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Gasland Josh Fox Analysis

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Gasland Josh Fox Analysis
Matt
Eng

Gasland
Josh Fox, International WOW Company,
, 2010

Gasland is a documentary written, produced and directed by founder and artistic director of international WOW Company, Josh Fox. The film won six awards including Special Jury Prize in 2010 Sundace Film Festival and was also nominated for an Academy Awards for best documentary in 2011. The film shows effects of natural gas drilling on water sources and the environment. It also shows the influence of big businesses on legislatures that leaves the very own people who elected them to represent, unheard, ignored, misrepresented and hopeless. It is the best work of Josh Fox so far. The film makes good effort to convince us that fracking is contaminating drinking water sources
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Once he finds out that fracking (hydraulic fracturing) has been taking place in 35 states he begins his trip. Almost all the people he interviews feel that fracking is contaminating drinking water sources. The people interviewed also had to say that the public health and safety is least of the concern for these natural gas companies. The film shows that it has affected people through out United States. Many of those who lived close to extraction sites had shown symptoms of diseases or poisonings for example loss of hair, headaches and muscle aches. There were some severe cases like cancer, neuralgia and permanent brain damage. The loopholes created by politicians like Dick Cheney to exempt fracking from certain emission standards including Safe Drinking Water act and the corporate greed has been blamed for all the problems that is considered to be associated with …show more content…
These people were going through many problems like they could not use tap water due to hazardous contamination present in the tap water, their pets are chemically burned, they were getting sick and some of them could not even step out of their houses due to polluted air. But their main problem was nobody who actually could help or could make difference would listen to them. In this kind of situation their voice being heard by the entire nation was half battle won and Fox does exactly that for them. However I was little disappointed when I did research to verify the validity of supporting evidence presented in the movie. Only somewhat credible evidence shown is the EPA representative, however, he doesn’t make a formal statement hence does not contribute in a meaningful way. Another piece of evidence he used was lab reports of the fluid in the jar that was handed to him by an unknown person who could have possessed if from anywhere. Since this source was not trustworthy, Fox should not have been used the result to support his theory that fracking is reason of contamination. Fox claimed that chemicals used in fracking polluted the river with dead fish; but according to Energytribune, even before Gasland was shot, EPA reported that it was due to toxic build up, the result of discharges from coalmines. It is true that there are some

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