Sacred Water Standing Rock Documentary Analysis

The documentary Sacred Water: Standing Rock was a moving and startling narrative about the various environmental and social impacts of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The documentary is hosted by Sarian Fox. Fox visits Standing Rock, a camp set up by the Sioux’s tribe to protest the presence of construction workers on the reserve land. The documentary captures how the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline would impact the lives of the people living on the reserve as well as other residents in the Dakota region. The Dakota Access Pipeline threatens many aspects of the native Sioux culture, such as sacred sites, burial grounds, and their ancestral homeland in general. The Dakota Access Pipeline brings the illumination for numerous social issues …show more content…
Such a change is not going to be an easy for the U.S., as many people are stuck in their own ways and only concerned with themselves. Economic prosperity can only go so far in the long run, eventually the United States will use up all of its natural resources it is currently exploiting to make economic gains; at that point what are we supposed to do? We will no longer be able to make money off of the resources such as wood, oil, grasslands, and water and it will be too late to protect them from ourselves. What I think this speaks further to is the white-collar corruption the is present in our country, particularly when the environment and economics are pitted against one another. In almost every situation economic success wins against environmental protection and this can be traced to varying levels of corruption within the government and environmental protection organizations. Often times the largest investors in politicians and organizations are companies with special interests and lots of money; these economic incentives are what lead to the neglect of the environment. The Dakota Access Pipeline is only one example; on any governmental scale, there is evidence of the battle between the environment and economics. The controversy surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline embodies so many issues from native tensions to environmental protection, it should seem obvious that the project should not have gone forward. However, despite the opposition and numerous concerns the project went on, but so did the fighting. What was most moving about the documentary was the courage and persistence the Sioux and their allies have and it gives me hope that there are people that want fighting for our environment and save our