Educational Media Reviews Online

According to UN figures, there has been a threefold increase in natural disasters from 1970 to 2000. The most significant of these disasters was the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, whose subsequent series of tsunamis killed more than 225,000 people and left many more refugees. The impact of the tsunamis was made greater by the fact that the coastal regions were overdeveloped and densely populated. Clearly, the actions of man upon the environment helped create a new class of refugees—environmental refugees.

Environmental refugees are a growing world problem. Problems linked to global warming and the widespread misuse of national resources has lead to (beginning in 2003) environmental refugees outnumbering both political and war refugees. As environmental damage increases, it is very likely that the overall number of environmental refugees will accelerate toward the end of the century.

The National Film Board of Canada’s documentary, Refugees of the Blue Planet, explores environmental refugees from three widely divergent parts of the globe: the Maldives, Canada and Brazil. Each location faces a different environmental crisis. The Maldives is faced with rising sea levels due to global warming, farmers in the Canadian province of Alberta have had their farmlands expropriated for toxic sour gas wells, and Brazil’s subsistence farmers are being displaced by the monoculture commercial growing of eucalyptus groves.

The rising sea levels in the Maldives are theorized to be due to the melting of polar ice due to global warming. Many of the Maldivian refugees are fleeing the frequent storm surges that are engulfing their eroding islands. American demand for fuel has led the Provincial Government of Alberta to exercise its rights to all resources under the soil by buying out family farms. Unfortunately, the “sour gas” produced by the wells is a toxic blend of sulfuric acid and crude oil. Families living near the wells risk the danger of death and chronic illness from undetectable leaks. Poor self-sufficient Brazilian farmers are losing their land to large corporations who transform their farms into giant eucalyptus plantations that destroy the surrounding ecosystem turning it into an environmental desert.

The Refugees of the Blue Planet juxtaposes pertinent commentary by international environmental experts with interviews of environmental refugees from the Maldives, Canada, and Brazil. Generally, color is vivid and sound is clear in most of the documentary’s segments. Editing is fast paced and thoroughly professional with a variety of camera shots: high angle, mobile, aerial, tracking. Archival television footage is used for past environmental disasters (2004 Indonesia Tsunami) and international conferences. Some of this grainy stock footage is obviously taken from television. Access to the DVD’s chapters is very well organized, and the documentary is available in both English with French subtitles and French with English subtitles.

Like most National Film Board of Canada productions The Refugees of the Blue Planet is a top quality production. It is timely and prophetic in its important message. I highly recommend it to all college and university libraries for their general collections.