Cheat Neutral

Great idea...
Please check out the website and watch the video. You MUST watch the entire video.

http://www.cheatneutral.com/

The disposable is dispensable

Paper cups strewn on the earth
Trampled and tired
Dirty and dull
Their fading label
Wasting away into shreds

Trees are cut down
Landfills pile up
For the short lived life
Of this disposable cup

Thousands of people daily
Line up for this treat
Is it really necessary?
WHY DO WE TREAT THE EARTH LIKE SOMETHING THAT CAN BE GOBBLED UP AND DISCARDED
FOR A FEW MINUTES OF CONVENIENCE?

Take your disposable cup
And your disposable culture too
And replace it with something more sustainable
Would it kill you to use something more than once?

The World According to Monsanto

Explores the prominence that Monsanto has around the globe, how it is often misleading about the safety of its products, and scandals that the company has been involved in. It discusses biotechnology, the affect of 'roundup ready' crops, and the effects that Monsanto has on farmers, communities and consumers around the globe. I liked the diversity of people interviewed for the film, and how it was filmed on location in different areas that are experiencing the negative effects of Monsanto. One thing I didn’t like about this documentary was how it kept showing the woman at the computer looking up things on Google. This is effective in showing how accessible and widespread this information is (search results would show thousands of hits), however it became boring very quickly. It would be effective enough to use that method a couple of times, but it kept going back to it throughout the movie. It also made their research methods seem less reliable. Obviously they did not solely use google to do their research, and all the sources that they showed that came up on google were reliable sources, it just didn’t seem professional to consistently refer back to google, and I felt that they could have shown the documents and highlighted text without constantly showing the woman searching on google, as this would make it far less monotonous and would allow the movie to flow better. The part of the film that I found most interesting was the affects that genetically altered corn is having on traditional farming families in Mexico. They have a local and sustainable food system and Monsanto’s modified seeds are threatening their food sovereignty. I personally do not trust Monsanto one bit, and am concerned for the future of our food system. Monsanto is putting our health, environment, and food security at risk. If we let them control our food system, they basically have control over our lives. This film briefly touched on gene patents, but didn’t talk about the issue of farmers being sued if Monsanto finds plants with their gene in farmer’s fields, or terminator seeds (plants that won’t reproduce, so farmers cannot save seeds, and must rely on Monsanto to buy their seeds every year. This film showed many problems of Monsanto, yet there are even more to explore. This corporation cannot be trusted and I will write an entire blog about it later. This film served as a reminder of Monsanto’s power and made me want to start growing more of my own food.

Sharkwater

Documentary on the shark fin industry and the killing of sharks. Discusses how shark numbers are dwindling and not a lot is being done to protect sharks despite the fact that they are recognized as being endangered. The filmmaker is very passionate about sharks and has spent a lot of time with them in the water, and in this film he questions human perceptions about sharks and tries to prove that they really aren't dangerous. This leads us to ask why people are so afraid of sharks, and maybe this fear is partially why little is being done to protect these animals. The shark fin industry is ruthless and extremely wasteful (the shark is killed for its fins and the rest of the body is thrown back in the water). Why is China holding on so tightly to this 'delicacy', and why have so many other countries become involved in supplying the fins? I found it fascinating how sharks were one of the first mammals on earth (they were here 150 million years before dinosaurs), and the importance they hold in the ocean: being the top predator, they effect all life below them. Several people who are involved in the shark fin industry were interviewed, and they all come off as being extremely ignorant. One man who is a shark hunter simply kills as many great white sharks as he can, and believes that he is saving peoples lives by doing this, to prevent shark attacks. (The film also goes into great detail on how exaggerated the risk of shark attacks is). This film is a reminder of just how difficult it is to regulate what is going on in the oceans, and often laws aren't effective to protect species.