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Program 4: 'The Devil We Know' - Climate Change Is A Labor Issue. Salute to NYLHA!

  • Cinema Village 22 East 12th Street New York, NY, 10003 United States (map)

The chemistry of a cover-up.

The Devil We Know - Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical - now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans - into the drinking water supply.

When Wilbur Tennant noticed the cows on his family farm were mysteriously dying, he suspected it might be tied to the adjacent “non-hazardous” land fill operated by DuPont. When he filmed what was happening on the farm and contacted a lawyer, the toxic legacy of C8 – DuPont’s Teflon chemical – was discovered.

Then one autumn day in 2000, local schoolteacher Joe Kiger opened his mail and found a letter in his water bill informing him that C8 was in his drinking water, but safe for consumption. Most people would throw the letter away – and most did – but Joe Kiger is different.

The trail of deception he and his wife Darlene uncovered made the sleepy town of Parkersburg the epicenter of one of the largest class action law-suits in the history of environmental law.

Internal documents and secret in-house studies reveal a disturbing truth: DuPont had knowingly been pumping a poisonous chemical into the air and public water supply of more than 70,000 people for decades.

DuPont factory workers who handled C8 on a daily basis - people like Ken Wamsley and Sue Bailey - confront the company that exposed them to C8 and its negative health effects. (2018, 1 hr 35 min)

Shorts (to precede):

NYSNA 2018 Year In Review - The NY Nurses Association accomplished many heroic feats at the bedside and beyond. (2018, 5 min)

L’Eau Est La Vie: The Fight At Standing Rock Continues In the Bayous of Louisiana - The fight for water and life continues! Energy Transfer Partners—the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock—is trying to extend that pipeline through the largest US wetland swamp in Louisiana, the Atchafalaya Basin. (2018, 10 min)

The Reason We’re Still Here - Residents of Youngstown, Ohio, take on the fracking companies that have poisoned their drinking water and destroyed their economy. Over the last decade, the Rust Belt city has become increasingly divided between those in support of job development and those who seek to protect access to clean drinking water. The Reason We're Still Here provides a unique window into lives of union members, community organizers and residents on each of these conflicting sides, raising the question of whether economic livelihood must exist in opposition to a healthy and safe environment. (2018, 15 min)

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