SullivanPatrick6

Sullivan Patrick Portfolio

Human Footprint, Clive Maltby, 2008
 * 1. Title, director and release year.**

As humans we consume a lot of resources and have a huge impact on the earth. Everything we use requires a large amount of resources to be produced. These impacts are due to us simply living a “normal” life in our society.
 * 2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film?**

We consume a lot of resources and leave a lot of waste behind. A lot of the products we use are thrown away after we use them where they will last long after we are dead. In order to produce the products we use, it takes a great amount of land and other resources. A lot of the food we eat cannot be grown year round in our climate, they must be preserved by chemicals, cooling, and shipped long distances from tropical climates. Most of the food we eat comes wrapped in containers, which then gets thrown away. Every time we wash off soap, shampoo, or any other cosmetic product, that product is going somewhere in the water. Every time we throw something away, flush it down the toilet, or down the drain, it goes somewhere. Our society is set up where we use a lot of energy through our everyday life without even realizing what impact we are having.
 * 3. What sustainability problems does the film draw out?**

This film does a very good job explaining the amount of resources we consume and presenting it in a way that is easy to understand the scale of it. This film also does a good job explaining more of the total impact of the products we use. Every time it shows the amount of a product that we consume it also tells a little about the amount of resources needed for that product, giving a little more information than we normally would think about. I appreciate the amount of information this film gives about the shipment of products that we consume. The film discusses how we go through many of the same product when a new or better one becomes available. There are many products that I realize we do this with but some like washer machines, air conditioners, refrigerators, and microwaves, I do not normally think of. The film breaks down all the materials that go into making a car, including all the consumable materials. It then breaks down where all these parts come from. This gives a much greater understanding of what goes into the products we use.
 * 4. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why?**

The film talks a lot about the resources we use such as water, but does not give any data about the percentage of total potable water that we use, or how using water is a bad thing. The film discusses in depth about how we throw out and use so many products, and then it tells us to throw out our light bulbs and replace them with cfl bulbs in order to save electricity. This is completely ignoring the film’s previous statements of how many products we use and throw away.
 * 5. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by?**

This film shows how much electricity we need in terms of coal that will be burned. This is one of the highest polluting sources of energy and there are many other sources of electricity that are more sustainable. I want to find more about other sources of electricity and look at electric loads in terms of those sources of energy. For example; how many wind turbines would need to be built in order to power our televisions? I want to find possible solutions to this problem as the film gives none.
 * 6. What additional information does this film compel you to seek out? Where do you want to dig deeper and what connections do you want to make with other issues, factors, problems, etc.?**

This film is best for every consumer in the world. This film will help people realize how much they are really consuming and will hopefully start to consume less. This film will also help people have a sense of how things are connected between products and resources. It will hopefully make people look at the cost of something by the resources that go into it rather than just the price tag.
 * 7. What audiences does the film best address? What kind of imagination is fostered in viewers? Do you think the film is likely to change the way viewers think about and act on environmental problems?**

This film suggests that we only consume what we absolutely need and to re-use more.
 * 8. What kinds of action or points of intervention are suggested by the film?**

This film could have discussed shortages in more of the resources we consume like water. It also could have gone into the effects of all our trash on the environment. This film shows everything we consume in great detail but barely goes into how this affects the environment.
 * 9. What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value?**