During the film “The Human Element” the narrator and individuals in the documentary delved into the different elements that exist in our world and how natural disasters and global warming is influencing their prevalence and activity. For instance, wild fires and increasing sea levels was touched upon. Communities that are in danger of being flooded due to increasing sea levels was also emphasized. This particular discussion struck me because most of the families have no choice but to stay in the region because they do not have the means of simply leaving due to financial reasons. Most of the residents work as fishermen, but most other regions are not in need of fishermen.

Although the varying effects of the typical elements were discussed, I found it interesting how the narrators of the film described humans. It is explained that humans can be considered an element because of the drastic impact that they have had on the rest of the planet. It is because of humans that the rest of the planet is currently suffering, because there is a lack of balance. It is mentioned that a lack of balance in nature can lead to drastic effects and that with humans, that is exactly what is happening. The film does provide hope in saying that with a change in behavior, there can be environmental improvement which reminds me of what was mentioned in another documentary: if we let nature reclaim certain parts of the world, eventually we can restore some of what has been lost.

Climate change is often perceived as a “distant” or “unreal” problem, but this movie did a great job of illustrating the fact that many communities are already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change today. The film really highlighted a necessary message of how climate change is a persistent problem, that is hurting not only the environment but people as well. I feel like many documentaries centered on climate change focus more on the effects on the ecosystem while this focuses on “the human element” which is necessary for some people to see in order to realize just how much of a problem climate change is. From the families whose children have severe asthma from extreme pollution to the fishing community struggling to make money with rising sea levels, showcasing the human side of climate change effects was a very interesting and new concept this movie delivered well.

This film was very interesting to me as it showed how environmental changes are affecting the lives of everyday people. As a STEM major, I have taken a lot of classes on greenhouse gasses and how humans are destroying the ozone layer. It was really cool and terrifying to see that the climate is changing so rapidly and how it will eventually affect every part of our lives in the near future if we don’t change our relationship with the envireonment.

The Human Element did a fantastic job at illustrating the current human cost of climate change. Whenever I think about the dangerous consequences of climate change, the first thing that comes to mind is always the rising sea levels from all of the glaciers and polar ice melting. Images of cities like Manhattan, Miami, and Houston all submerged several feet underwater come to mind. But when I think about this, I also picture this happening 100+ years in the future, not now. Although there certainly are effects that can be seen today, I primarily think of the long-term effects of climate rather than the immediate short-term ones.

This is the governing motivation behind this film. It clearly showcases the immediate costs of climate change that we are already paying for. From the people living directly on the Virginia coast to the firefighters who are already having to work overtime, to the coal workers who are rapidly losing their jobs, individual people are already bearing the consequences of climate change.

Films and other media like this are extremely important because we desperately need to sound the climate change alarm bells even louder than they already are.

In watching this documentary, I was most struck by the stories of the coal miners at the end. I think we’re currently undergoing a similar crisis in other industries in America. As technology has advanced, the types of jobs being created are not the ones that most people can just work in without proper training. This is different from the past where labor jobs were enough for people to live on. I think because of this trend, there needs to be a change made in the jobs or some kind of emphasis placed on creating jobs that are actually feasible for people to apply to. Even in the tech industry, most job descriptions require at least five years of experience with technology that’s only been applicable for five years. If some change isn’t made, there will probably be some kind of employment crisis especially because the pandemic has made the job shortages even more severe. Hopefully as we leave the pandemic, companies will be thinking of more equitable ways of hiring employees.

This Friday, I attended the movie showing of The Human Element, a film about environmental change occurring at a rapidly increasing rate.  Unlike most climate change awareness documentaries, however, this film took a more interesting and personal approach (in my opinion) that resulted in a more impactful message.  It highlighted both the current and future impacts that climate change is having and will have, respectively, on everyday, working humans.  For example, the film features a small fishing community that faces the harsh reality of a future sea level rise threatening their business and livelihood.  It also focuses on the victims — in addition to those fighting against — the blazing wildfires that have been wracking California for the last decades.  However, the film isn’t all negative; the final message of the movie is about how the human element, which has been throwing the other elements out of whack, could be the key to bringing all the other elements back into balance if it works to change its habits.

(Originally posted 5/3/21 on the Fall 2020 blog)

I attended the viewing of The Human Element and was very pleased with the experience. I am currently in a class focused on climate change in the arctic and in alpine environments so this movie compounded on that course well. I thought that the film did an excellent job focusing on the effects being experienced by humans in addition to nature, particularly when focusing on the firefighters in the American West. Unfortuanly, I feel sometimes when nature documentaries focus solely on the effects of climate change on the natural world it has less impact than when focusing on humans so potentially this film will inspire more action to mitigate future effects of climate change.

I have to start off by acknowledging that although I do understand and believe that climate change is real and damaging our world, it has never hit terribly close to home, and I’m privileged to live somewhere in the US where the effects of pollution and climate change haven’t affected me or others around me as severely as other places my friends live or the places mentioned in the film.

Watching the documentary informed me of the current effects of climate change on communities, not just those shown on the news like wildfires. It pained me to see people suffering, especially watching the part about Colorado families suffering from asthma, and kids suffering severe asthma that they have to go to the nurses 4-5 times a day. Throughout the documentary, I just kept thinking that it was unbelievable some people still think climate change isn’t real or it’s not a current problem. It’s absurd that some people don’t think that climate change is real or that it’s actually happening, and that it’s some made-up thing. It’s also upsetting to see some people don’t prioritize climate change issues, saying it’s a future problem, it’s not going to affect us now when it clearly not only affects your children/younger generations, but it is also affecting you because it’s happening around us right now. It’s a speedy process that isn’t happening under our eyes right now, so we either ignore it or don’t realize it’s a problem, but if we don’t act, climate change will have a permanent, irreversible for a long time, negative effect on the world, sooner than expected.

By watching the human element, it really made me realize how impactful climate change has been on the world. For example, in the Chesapeake Bay, on a sunny day, parts of the mainland could flood and majorly disrupt people’s lives. A person who lives there could wake up one morning and walk outside and the entire area could be flooded any day, which is crazy. Where I live in California, we have felt climate change as well. For example, temperatures would be consistently higher and record highs would be commonly be broken during the summer. Although it used to rain a moderate amount in the past where I lived, now it rains significantly less. It used to snow where I live every few years or so, but due to climate change, it hasn’t snowed in over 50 years now. Climate change is impactful, and I wish other people to watch this video in order to see how bad climate change is, and how damaging it is not just to people’s lives, but economically. Although it might be cheaper to not save the environment now, it will cost mankind several times the amount in the near future.