An Erin Brockovich sequal has real potential as America’s pollution problems escalate.
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Amid all the controversy surrounding the upcoming Academy Awards are two actual pieces of news. Environmental disasters in California and Michigan rage on. Erin Brockovich calls the ongoing methane leak in southern California the worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
Oil gushing into the ocean gets our blood boiling but invisible gas leaking over 90,000 metric tons thus far into the air hardly moves the empathy needle.
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The other news surrounds a Michigan community that has been devastated economically and is now being poisoned by the something (drinking water) that many in the U.S. take for granted. It seems the obvious lack of diversity in the film industry and the 50th playing of the Super Bowl take precedence in a culture obsessed with make believe. Movies and games grab attention and headlines as make believe continues to rule the day in the Circus Maximus.
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Since October of last year at Porter Ranch, a collection of subdivisions in the San Fernando Valley, an enormous methane leak has been filling the air north of Los Angeles with no real end in sight. According to Huffipost Green contributor, Angie Cordeiro, this disaster has gone on longer than the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. The difference, according to Cordeiro, is we can’t see methane without inferred technology so it’s out of sight, out of mind. It seems we need to see things in order to believe and react to them. Oil gushing into the ocean gets our blood boiling but invisible gas leaking over 90,000 metric tons thus far into the air hardly moves the empathy needle. My guess is Chris Rock will avoid mention of any such calamity at this years ceremony as he hosts the 88th annual “pat ourselves on the back” extravaganza.
Human and non-human lives will pay the price for comfort and convenience.
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Meanwhile in the city of Flint, Michigan residents continue to suffer from a drinking water crisis that began in April of 2014. Lead contamination from pipes is the culprit which has impacted over 10,000 residents with a variety of health related issues. Even though President Obama declared the crisis a state of emergency being enamored with celebrities of the silver screen and sport take precedence as the world burns .
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As the award and football seasons come to an end our unsustainable living arrangement continues to bust at the seams. Human and non-human lives will pay the price for comfort and convenience. At the end of the day we will create a celebrity driven charity and a Hollywood blockbuster to address the travesties that are currently poisoning thousands upon thousands.
I can almost see it now, Julia Roberts reprises her Academy Award winning role as Erin Brockovich, co-starring Denzel Washington and Jennifer Lopez, as they tackle big business interests that drive the very culture they continue to profit from. In her Oscar acceptance speech she’ll mention her charity foundation that brings attention to such tragic events, yet continues to promote sustainable development … as if there is such a thing. Now that’s acting …
and the Oscar goes to …
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Photo: Getty Images
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