Film & Theater Studies

Protect the World from Global Warming

It is currently in air that global warming has become a great threat to our environment. This has raised eyebrows and the entire world is set out to counter the monster. It is also clear that everybody can participate in fighting global warming but large-scale greed has harmed our individual livelihoods or the environment. If everybody takes part in the war against global warming, our environment will cease being a victim of global warming, a factor that will lead to the generation of more income and increased production. It will not only increase production, but also increase our lifespan on the planet. The discharge of industrial gases into the atmosphere causes this pandemic, which is threatening the lives of the current generation.

It is clear that air pollution is a paramount threat to our environment. It causes depletion of the ozone layer and leads to global warming. Global warming is the increase in temperature of the earth’s atmosphere caused by the increased heat on the earth’s surface. This is because of the direct heating of the earth’s surface by the sunrays. It is likely to increase because of the emission of gases into the atmosphere that cause destruction to the ozone layer (Anderson, 2010). The ozone layer does the work of protecting the earth surface from the direct rays of the sun. It is therefore beyond doubts that its destruction is likely to cause direct exposure of the earth’s surface to the sunrays. This is detrimental to our environment because it leads to decreased production in different sectors.

Agriculture is the prime sector affected by global warming as agricultural production generally goes down when this occurs. This is because of the loss of water from the earth’s surface to the atmosphere through evaporation caused by the heating of the earth’s surface by direct sunrays. It is because of this loss that agriculture and other important sectors flop in terms of production. There is no any other cause to this pandemic but our own ignorance to environmental conservation.

The film unfolds with a story about the invention and development of the commercial car. In addition to the invention and progress of the electric car, it also shows the commercialization bit of the car. The positive and negative effects of the car cover the storyline of the film. It emphasizes on the General motors EV1intended for lease in Southern California. This was after the passing of the ZEV mandate in 1990 by the California air resource board. It discusses the implications of actions remarked for atmosphere pollution, Middle-East politics and global warming.

The Automobile manufacturers, the oil industry and George W. Bush led to the California Air resource Board’s reversal of the mandate after filing a case against the movement. The film brings to light that Bush’s prime influences .Condoleezza Rice and Andrew card are all incumbent executives and board members of the oil and auto companies. It is also pointed out that EV1 was eliminated from General Motors line in 1999. In the film, General Motors gives an explanation on the reasons for withdrawing the contract given to them. It gives vague explanations on the reasons behind the cutting-off of the mission. It points out that it was unable to produce the electric car after considering the fact that its demand was very low hence the reason for them to take back EV1 and dispose of them (Anderson, 2010).

Some of the cars are disabled and given out for educative purposes to universities and Museums. The protagonists also ordered General motors to crush the remaining cars. A blackmail of 1.9 million triggered the crushing of the remaining cars. General Motor’s chief members of the board received this amount in order to terminate the project. In the film, Alexandra Paul’s arrest is for attempting to block the General Motor’s car carriers from taking the remaining EV1s off for crushing. The film gives a plot of some of the reasons behind the combined efforts by auto and oil industries to terminate the presence of the electric car. In the film, Wally Ripel explains that most of the oil producing companies was afraid of losing trillions of dollars of profit earned from their transportation fuel monopoly over the coming years.

Auto companies were afraid of losses over the next six months. Other people came up with different reasons behind the termination (Anderson, 2010). An example is General Motors spokesman who said that it was because of lack of consumer interest due to high charge consumption (80-100 miles per charge).The film also shows the failed attempts to combat the cancellation of the EV1 and the existing vehicle. The film ends by indicating an upcoming revenge for the electric car.

The central message of the film is greed. This is because of the fact that, we human beings do not seem to conserve our environment due to our greed and desire for accumulation of more wealth. The people who are in big positions are the big contributors to global warming. They are out to make money without thinking of the harms they cause to the environment. The film talks of prominent people in the United States being involved in the fueling of global warming. They encourage air pollution by supporting auto and oil companies while on the other side killing the electric car. They encourage emission of gases into the atmosphere by encouraging the coming back of the EV1. It is out of greed for money that these people are involved actively in the process of depleting the atmosphere. They are great shareholders of the oil producing companies and even prominent board members of the companies (Fuhs, 2008)

The fact that the companies have monopoly in the supply of oil products makes them earn a lot of money out of the activity. It is therefore evident that large-scale greed for money will harm our livelihoods and environment (Weiss, 2008). The film uses greed for money to portray man’s selfish nature of acquiring wealth. Leaders in the film are the greediest people who do not care about the people they are representing. Instead of them taking the obligation of doing away with emission of gases into the atmosphere, they participate actively in the activity of polluting the environment.

Egocentric desires of our leaders portray how dangerous it is to have greedy leaders (Fuhs, 2008). They are capable of causing a major life mishap that people will live to remember, global warming. For the film director to make the message easy to understand to the viewer, he uses cinematic aspects like extreme close-ups and slow motion. . This is evident in the film by the appearance of slow motion pictures of electric cars in extreme close-up. An example is the cables that connect the cars and the electric wires. It is beyond doubts that they make one understand the message in the film as they boost one’s reasoning.

It is important that people from different parts of the world come together to discuss about the issue of global warming. Measures towards the combating of this monster will work if only governments combine efforts in the activity. People should also put efforts towards ceasing air pollution caused by the emission of gases into the atmosphere. In my own opinion about the film, it was very unfair of George W. Bush and his counterparts to stop the production of the electric car. The electric car would lead to decreased global warming unlike the EV1 that increases emission of gases into the atmosphere causing the depletion of the Ozone layer.

 

Works Cited

Anderson, Judy. Electric and Hybrid Cars: A History. London, UK: McFarland, 2010. Print.

Fuhs, Allen. Hybrid Vehicles and the Future of Personal Transportation. Westminster, London: CRC Press, 2008. Print.

Gordon, Deborah. Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

International Documentary Association. Documentary, Volume 25. Shacklewell La, London: International Documentary Association, 2006. Print.

Weiss, Joseph. Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. Bedford Row, London: Cengage Learning. 2008. Print.