grade level, this leaves them to struggle in tasks that should be simple. The frustration caused by such difficulties causes almost 7,000 students to dropout each day. Reading is one of the most basic skills needed to live in the modern world and the school system is failing to provide this basic skill. As the global society becomes larger and more complicated the education people are receiving must grow as well. Education must become a lifelong devotion and passion that is instilled into every child.

Cantu, Rena. “What is the Value of an Education?” tracer2.com, 2002. [] Boyer, Ashley. Hamil, Burnet. “Problems Facing American Education” Mississippi State University. 2008 []