Analysis Of Erin Brockovich By Director Steven Soderbergh

Water contamination is vastly becoming an alarming issue across the world. We rely on clean water to survive, yet right now we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution (www.nrdc.org). Clean and plentiful water is the cornerstone of prosperous communities. Yet as we enter the 21st century, swelling demand and changing climate patterns are

Water may be a renewable resource, but the world’s supply of drinkable fresh water is being consumed more rapidly than ever before, and most importantly, more rapidly than it can be replenished. Only 2.5% of water on Earth is fresh

In the fourth chapter, “Fouling Our Own Nests,” of Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It, Robert Glennon discusses the dangers of water contamination that plague many parts of the United States. His main claim that water pollution requires the help of the entire population stems from an unmentioned warrant: contaminating the national water supply with chemicals from individual communities and industries is detrimental to American society. In order to strengthen his argument, Glennon showcases the impacts of local contamination issues on larger populations and utilizes quantitatively intimidating statistics to solidify his position and inspire his readers to fight for better water regulation.

Among all of the resources in the world, there is one that we do not often consider to be diminishing. The masses take this resource, water, for granted. When the average person takes a single look at a world map, they see multiple blue oceans covering the Earth. But, although we are surrounded by water, our clean water reserves dwindle rapidly. In her article, “Water Works”, Cynthia Barnett attempts to bring this issue to greater light and offers her own solutions. While I agree with many of Barnett’s points, she fails to look at the arguments of her detractors to the detriment of her already flawed case.

Our planet, Earth, is nicknamed the blue planet because of the large amounts of water existing on it. There are 332 million cubic miles of water on the surface of planet Earth (Lyons). Although we have so much water, many of the people on Earth don’t have access to it. More than a million people do not have access to safe and clean water. Planet Earth has millions of cubic miles of water but we are polluting our waters too much. Soon there may not be any clean and safe water for us to survive on. Water pollution is very harmful to the environment and it is causing many disasters on the planet. It is one of the most important problems the Earth is facing.

At the beginning of 21st century, droughts and contamination of water around the world were having a huge impact on the quality of life, a decrease of crop production, decrease in drinkable water, and the economy as a whole. In Flint, Michigan, the corrosion of water pipes (resulting from a switch in the water supply) lead to a contamination of the water. Lead seeped into the water, then E. Coli was found, and later on, Flint’s water failed to pass the standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act when byproducts of chemical purifiers were found. Flint still does not have full access to clean drinking water (Kennedy, 2016). At times like these, people need a way to cheaply purify and, sometimes, desalinate water so they can survive. For most

The 1995 film The Usual Suspects directed by Bryan Singer demonstrates the lifestyle of criminals whose decisions caused an explosion at the San Pedro Harbor, killing many men with few survivors. As police gather evidence about a recent explosion in the harbor, con man Roger Kint tells the US Customs agent the events that led up to the explosion. He starts his story when he and four other men, Fenster, Keaton, McManus, and Hockney, were in a line-up, then stuck in a cell together while waiting for bail. These men decide to plan a job to get revenge on the cops. All goes well until the mythical Keyser Söze becomes in charge of these men.

Combining oxygen with hydrogen extracted from hydrazine is how Mark Watney, in the movie “The Martian,” made water on Mars. We are going to need Watneys on earth too. 97% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, but 96% of that is saline. And it gets worse. 3.4 million people die every year due to waterborne diseases. Water purification is a grand challenge today and is at the same scale as global warming and depletion of nonrenewable natural resources. I want to address this challenge.

Erin Brockovich, a 2000 Jersy Film Production, staring Julia Roberts is based on a true story that involved Pacific Gas and Electric Company using hexavalent chromium or chromium six as a rust inhibitor to prevent corrosion of pistons used in engines. According to the movie, for fourteen years, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company had been dumping water containing chromium six into ponds and covering them over. The ponds were not lined and the chromium based water leaked into the local water supply exposing residents of Hinkley, California to chromium six. Repeated exposure to hexavalent chromium causes chronic headaches, cancer, nose bleeds, bone and organ deterioration, respiratory failure, liver failure, heart failure, bone or organ

Hinkley groundwater contamination refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) dumping millions gallons of chromium-tainted wastewater into local wastewater spreading ponds around the town of Hinkley, California. PG&E used chromium VI which is one of the cheapest and

Erin ended up discovering that the water in Hinkley, California was contaminated with hexavalent chromium which is poisonous and was causing all the residents to get very sick. Throughout the film Erin and the lawyer, Ed Masry, end up getting over 600 plaintiffs who suffered significant damages to testify against the company PG&E. What started out as a small case turned into a multi-million dollar lawsuit all because of Erin. The film Erin Brockovich legitimates

The United States has one of the safest H2O supplies in the world. If you are among the 286 million Americans that get their water from a community water system, your tap water is regulated by the United States Environmental

As the worlds population grows, it is forced by circumstances that it has created to face the limitations of the worlds resources. Most people in the US have always been fortunate enough to have enough of whatever they wanted. When something they like breaks or wears out, they throw it away or buy a new one, and they often don’t even make an attempt to repair an item. They neglect basic maintenance until they damage their belongings beyond repair, and expect that they’ll always have enough. But some things are beyond their control, beyond there power or financial ability to replace or repair. The world’s drinking water supply is one of these without concern, without attention, without preventative maintenance and reclamation and

In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.

Few resources are essential to human survival. Access to clean water is the most critical of all. Water is a vital resource responsible for sustaining all life on earth. However, clean water is in short supply, but in high demand in all parts of the world. It is thought that most Americans have access to safe, affordable, clean water right from their taps. However, the media is uncovering the true nature of America’s deteriorating water situation. Americans have reason to be seriously concerned about the state of their drinking water. So what really is on tap in America?