Beasts of the Southern Wild and Environmental Justice
As Hurricane Isaac bids farewell to Louisiana, I cannot begin to imagine the sadness of those who lost their homes.?? In the backdrop of an impending hurricane in the south, Director Benh Zeitlin of the movie ???Beasts of the Southern Wild,??? illustrates the attachment, not to one???s tangible house, but to one???s deeply-rooted community and embedded lifestyle.
While on the lowest strung of the economic scale, the characters of the movie find solace on the highest point of a Louisiana tidal basin, they call ???the Bathtub.????? Without running water or electricity, Hushpuppy, the 6-year-old African American protagonist, and her neighbors, live in sorely dilapidated trailers and makeshift dwellings.?? Filthy tires, boxes, and random materials decorate their homes.?? The rebellious community adamantly refuses to evacuate the Bathtub after threats of an impending hurricane guaranteed to drown their small town.?? The unfolding events after the storm reveal the community???s deep affection and loyalty to the land and to their home.
The movie alludes to a levee used to prevent flooding of an industrial plant as a factor that renders the Bathtub susceptible to drowning. ??This strikes an all too familiar theme of environmental justice:??industries supply the most harm to the environment, reap rewards of their manufacturing activities, and suffer the least from the consequential negative environmental impacts. ??In contrast,??the poor and vulnerable shoulder disproportionate burdens of environmental impacts, while contributing the least to the causes of such impacts.?? These populations are on the??front lines??of climate change.?? They are the first to be displaced and uprooted from their homes.
What do you think should be done about this??? How can the human race distribute environmental impacts in proportion to the contribution to the cause of such impacts?
For more information on Beasts of the Southern Wild, please go to http://www.beastsofthesouthernwild.com.
