Movie Review: Eight Billion Angel
Eight Billion Angel is a fully documentary movie created by director Victor Velle. It has a very interesting opening which opens with a montage of high-resolution shots of nature: frothy ocean waves, white-blue coral reefs, birds skimming a lake, a tree with a young girl perched on it. The central idea that Victor Velle expressed throughout the movie was the question of : Is there too many people on earth? The movie is talking about this problem the whole time. Moreover, it also talks about environmental problems that the population brought such as air pollution, global warming etc.
The documentary movie was divided into three main sections which are oceans, land, air and rivers. The film connects between an oyster farm in Maine, a marine research lab in Japan, farmland in the American Midwest and the polluted air and waters of New India. Overall the movie examined the effects of overpopulation, how humanity is depleting natural resources, and analyzing possible solutions to implement before it is too late.
One sensitive topic that the film mentioned in the first hour was the china one child policy back twenty years ago. But once China released the two child policy, we can see from the film it illustrated a massive population boost, almost every family wanted a second child, this doubled the number of the next generation which created many serious environmental problems in the future. From warming waters to depleting resources to unchecked industrialization. Whether it's overfishing in Japan or extractive farming in the U. S. or, well, seemingly everything happening in India - bad air, bad water, big poverty - the culprit is always us trying to meet the demands of more "us." The movie is saying that because we have more desire toward many resources, problems appear. One important point Velle illustrated was that sustainability issues start with consumption excess in developed nations, not poor families in depressed places trying to survive. In that respect, we learn one child born to an American of means is the resource-scarfing equivalent of 40 Bangladeshi kids.
One of the Mina point of the movie is not just explaining to the audience of the problem we are facing:Climate change, ocean acidification, depletion of aquifers, toxic air pollution, deforestation - those are just the symptoms. The cause is overpopulation. The movie is trying to advocate for a change in everyone, everyday life.we add 80 million more people every year to the earth, who together consume more resources faster than the world can replenish, and emit more waste than the earth can naturally absorb. It is critical to offer an alternate vision for the future. If we, as individuals, families and nations, band together by pursuing smaller families, supporting the worldwide adoption of accessible and affordable family planning, and strengthening our global commitment to the education and empowerment of women and girls, we will not only bring tremendous social justice, economic prosperity and health equity to billions.
The documentary movie was divided into three main sections which are oceans, land, air and rivers. The film connects between an oyster farm in Maine, a marine research lab in Japan, farmland in the American Midwest and the polluted air and waters of New India. Overall the movie examined the effects of overpopulation, how humanity is depleting natural resources, and analyzing possible solutions to implement before it is too late.
One sensitive topic that the film mentioned in the first hour was the china one child policy back twenty years ago. But once China released the two child policy, we can see from the film it illustrated a massive population boost, almost every family wanted a second child, this doubled the number of the next generation which created many serious environmental problems in the future. From warming waters to depleting resources to unchecked industrialization. Whether it's overfishing in Japan or extractive farming in the U. S. or, well, seemingly everything happening in India - bad air, bad water, big poverty - the culprit is always us trying to meet the demands of more "us." The movie is saying that because we have more desire toward many resources, problems appear. One important point Velle illustrated was that sustainability issues start with consumption excess in developed nations, not poor families in depressed places trying to survive. In that respect, we learn one child born to an American of means is the resource-scarfing equivalent of 40 Bangladeshi kids.
One of the Mina point of the movie is not just explaining to the audience of the problem we are facing:Climate change, ocean acidification, depletion of aquifers, toxic air pollution, deforestation - those are just the symptoms. The cause is overpopulation. The movie is trying to advocate for a change in everyone, everyday life.we add 80 million more people every year to the earth, who together consume more resources faster than the world can replenish, and emit more waste than the earth can naturally absorb. It is critical to offer an alternate vision for the future. If we, as individuals, families and nations, band together by pursuing smaller families, supporting the worldwide adoption of accessible and affordable family planning, and strengthening our global commitment to the education and empowerment of women and girls, we will not only bring tremendous social justice, economic prosperity and health equity to billions.