Michael Lance Mioza

BSEE 5

STS 1 2016

The movie depicted the life of Erin Brockovich, handled all the hardships that comes
on her way despite being a mother of three kids and not having a partner to share
these responsibilities. The movie concentrated on an event in which turns her life
around and all the people she helped. This event was famed to be one of the
biggest direct-action lawsuit in US history in which she helped the residents of
Hinkley won the case against Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Company.
Erin Brockovich which was portrayed by Julia Roberts in the movie, was struggling to
support her family after losing a case on a car accident she was in. This made her
lose an ample amount of money. She got a job as a legal clerk of her attorney
Edward Masry being portrayed by Albert Finney. She stumbled upon a case in which
several resident near a power plant have many health issues. After dwelling more
about the case, she got so concerned by the health and the livelihood of the
residents of Hinkley, where one of the facilities of PG&E was located. It is not just
minor health issues as their ailments ranges from genetic diseases to all kinds of
cancer. Whats more concerning was that after questioning the residents, the
company was telling lies and hiding the truth that the waste product produced by
their plant was not the primary cause. Erin dug up some evidences that strongly
supports her claims against the company and was more determined to have justice
be served to PG&E as their mishandling of their waste resulted to long-term and
severe damages to the residents.
As a student engineer who finished ES 95 (Environmental Engineering) and is
currently taking up STS 1 (Science, Technology and Society), this is a serious matter
for us especially when we finally took up oath as a bona-fide engineers. Technology
should improve the lives of the people that utilizes it not the other way around.
There are laws that enforces facilities to do to their utmost performance to prevent
any destruction of the environment. In this case, the hexavalent chromium that was
used to inhibit rust formation in the pistons of the compressors are not meticulously
stored and handled with care. The event caused a contamination in the
groundwater of Hinkley which was the major source of drinking water of the
residents. This mistake causes severe damages to both the residents lives as well
as their livelihoods.
The movie was balanced in a way that it is not drama overall but has a pinch of
comedy in a form of comical scripts between characters. High and lows are well
placed in the span of the movie giving the audience some kind of rollercoaster of
emotions. The conflicts presented in this movie were the PG&E case and Erins
family matters. Both were resolve in the end of the movie but the latter was unclear.
The movies resolution on the former was well constructed that you can feel the
satisfaction when the main character achieved her goal.
After researching more information about the life of Erin and the PG&E case, the
movie has shortcoming in the adaptation but not that relevant. The movie clearly
edited some details to make the whole story more immersive, relatable and less
boring for the audience. It clearly delivers the message well regarding the proper
handling of wastes to mitigate or prevent any damages in the environment and
society.

Michael Lance Mioza

BSEE 5

STS 1 2016

A movie wont have a purpose if no message was delivered. The movie Erin
Brockovich teaches the audience a lesson that is greatly important especially to us
future engineers. That is to never disclose the truth for your own benefits.
Endangering the environment or worst, human lives for the sake of profit, in which
is a grave sin. One must be responsible to ones action and also to take care of the
environment and do whatever it takes to lessen the damage done and mitigate the
destruction.