Documentary Reflection

May 25, 2022 By: XUECHUN YAN

Over the past years, environmental activism has exposed societal and government ineffectiveness in protecting nature, demanding effective interventions. The news source “Environment Group Sues BC Government Alleging its Climate Plan Fails to Address Emission Targets Adequately” highlights such efforts. Specifically, the article explains that the Sierra Club BC environmental activist group emphasizes that the BC government has been reluctant to implement the appropriate strategies to curb global warming and protect nature. For instance, it has recently approved different projects that have frustrated the efforts to curb biodiversity loss. Such insights relate to the details that the Unis’tot’enCamp’s 2019 documentary ‘Invasion’ provides regarding the government colluding with irresponsible individuals to shield regions from reaching their targets to control environmental destruction. Like in BC’s situation, the Unis’tot’enCamp’s 2019 documentary ‘Invasion’ highlights how the Canadian government approved the Coastal GasLink pipeline’s development, claiming that the project would boost the region’s productivity.[1] However, the government did not consider the project’s costs, such as breaching the rights of the Indigenous peoples who owned the lands and polluting the environment. I support the view that the government should help rather than frustrate environmental protection efforts.

Civil disobedience is essential and justified in ensuring the conservation of nature. As the Unis’tot’enCamp’s 2019 documentary ‘Invasion’ and other past efforts show, sometimes people need to protest to ensure that the government undertakes its obligation to protect the environment.[2] The success of the Sierra Club in halting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, as the article “Here’s How We Defeated the Keystone XL Pipeline” highlights, proves the justification and significance of civil unrest.[3] Notably, the completion of the project would have polluted the area and affected the land ownership rights of the individuals the pipeline would have passed through. Fortunately, the protests succeeded in stopping the project.

  1. UnistotenCamp, “Invasion,” YouTube, last modified November 1, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R5Uy5O_Ds.
  2. Shapard Krech III, “Reflections on Conservation, Sustainability, and Environmentalism in Indigenous North America,” American Anthropologist107, no. 1 (2005): 80.
  3. Jamie Henn, “Here’s How We Defeated the Keystone XL Pipeline,” Sierra Club, January 31 2021, https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/here-s-how-we-defeated-keystone-xl-pipeline.