BogdanFieldFilmNotes5

Chemical Valley, the documentary, starts off with a chemical plant leak in Bhopal, India. Union Carbide was the plant, and there is another plant located in West Virginia. The film focuses on the controversy the plant creates in the community. Most of the community is against Carbide because of the pollution and the health concerns. Carbide is shown to fail to alert the community whenever anything happens, increasing the concerns of the community. However, Carbide is also a big part of the community and is necessary for jobs.

A Century of Controversy starts off talking about chemicals spilled in Charleston. This particular chemical spill infected the water and caused numerous problems for the community, health concerns being the primary concern. This town has had a history of chemical problems, which has led to the nickname of Chemical Valley. The article discusses past problems for Chemical Valley to build up for the community’s want, and need, for better control of the chemicals for their own safety.

For a fence line community, the pollution and its effects are fairly obvious. They live with it every day and, for children, it’s been accepted as a normal part of life. It’s important for children to learn that it’s not a normal part of life, that it’s not good for them, and that there are things that the community can do to try and change things.

The first way to teach students in fenceline communities the dangers of their environment is by showing students other communities that don’t have these problems would be the goal. A field trip to somewhere far enough away from the factories could work. They should be far enough away that they can’t see the pollution from the factory or smell it. Somewhere where they could breathe clean air. If their community can light their water on fire, showing them that other places don’t have this problem would be a visual that they can remember. Also, they could potentially taste the different between clean water and the polluted water they have. This could be added to by showing students that even on days where they can’t see or smell the pollution, it’s still there. Something similar to the dye activity we did with Tamarac would demonstrate this.

For the second, an activity that demonstrates how bad the chemicals are would be ideal. This way the students could learn that though this might be a normal part of their life, it’s not good at all. What exactly would be done to demonstrate this would vary depending on the grade being taught. For younger kids, a simplistic demonstration with something typical like plants being watered with vinegar water so they can see the impact would work. For older students, a more complex demonstration would be better.

For the third, watching a documentary about other communities who share in their problems would be helpful. This would show the students that they aren’t the only ones with these problems and that there are things that can be done to change them. The community can take action to make things better. Showing what kinds of action are effective would be a useful tool.

To add to this, one could teach students what the companies have at stake. This would allow the students to see why the company might not be keen on fixing the problems and help them understand how companies might avoid responsibility. Researching the company could help them see what the company has at stake. One could use other documentaries to show examples of other companies.