Gasland, the less commendable view of Natural Gas in the United States

The movie Gasland by Josh Fox, proves undoubtedly that the techniques and methods for drilling, known as hydro-fracturing are extremely environmentally unfriendly. Although many of the camera views attempt to appeal to the viewers emotions it remains true that behind these shots are well researched facts that have caused this undesirable outcome.

The author uses shots that go from a blurry unknown into very emotional pictures, such as sickly people who are wearing gas masks just to breath. Although this is merely showing the outcome of the money hungry mongrels who could careless about the environment and their neighbors, it is also a powerful appeal to emotion. We all care about our neighbors and country men, and although some big corporation workers may have pushed those feelings deep away in order to make a quick buck. Seeing fellow human beings sickly and bent over with gas-masks on; such as if they were thirty years older and had been tortured in some third world conditions tends to be worry some. We work to improve living conditions in other countries to get them up to our living standards with food and water, yet in our own country the living conditions are becoming more dangerous than Chernobyl. Not because of some catastrophic accident, but because fully aware people are willing to risk the safety of millions of people for their own personal gain.

Fox also uses the image of dead animals to hit on that emotional reaction viewers get when they see cute animals such as rabbits and birds dead from our actions. Because the animals had been kept frozen in the woman's freezer they maintained a very live like appearance which I think helped make the emotional connection that the animals really were alive at some point and in fact died because that stream that they used to get there water from became toxic with natural gas and chemicals from the drilling process.

Although it seems like the movie affects people very emotionally the film was based almost completely around the facts of Natural Gas fracting. He named off hundreds of chemicals that were used in the fracting process and the affects they had on both the environment and on humans. There is of course the proof that normal tap water coming from peoples faucets was flammable enough to the point where it could be lit on fire while flowing out of the faucet. The affects of many of the chemicals were loss of smell, permanent lung damage, prolonged exposure led to cancer, and some such as arsenic and lead just poisoned the body themselves.

Fox's Gasland brought to the surface a the monstrosity behind the large oil and gas companies that were doing this and silencing the people. Although this movie brings out something that should be extremely important to the people, I guarantee a very small number of people have seen this movie and heard what it has to say. Fox didn't only bring a topic to the light, but he explored the topic first hand on film and found evidence everywhere he searched to prove that the oil and gas companies were in the wrong.