On Monday, February 29^th, I went to the Cornell Cinema to see a film screening of Racing Extinction. The film, which largely focused on the growing extinction and abuse of ocean life, showed viewers how badly we are treating our environment and what will happen if we continue to abuse wildlife in such a way. The film had many grotesque images of the cruelty occurring, which made me and some of the other rose scholars I spoke to after the film upset and angry with the way our environment is being treated.

One of the most memorable sections of the film involved a fishing village in Indonesia that hunts manta rays. Manta rays were becoming increasingly valuable, as their gills were believed to have medicinal purposes. Killing and selling these rays was the village’s only source of income, so the people of the village were uninterested in stopping the hunting. However, the makers of the film told the villagers that if they continued to hunt the manta rays at the rate they were currently, the population would completely disappear, and there would be no source of income for their children or their children’s children. To help fix this problem, the village is working on becoming a tourist attraction, where the manta rays can serve as a source of income without being harmed. This seems to be a great situation, as all parties involved are gaining and helping the environment.

Other memorable scenes from the film included a busting of a popular sushi restaurant in California that was selling whale meat and several undercover trips to black market dealers in China. It amazed me how high the demand was for endangered animal products; a demand so high and profitable that sellers are willing to break the law and hurt the environment to provide people with these products. The film really helped to open my eyes to issues occurring all around the world, and if the film’s popularity rises, we may be able to stop this mass extinction and environmental harm before it is too late.