#2. The Human Experiment

The Human Experiment

(Directed by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy)

(Post by Priscilla Velez)

Chemicals are basically everywhere- they line our plastic bottles, children's toys, furniture, and personal care and beauty products. What’s even scarier about the excessive amount of chemicals that surround our lives is the fact that a majority of these chemicals have not yet been tested for safety, but are still placed onto the shelves of stores in which they are of easy access to clueless consumers.

The Human Experiment is a documentary that covers this prominency of chemicals in our everyday lives. The documentary focuses on stories of individuals themselves who have been affected by chemicals in some way and also focuses on the increasingly difficult battle in taking action against the large chemical companies.

Several medical cases influenced by toxic chemicals found in everyday products are shown throughout the film: a couple who experienced trouble in conceiving and carrying a baby to full term, a healthy-as-can-be athlete who was diagnosed with breast cancer, and a young boy who developed autism. Placed together with these medical cases are unbelievable scary facts about recent exponential increases in illnesses and diseases without probable explanation (which is assumed to be due to chemicals):

• Since 1975, cancer rates have gone up 30% in both men and women
• Since 1988, there has been a 49% increase in couples having trouble conceiving and carrying to term
• In 1999, 1 in 500 kids had autism. As of 2013, 1 in 88 kids has autism.
• Other increases include: childhood brain cancer, asthma, leukemia, ADHD, early onset puberty, and life-threatening birth defects.

Throughout the documentary, it is clear and apparent the detrimental effect chemicals have on the health and lives of consumers. Scientists and researchers from highly-respected institutions do not hesitate to admit this occurrence. I however, want to focus on a shameful practice that should be brought to attention; one that emphasizes the greed and criminality of corporations and one that could be viewed as a lesson to be applied to environmental action.

In the United States, there is no official law that requires companies to test the chemicals they use in their products prior to marketing them. This means that companies could use chemicals that are carcinogens and/or affect the human on multiple scales including neurological, hormonal, and reproductive (which often is the case) and not have any obligation whatsoever in disclosing any information about the chemicals to potential consumers. The end result is a mass production of dangerous and potentially lethal products that are readily available to consumers. Consumers, in which, put their trust in companies and assume that these products must be safe since they are allowed to be sold. Even worse, consumers use these products and must unknowingly face the dangerous consequences whilst companies happily count their profit.

Companies love the non-existence of a law that would otherwise require them to test their chemicals and possibly hinder the creation of certain products or force them to find alternatives. In fact, companies love the non-existence of law that requires them to test chemicals so much that they do all they can, especially spending millions, to ensure that such a law is never created. Large billionaire companies have repeatedly shut down efforts to establish chemical-testing laws, most efforts in which are organized by politicians, environmentalists, doctors, and activists.

Not only do these companies shut down efforts, but they also make it a routine practice to constantly misinform the public about the safety of their products using deception, distraction, and strategic marketing.

What made me especially fond and liking of this documentary was not only the fact that it truly helped me realize the large scale in which chemicals are threatening our health, but also the fact that it helped me further realize just how destructing and monstrous companies are. As I have mentioned on my blog before, companies have always only cared about making profit, even if it means at the expense of the environment and health and lives of organisms, including human beings. These companies have consistently disregarded ethics and morals because they have allowed capitalistic thinking and ego to get the worst of them.

The thought of this just disgusts me beyond words. It is important, if not CRUCIAL, that we bring ourselves to a state of conscious awakening, and take serious note of the fact that these companies are our worst enemies. These companies, along with money and economy in general, are largely responsible for almost everything that is wrong with the environment or human health. I just truly hope that people divert away from wanting to contribute to such greedy practices and instead partake in activist efforts.

Call to action: Elect government officials who you are certain will advocate for what’s important and exempt from the corruption and greed of companies. Become educated and informed on issues like the chemical industry and raise awareness. Most importantly, do all you can to make a change.

Something to Think About

Today I read an article from Collective Evolution regarding a Harvard study that explains why bees are disappearing- insecticides known as neonicotinoids. The article finished with this short, yet brilliant paragraph that captures the misconceptions humans have between money/economy and the environment.

