- Point of View
The point of view of the video is from people who have lived through the Cuyahoga River having oiled in it and being on fire and witnessed the process of it being cleaned up and evolved into a clean river that has become an attraction of the city. The frame of reference of the video is from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and they interview certain people that have background knowledge about the river and researchers and people that are in organizations and careers that know about the importance of environmental preservation. This creates a perspective of hope for the future and positive change in environmental politics.
- Purpose
The purpose of this video is to inform about a historic event that marked an important turning point for environmental science and change. The Cuyahoga River burning brought about change in policies by implementing the Clean Water Act. The goal of the video is to show people how that policy came into place and how important keeping our water and environment clean is.
- Questions at Issue
The issue presented in this video is excessive water pollution and the damages it has on the lives of those in and around it. It also presented the issue of not knowing how to clean up environmental pollution at the time.
- Information
The sewer district had an investment of about 5 billion dollars into cleaning the Cuyahoga River. Everyone that lives there including the mayor, the EPA, and businesses have observed that it's a completely new place and that if the river was filled with oil, the city wouldn't be what it is today. It is a big, clean river, so it makes for an attraction spot for tourists, white water rafters, businesses like restaurants have started popping up along the river, overall the city's economy has grown and peoples' quality of life has increased because of the river being clean. It's even housing fish, which shows the researchers and government that the river has benefitted and improved and that it was worth it to clean it up.
- Interpretation and Inference
The video explained that although it was not good what happened at the burning river, important conclusions and solutions were made from it that changed the world for the better. For example, Elaine Marsh explains that no one knew how to make the river better or how to get it cleaned up, it seemed almost impossible. They did not have any technology made for things like that that we have today and they also had no knowledge about what was an environmentally safe way to take out and dispose of the harmful chemicals and hazards in the water. The cleanup of the river forced a development of an education system where people started to learn how to handle these situations, which opened ways for future research, which opened new careers and even better ways of cleaning up and preserving the natural environment. The river incident brought about the Clean Water Act which brought about policies on industrial discharges and clean water.
- Concepts
The Clean Water Act establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The Environmental Protection Agency is the independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters.
- Assumptions
One thing people in this video might take for granted is the money aspect of making the river the best it can be. Not everyone wants their taxes to go towards it, even if it might be what's in the city's best interest for it's growth. Those in this video that love the river are assuming everyone knows the benefit of it and how great it is and can be. Some people just don't care. I don't think it's really that big of a deal though.
- Consequences
The outcome and effects of the burning of the Cuyahoga River and the cleaning of it is that it brought about the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. This set things up for future acts that would further help the environment. It marked a large turning point in the protection of the earth and gave hope to advocates and people in the nation. It also gives every day people exposure to what serious effects we can have on the environment if left unchecked and how important it is to make sure we have these policies in place and to take care of and keep clean our environment.
Grant, Julie. “How a Burning River Helped Create the Clean Water Act.” The Allegheny Front, 21 Apr. 2020, https://www.alleghenyfront.org/how-a-burning-river-helped-create-the-clean-water-act/.
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