Velasco, Jan Ross D.

MW 10:30 12:00

AB-POSC LPS 2

February, 23, 2015

Reaction Paper On The Movie Erin Brockovich

The past 2 meetings the class had a film showing on Erin Brockovich which has the context on
the country of USA which was on the height of its industry development the movie actually
sends a message on the effects of development in the industry of a country on its citizens where
we can see that there are good effects in terms of the economic aspects of the country and also
bad effect in the environment and health of the citizens of a country which was clearly shown in
the movie on how and why sometimes huge developments are not always giving us always the
positive effects and that there are consequences of development that will have long term effects
on the world, In the movie it was shown the bad effects of development but also with the lack of
concern of the company as far as I have understood in the context of the movie development
brought new jobs to the people of Hinckley but the cost of that came through the expense of their
health though there are government policies that mitigate the abuses and also carelessness of
companies like the one in the movie as seen in the movie the company PG&E was careless in
their treating the compressor plants for the natural gas used for electric supply which resulted
into the hexavalent chromium being leeched onto the groundwater which resulted to the health
problems of the citizens.
Though in the movie settlements were given to the people who are affected by that said issue we
found out that even until now there are still issues that surround the said case like the effects of
the contamination is still on study as according from the Groundwater Remidiation Program of
Hinkley is that they are still determining the final solution on what they will do with this problem
there were still proposed projects making a new water system but was not deemed feasible due to
the small number of houses and huge expenses of the project that it will cater to. But according
to news reports it was found out that there are still unsolved cases just like what was stated above
on the problem of the chromium that was left by the towns plants that boomed during the 1950s
which was the start of the growth of its industries in parts of the electricity infrastructure of the
town.

The situation in Hinkley is one of the prime examples why there should be policies that keep in
check on the part of development thought in some cases companies would still try to bypass
these checks and balances which are the policies on how the development should go specifically
on issues like the environment and how these companies should be kept in check as like what
happened in the movie is a fine example of what happens when development is done carelessly
and with just the profit in mind of the company as what I learned in the discussions development
needs to be holistic which also includes the welfare of the people and also caring for the
environment that they live in this is why there are government agencies that are specified on the
preservation of the environment and also there is no problem with development specifically on
the sector of manufacturing industry as it helps with the countrys economy but there should also
be a specific plan so in order not for it to harm the health of the people a fine example of this
case would be in the context of china which has a large and still growing industry in the world
but its cities have the most polluted air due to its huge industrialization, this might be the case as
what happened in Hinkley where growth of industry with in part of failure of the companies to
keep in check what would be the effects of these things that they are doing, Though
industrializing is not expected to have really no side effects it can be mitigated to avoid huge
damage that as damages that are done or would happen in these issues have long term effects to
the population which is quite saddening to see that there are people being harmed in the path to
development which should not be the case as development should be holistic in its application.
Over all as I have iterated in this short essay that development is not bad there should only more
things needed to be done in order to safeguard the holistic path that it might take in order to
lessen the costs and bad effects that might happen if these things are not placed in the spotlight
although there might be bad effects might happen in the path to development it should be we
should however note carefully that we as citizens can help if we empower ourselves to uphold
what is right just like what the protagonist did in the movie which was very admirable to stand
up due to the adverse effects that afflicted the populace of Hinkley due to the careless operating
procedures done by the company the movie overall sets a tone on the effects of industrialization
of a specific place which is happening all over the world right now where we need to keep up
with other countries in order to develop in economic aspects of the country.

Sources:
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21583245-china-worlds-worst-polluter-largestinvestor-green-energy-its-rise-will-have
http://www.hinkleygroundwater.com/hinkley-water-cleanup-proposal-issued-by-state-regulators/
http://www.sbsun.com/article/zz/20130709/NEWS/130709253
https://ngwa.confex.com/ngwa/2013gws/webprogramarchives/Paper8830.html
http://www.hinkleygroundwater.com/hinkley-resident-truth-needed-to-move-on/