"As we continue to take actions like this we continue to see that how we are currently doing things simply cannot be sustained. This type of issue does not just reflect how we treat nature but also reflects how we operate as a whole. If money wasn’t so important, we wouldn’t be finding unnatural ways to do everything on this planet. If we weren’t so concerned with maintaining an economy, issues such as these wouldn’t affect us. This is all a perfect lesson for us to ask “what the heck are we doing to our planet?” We are at a point where our very survival is now threatened because we are fighting so hard to maintain a system we all don’t like anyway."

    I have never been able to understand why humans have become so absorbed and consumed with the thought of money, so much in fact that our obsession has diverted us away from recognizing the true beauty that constantly surrounds us. Why do we find large amounts of money and materialistic items as being more stimulative and exciting than the vast oceans, beautiful species of plants and animals, large mountains, and lush forests? Not only that, but why has our obsession caused us to neglect the care of Earth? Our dear Earth has made everything possible; we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the environment. shelter, food, water, and nutrients it provides us with. 

     When it really comes down to everything, you become very aware of the fact that humans' greed and obsession with money is the largest contributor in the destruction of the Earth. Companies desire money so bad that they destroy forests, kill animals, irresponsibly use important and natural resources, and create products full of harmful or deadly chemicals.

      There are a lot of challenges that environmentalists face. Perhaps one of the biggest challenge is getting people to recognize that money is not more important than the environment.

        With that being said, I hope you all realize what important role you have in changing this unfortunate occurrence. Change starts with us.

Discoveries from a trip to the California Science Center

               Just this past week, I visited the California Science Center, a museum concerning science and technology, located in Exposition Park, California. The California Science Center has a large variety of exhibits and demonstrations that make learning about science an interactive and exciting experience. For example, at the Science Center you can expect to learn about the various ecosystems, biological processes, and space technology. If you are a California resident or a Los Angeles resident, I highly recommend visiting the Science Center. Oh, and did I mention that entry into the permanent exhibits is free?!?!
           Although I enjoyed essentially everything pertaining to the Science Center, I found myself particularly fascinated around the information concerning human impact on the environment. One exhibit known as the Global Zone had plentiful of information about Earth being an ecosystem as a whole. A portion of this exhibit included data about the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.


*Note this legend provided by the California Science Center (courtesy of NASA JPL) that provides information regarding the ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide. The purple color refers to 360 ppm of carbon dioxide, whereas the red color refers to a large amount of carbon dioxide, valued at 410 ppm.

With this information given, the viewer of the exhibit is free to see these how exactly these values correspond to different areas on Earth. The viewer is able to scan through different months within the past year and observe how these values change over time.

 When I scanned to April 2016, this is what I saw.

- This is a physical Earth that was placed in the center of the exhibit. This physical version of the Earth showed that for essentially the whole Earth, the ppm value of carbon dioxide was 410, the highest possible value on the scale provided. Scary isn't? Although I didn't take pictures of the previous months, I observed that the value of ppm drastically spiked from about 360 ppm to 410 ppm in April.

- Here is the same data. but provided in a digital form.
















Although I myself have been very aware of the fact that industrial processes have largely contributed to the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, this exhibit helped me further realize just how drastic that increase is. Essentially our whole EARTH, is covered in extremely large amounts of carbon dioxide. The presence of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere poses huge threats to the environment and organism health, and can lead to global warming, acid rain, eutrophication, and ozone depletion. As always, it is crucial that we all ensure to opt for public transportation/walking and limit energy use to prevent the further entry of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.


     Another exhibit I found something interesting out was the L.A Zone, located in the Ecosystems exhibit. The L.A Zone showed that although Los Angeles is an environment composed of both man-made and natural entities, it still governs the characteristics of an ecosystem. The L.A Zone specifically focused on the difficulties and challenges that humans face in urban areas when it comes to energy, waster, water, and wildlife.
     Now, I didn't get to look that much into this exhibit, but one portion that caught my attention was the landfill portion.

-A glass pillar the height of the room itself was filled up of various landfill components, more specifically plastic. Now, this looks like an excessive amount of plastic right? This amount of plastic doesn't even remotely compare to the amount of plastic that fills landfills, streets, and oceans. Please, remember to limit your use of plastic and recycle!

Here are some other pictures from the landfill portion of the L.A Zone.

All in all, the California Science Center is a great museum to not only learn about science in general, but to fundamentally understand human impact on the environment.