Beware the Wind

Beware the Wind was produced in co-operation with the George Washington University Centre, the District of Colombia Medical Society and the American Academy of General Practice. It peels back misconceptions of smoke or soot as a local issue.

This warnings heeded in the film centre around two emissions sources: vehicles and factories. As we take a road-trip across the United States, our narrator reminds us of man’s innate drive to destroy and re-create, telling us that ‘man looked around him and decided there was room for improvement’ while we witness a chilling visual of cities plunged thick with smoke and cars caught in traffic.

Throughout, we hear about and bear witness to thick smoke hanging in cities like Denver, Chicago, and Washington. We learn about acute geographical phenomena, like ice-fog in Alaska which causes pollution to hang low in the air. In regions like Donora, Pittsburgh, residents suffer from industrial pollutants which are worsened by their low lying land, full of steep surrounding hills that act as a wind-break.

In Polk County Florida, our narrator tells us about the harmful effects of phosphate extraction, which is poisoning down-wind cattle and affecting yields of local fruit farmers. Ironically, phosphate is used in the very industries it is harming - as a key source of crop fertiliser.