In the movie, Medicine Man, a scientist named Dr.crane was sent to the amazon.

They
sent Dr.crane to the amazon because there was another doctor named Dr. Campbell who was
there, but no one heard from him in 3 years so they sent her to see where he was and to assist her.
As Dr.crane was transported through the jungle, she witnessed a forest fire (deforestation).
Dr.Crane experienced a lot of rain when she was in the jungle. Dr.crane finally arrived to the
village that Dr.Campbell was in , but before Dr.Crane entered the village she had to wear a mask
and get a physical. This was necessary because Dr.Campbell had to make sure she didnt have
any disease that could be spread to the Native Americans.
Dr.Campbell had Dr.Crane feel one of the tribal womens neck to feel if she had any
lumps and she didnt feel anything. But Dr.Campbell explained to her that the women did have
lumps in her throat before but Dr. Campbell gave her an injection and she no longer has the
lumps. Dr. Campbell believed that he had found the cure for cancer. He came to this conclusion
when he injected a guinea- pig with a serum and then after a few hours the guinea- pig no longer
had cancer. The villagers gave Dr.Campbell the name medicine man.
He got this name, he gave a kid alka seltzer and cured him. Dr.Crane thought that
Dr.Campbell had made a great discovery and that the pharmaceutical company should come and
set up a lab in the village. Dr.Cmapbell discouraged this idea because if they came they could
bring diseases that would kill all the Indians. One problem that Dr. Campbell had been that he
couldnt reproduce the cure. There was a specific substance that made the cure active but doesnt
know what it was. He believes what produces the cure was romilen. Dr. Campbell and Dr.Crane
went to the tree that grew the flower that made the cure, they went all the way to the top of the
tree . When they reached the top they could see the entire forest filled with trees. They saw a
river but the river didnt have a lot of water in it. Because there were less trees in the forest due
to the burning of the trees there is less water in the river .Dr.Crane and Dr.Campbell returned
back to the village and started running tests. When they looked at the spectrometer they noticed a
difference between the new sample and the old sample.P37 was missing from all the cures that
didnt work. Dr.Crane believed that the test tubes were contaminated thats what caused the
difference. The scientist needed help to test all the sample of the plants, they asked the villagers
to help. When Dr.Crane opened up one of the flowers she found bugs in them , she washed them
off because they might have been contaminated. Dr. Crane andDr.Campbell still couldnt
reproduce the cure they only had a little bit left. Dr.Crane insisted that they try to talk to the
medicine man but the medicine man refuses to talk to them because he thinks if he talks to them
and gives them the magic juju medicine then the gods will punish him. Dr.Campbell had a little
secret, he was the one that gave the villagers swine flu that killed many of them before. One day
of the little tribal boys had cancer and he wasnt feeling good and the villagers was asking
Dr.Campbell to cure him but if Dr.Cambpell chooses to cure him he would be using the last of
the cure, So now it was really important to find the medicine man. When they found him
Dr.Campbellhad to fight him so he can give the medicine man his respect back. The medicine
man refused to help so Dr.Cambpell and Dr.Crane decided to give the boy the last of the serum.
The next day a man came to the village , he was one of the construction man and he told
Dr.Campbell that he had a day left to find the cure so that they can stop the builders from cutting
down and burning the trees. So the whole night they did experiments and thought about what
was producing the cure. It turns out that the ants that were found in the plants were producing the
cure. But it was too late they burned down the tree that contained the cure and they burned down
the village. The cure was gone and the villagers had to move to a different location.
As I was watching medicine man I noticed some similarities with what I seen in the
movie and what I learned in class. For example in the movie the builders where burning down
the trees since there were so many of them in the rain forest. In class I learned that this process is
called deforestation.Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, which damages
the land.Deforestation is considered to be one of the contributing factors to global climate
change. Trees absorb greenhouse gases and carbon emissions. They produce oxygen and
perpetuate the water cycle by releasing water vapor into the atmosphere. Without trees, forest
lands can quickly become dry land.
Also watching the movie Dr.Campbell told Dr.crane the he was the one that gave the
NativeAmericans swine flu which killed a lot of them. In class we learned about vaccines and
that when you get a vaccine shot it prevents you from ever getting that specific type of disease
again. But you can be affected by another type of disease. In the movie the NativeAmericans
ended up getting the swine flu because their bodies werent immune to the disease. They didnt
get any shots to prevent them from getting it so the disease infected their immune systems so
they ended up dying.
Also watching the movie when the builders where burning the trees and cutting them
down that can effects that particular environment in a bad way . Burning and cutting down trees
destroys a lot of plants and animals habitat in that area. It destroys their homes, they no longer
have food and some of them die while all of this is happening. If they no longer have the
essentials that they need to live the species in this environment will eventually die out.
Two ways that we can protect our rainforest isUnderstand nature. Knowing about nature
and rainforest can help save rainforests. If you have knowledge about rainforest you can know
what to do to help save it also you can inform other people so they can be aware of the negative
effects of cutting down and burning rainforest. Also Use less paper reuse paper instead of
throwing it out. Cut it up to use as a notepad, or recycle the paper you use.
I think human activities are affecting the environment in a negative way because were
destroying animals and plants homes in order to fulfil our needs, But at the same time we need to
this in order to live. I dont think we should stop because we need to do what we have to do to
live so I dont mind.