We live in a very visual world and imagery is very powerful because if you walk into a room with 15 different languages and show them a picture, there is universal understanding of its meaning (Racing Extinction, 2015). I believe society needs to do more than attempt to change the way people see logic with their minds because it’s also about making people change the way they see things intrinsically. It’s easy to forget about issues that don’t affect individuals directly, but you it isn’t easy to unsee groundbreaking art that affects you deeply as an individual. Many great movements of social and human progress are illuminated by art in an attempt to inspire social progress, which is what this film is attempting to do. Dr.Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN messenger of Peace is featured in the film suggesting that “in 200 years people will look back on this particular period and say to themselves, how did those people allow all those amazing creatures to vanish?” I think this relates to the fact that it would be ineffective to attempt to save the species on earth if people are not motivated to be educated into being better stewards. This documentary uses photography to speak to the larger societal issues of the human relationship with our natural environment and the sociological …show more content…
The film focuses on detailing the impacts of human activity and biodiversity with implications that relate to sociological theory. There is a profound recognition that in order for society to make any progress there must be a shift in societal focus. This constitutes pragmatic environmentalism in action, based on our perceptions of the problems and solutions of massive extinctions from human activity (Carolan, 2013). Carolan suggests events that threaten biodiversity will continue to perpetuate further in the coming decades as the climate becomes warmer, more crowded, and more affluent. However, there are viable strategies that are discussed in the pragmatic solutions to ecological issues textbook that are shared by the documentary. Community conservation which is place based and highly participatory takes into consideration the diverse human populations that are connected to biodiversity. This is important to ensure that human populations are not excluded from the habitats that are being conserved. The team of filmmakers implements this strategy by setting up a projection display in Lamakera to show the future generation a different view of the manta rays they are rapidly killing off. They propose a concept of converting their hunting culture into