Greenpeace

Scary movies are not my thing; never have been, and never will be. I prefer the cheesy romantic movies where you can always count on a happy ending. Which is why I used my weekend to sit through yet another terribly predictable chick flick. I can tolerate those campy scary movies dating from the early ‘90’s because they’re so ridiculous and unrealistic, but it’s the scary movies that make you think, that could happen to me, that I simply cannot watch. But, I guess that’s probably what makes people like them.

A prime example is the new box office hit, The Crazies. People flocked to theaters to endure an hour and forty minutes of chills and thrills, making it third at the box office! The unsettling images portrayed in the movie linger in the minds of viewers long after the credits roll. But why? Because, in all great fiction, lie traces of the truth. What movie-goers don’t realize is that in the case of The Crazies, there is much more than just a trace of the truth hidden beneath the blood and gore, and that’s what makes it so enthralling.

The thriller features a quaint and happy town in Iowa that transforms overnight into a bloodthirsty asylum due to the leak of the fictitious bio-warfare agent, Trixie. One by one the town’s citizens succumb to the toxin and their descent into a violent madness is enough to make you jump out of your seat. Lucky for us, the movie is simply that, a movie. Unluckily for us, the threat that the movie depicts is not just a movie.

The Department of Homeland Security has identified over 6,000 “high risk” chemical plants in the U.S. If an accident or an attack occurred at just 5% of them, 110 million Americans would be put at risk. But wait! All hope is not lost! (Phew). Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 more than 200 chemical facilities have converted to safer chemical processes, eliminating poison gas risks to more than 30 million Americans. But, there are still those stubborn chemical plants that refuse to convert til the law says they have to. But it’s inexpensive to convert to safer alternatives, creates jobs, and it…SAVES LIVES! What’s the holdup?!

Greenpeace identified 169 industry lobbyists assigned to keep Congress from passing a strong chemical security law. Do these people really have nothing better to do than make sure chemical plants remain unsafe? It’s likely that these lobbyists are actually part of the statistic put at risk from the plants they’re defending.

I wish I could pretend these risks weren’t real and I could grab a bag of popcorn, watch yet another romance blossom on screen, and remain oblivious. But, the risks are real and real people are in danger, not just those starring in The Crazies. A person can choose to remain unaware to the problems associated with chemical plants, but that does not mean that these problems will cease to exist. So, I guess if you’re going to learn about the dangers of the industry, you might as well buy yourself a ticket, and enjoy the tense, terrifying, and surprisingly informative ride of the box office hit, The Crazies.