Online Activity

I watched Paddle to the Sea (NFB, 1966) which is found on http://www.nfb.ca/film/paddle_to_the_sea/. This film is about a curious boy who was told that all rivers lead to the sea, so he carved an Indian in a canoe, named Paddle, which fell into a river near Lake Superior. This film was interesting because it described the journey that one would go through on your way to the sea. It is the journey that all water goes through. It starts in the spring when water is melting and all the streams are full. I would have liked it to have a timeline but we do know that winter does occur once because he gets frozen in a lake. I wonder how long it would take an object to travel from Lake Superior to the ocean? A very long time for sure. It included natural dangers that happen along this route such as a bush fire. The interesting part is that Paddle witnesses some environmental issues such as dredging, garbage and sewage pollution. Now this video was made 44 years ago! If it was made today he might of not even made it half of the way because we have way more pollution and issues that deal with our fresh watersheds today. Maybe the river he originally fell into has dried out. Or maybe he would get caught in with a bunch of garbage and sink. I think that this is a good video for young children to teach about how our fresh waters ecosystems work and the pollution that is going into them. I also think that this is a very neat idea but I think he also should have carved where Paddle started his journey so that the man in the light house could of known and anyone who would have found him after that, maybe even in Africa! I think that this would be a cool thing to do with our recent GPS technology, except there would have to be multiple boats because I believe most would get stuck or washed up on shore. I also noticed that Paddle was caught by a lot of people who where fishing. Today, that would be different because not all fish from freshwater are edible because of contaminants and our fishing industry has suffered. Also, parents do not like their children playing around water that could have harmful chemicals in it. This video is evidence of how we have continued to pollute our freshwater over the last 44 years.