Reflection

Reflection

We decided to make a film about an issue that’s relevant to the San Francisco Bay Area because the Bay is a central part of our community. It is so important to us, our friends, and our families, yet so many of the people around us have no idea about the dangers – besides the great white sharks – that exists in the waters of the Bay. In elementary school we learned about the Gold Rush, but we were never taught about the impacts that this pivotal time period had on the Bay ecosystem, let alone that is continues to poison the water and animals of the Bay.

We were also interested by this topic because it has to do with environmental justice – something that comes up often in relation to the Bay and its lower-income communities. Not only does the mercury in the Bay negatively affect the wild organisms that live there, but it poisons the fish that people from lower-income households sometimes rely on for food.

We hope that with this video we can make an impact on our community by raising awareness about the presence of mercury in our Bay, about the history and sources of that mercury, about how it impacts the less-fortunate in our community, and about the various cleanup efforts being made to remedy this centuries-old problem. By doing so, we hope that more people will be inspired (like we were) to learn about the Bay ecosystem and to care about its health.