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This gas leak took place in Bhopal, India and I think that the location has an important impact on the aftermath of the situation. After the gas leaked people protested to be compensated for their lost ones but many died before they were able to be justified. I feel that if this happened in America, circumstances would have been different, there would have been more media coverage, and action would be taken more swiftly. The location of this occurrence had an impact with how it was handled after and if it had occurred some place else then it would have been different. 

This film focuses on the environmental and social problem of having large gas (lethal) plants near cities or other populated areas where people can be harmed. Environmentally these gasses are no good because they are emitted into the air and are very soluble in the water which leads to ocean acidification. Ocean acidification makes it so that the ocean has a lower pH level, this can harm marine wildlife. Socially, the gas is toxic to people and as seen in the Bhopal tragedy, it can kill people or severely alter their lives. This could be seen through the immediate deaths of civilians, deformities of children born after the incident, and the families affected even years after hoping for justice.

From watching the video, I feel affected emotionally because it was definitely hard to watch so many people die, especially the innocent children. It is a hard pill to swallow to watch the lives of so many people taken away from them so unexpectedly in their own homes. I feel affected by seeing the photo of the unknown child because it was hauntingly touching as it was for so many people that advocated for justice after this tragedy. It was also really daunting seeing so many people being buried and burned in mass because they were not granted the ability to be respectfully honored for their death which I think is something very valuable. Intellectually I think that this film made me think about how this tragedy could have been possibly prevented if the plant had been maintained and checked up on regularly or if the plant wasn’t so close to a whole city in the first place. And I also feel gratitude to those who are still advocating for justice for the victims and trying to get people with government power to make that change.

Brian Concannon, executive director of the Insitute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a nonprofit in Boston. Fights for human rights on the island of Haiti. 

Carrie Kahn, NPR. National Public Radio, news source. 

President Michel Martelly, Haitain president. 

United Nations

Nepalese soldiers - brought with them cholera to Haiti. Sent from UN.

Ban Ki-moon - U.N. Secretary-General - led plan to eradicate cholera. 

Haitain Ministries of Health and Environment - not trusted by the world to control a trust fund

Jake Johnson - Center for Economic Policy and Research - Washington 

US Government Accountability Office - pricing the cost of building new housing too high

Mission of Hope - NGO helping build houses

US Congressmen - demaing UN Secretary-General take responsibility for outbreak

US District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken - rejected class-action lawsuit that saught to compel the UN to compensate victims and fund cholera eradication

Beatrice Lindstrom - lawter at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti 

The bibliography shows that the author did extensive research and even cited herself a few times. She uses MSF reports and essays, information from the United Nations, WHO, and other experts. 

Emergency responders are portrayed in the film as being understaffed and overwhelmed by the outbreak. They show hospitals having to turn patients away due to being overwhelmed. They also show how Liberians were frustrated with this lack of communication between doctors and the patients. Nurses started dying from the disease, forcing hospitals to close. Responders had to deal with the community's denial of the disease, the lack of education, the rapid spread, and the number of patients. 

I thought every aspect of the film served a purpose and helped shape the documentary.