Vassar Quarterly - Spring 2018 - 50

Beyond Vassar

DOCUMENTARY
FILMMAKERS
SHINE AT EMMYS
These last two years, Vassar graduates have taken
the documentary categories at the Emmy Awards by
storm. Whether they have served in the role of director
or editor, these alumni have used their talents to bring
important issues to the surface.

DANGER BELOW THE WAVES
Daniel Hinerfeld '85 founded the Natural
Resources Defense Council's film program
to raise awareness about critical issues
facing the environment. It was an unusual
step for an advocacy organization, but one
that paid off. NRDC filmmakers are
tackling issues such as ocean acidification,
environmental racism, and climate change.
Hinerfeld's latest documentary, Sonic
Sea, narrated by actress Rachel McAdams,
recently earned two Emmys-Outstanding
Nature Documentary and Outstanding
Music and Sound. Hinerfeld co-directed
and co-produced the film, which explores
the many ways in which noise emitted by
commercial ships, oil and gas exploration,
and high-intensity naval sonar is harming
marine life.
"Many [ocean] species use sound not only
to communicate but to navigate, to hunt,
to find mates, and to defend themselves
against predators," Hinerfeld explains. "But
the enormous amount of noise we're now
putting into the ocean is making many of
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these activities impossible, driving some
species toward extinction. And the loudest
sounds-from sonar and air guns-have
the power to kill whales and fish."
There are tens of thousands of commercial ships on the oceans at any moment,

Hinerfeld says, and they're getting larger
and louder all the time. "A container ship
or tanker can put 190 decibels into the
water. All of those ships create acoustic
smog that blankets the oceans and is
getting thicker every year," he says.
"The oil and gas industry uses air guns to
search for fossil fuel deposits beneath the
ocean floor. These blasts are the loudest
sounds humans can make barring high
explosives, and these ships drag arrays
of these guns that explode every few
seconds for weeks on end. And modern
navies use high-intensity sonar to find
targets beneath the waves. These systems
can put 235 decibels into the ocean."
Sonic Sea is bringing greater attention
to the issue. So far, the film has helped
spur the release of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration's
long-delayed ocean noise strategy, has
prompted the Canadian government to
commit to reduce shipping noise in key
habitats, has inspired General Electric
to help develop an industry consortium to
reduce shipping noise, and has bolstered
opposition to seismic blasting off the midAtlantic and southeast U.S. coasts.
For more information on the film, visit
www.sonicsea.org.
-Elizabeth Randolph
http://www.sonicsea.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vassar Quarterly - Spring 2018
