Environmental Film Series: The Devil We Know

Date
Cost
Free

5th Environmental Film Series with discussions led by Ohio State and local experts

Lax oversight of industrial pollutants in West Virginia and corporate greed contributed to the death of cattle and cancer in people. A Cincinnati corporate attorney decided to help local residents. Hear from the attorney, Rob Bilott, whose book is out, as well as a major movie.

The Devil We Know 2018, 90 minutes.

A damning exposé of decades of intentional pollution of the Ohio River town, Parkersburg, West Virginia, with a harmful chemical used in the making of Teflon. Could an anti-regulatory environment make such matters even worse?

Discussion Leaders

Rob Bilott will co-lead the after-film discussion. His new book is "Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle Against DuPont," an eyeopening true story of the lawyer who spent two decades building a case against DuPont for its use of the hazardous, unregulated chemical PFOA. Bilott is advising production of an upcoming related major motion picture, Dark Waters, to be released 11/22/19, starring Mark Ruffalo in his role, and Anne Hathaway. Interesting and well worth reading: The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare in New York Times Magazine.  

Linda Weavers, PhD, PE, Ohio State Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering Professor, and Director, Ohio Water Resources Center.

Film Synopsis

When a handful of West Virginia residents discover DuPont has been pumping its poisonous Teflon chemical into the air and public water supply of more than 70,000 people, they file one of the largest class action lawsuits in the history of environmental law. As the citizens of Parkersburg rise up against the forces that polluted their town, the story builds out to dozens of other American cities. As many as 110 million Americans may be drinking water tainted with PFAS chemicals. Exposure to this class of chemicals has become a global phenomenon, spreading to Italy, the Netherlands, and China. 

For more information about The Devil We Know film event