Ferngully and Environmental Preservation
© Jennifer Quinn
Ferngully and Environmental Preservation by Jennifer Quinn
Despite the growing concern for the environment, most people only claim to support environmental conservation ideals. Even people who truly appreciate the beauty of nature do little to help preserve it. In fact, there are many instances of people harming nature in their desire to enjoy it. For example, on a documentary from a few years ago, they showed before, during and after footage of a protest to save the rain forests. During the protest a field with a stage at one end was filled to the brim with protestors holding signs and waving banners that read "save the rain forests" and "stop the clear cutting." They protested late into the night in their attempts to save the forests. The day after, the field was covered in the discarded banners, leftover food wrappers, and any number of other wastes left behind by people claiming to want to save the environment. This is a perfect example of people who are willing to fight for something they believe is worth saving, yet they don't bother to take the time to clean up after themselves.
Everyone, even children as young as 3, knows that we need to preserve the environment for future generations. This is perfectly illustrated in the closing postscript of the movie Ferngully, stating, "For our children and our children's children." Ferngully serves to stir up support for the environment in many ways. Throughout the entire movie we are shown the beauty and splendor of the rainforest as it is untouched by human hands. The humans come to cut down the trees and we see the destruction they cause. In the end, the forest goes back to being beautiful, and the main character Zak shows us that he has learned his lesson by telling the other loggers, "Guys, things have got to change." After seeing this movie, we feel uplifted and inspired to go out and save the environment from those who would do her harm.
Then we come to see the problem of what we can do to save the environment. The movie fails to give us any real solutions. The forest is saved when the fairy Crysta along with the helpof other fairies, Zak, and a fruit bat named Batty team up against the evil Hexus, the very spirit of destruction, and trap him in a tree for all time. This does litte to help us plain humans who don't have magic fairy powers, or an evil monster made of black smoke and oil with the voice of Tim Curry to fight. We have to try to do what we can, but with no real bad guys or easy solutions, many people don't know what to do, so they do nothing. We still need to take action; the growing hole in the ozone, the shrinking rainforests, the growing list of endangered species, and growing rate of air pollution are perfect examples of the real threat to the environment.
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