Stranger Things

Have you watched Stranger Things on Netflix? If not, go do that. It is excellent and you are missing out by not watching it. Also, spoilers below!

I feel a great kinship with Winona Ryder's character, Joyce Byers. Not that a demon has ever sucked my child into The Upside Down or anything, but as an environmentalist I feel a connection. She spends the first five episodes trying to convince someone, anyone, that her son is still alive and there are monsters that have taken him. Nobody listens. They hold a funeral for a boy who isn't dead and accuse her of being crazy, her ex-husband even pointing out that there is a financial payout for their son's death and that money can be put to good use for their family. Eventually several other people stumble upon this same truth and they all end up having to work together against the massive company that is causing all of this mess to rescue her son.

I feel like I've been through a similar ordeal.

"Hey, this fracking is causing environmental damage! It is destroying people's water supplies and causing earthquakes!" I scream.

"You're nuts, nobody would do that! Besides, if that was true I'd see this stuff on the news."

"What about that earthquake from 3 days ago?"

"Meh, history is full of earthquakes. That doesn't prove anything."

"What about people who can light their tap water on fire because of fracking waste dumping?"

"They're doing it themselves to get on TV.! Besides, the news would tell me if these things were bad for me."

"But all the advertisements on the news are paid for by the fracking companies! These huge companies don't want you to know they are killing you!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

Sigh....I just want to hang Christmas lights all over the house and take an ax to my wall, or whatever the environmental equivalent would be, to show people the demigorgon of environmental damage.

But seriously, fight against fracking and watch Stranger Things. You won't regret either decision!