CitizensTruth

Blue Gold: World Water Wars, produced, directed, and edited by Sam Bozzo. (trailer here)

Blue Gold tells us that Earth’s supplies of fresh water are limited, and we are using them faster than they can be replenished.

The film is so loaded with information that it feels like a semester of study packed into 110 minutes. There are four major parts.

1. The Crisis is a wake-up call describing water overuse, transformation of living land into deserts, and pollution.
2. The Politics shows what happens when interests of globalization and big business challenge the public good.
3. In The Water Wars, contention over water leads to bloodshed.
4. Finally, The Way Forward tells us about activists and organizers and scientists from 6 years old to over 60 who are making a positive difference.

Water issues are complicated. This film explains with memorable images, compelling human stories, and Malcom McDowell’s lucid narration. Vital issues of our times - war and peace, climate change, energy sustainability, healing the environment - have deep connections to how we get our water. Blue Gold shows you these connections. You will be informed, inspired, and empowered.

More background on Blue Gold and fresh water here.

(first three links courtesy LegitGov.org)

Oil hunt could include blasting in Calif. national monument 11 Apr 2008 A subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum seeking to explore for oil and gas under one of the country’s newest national monuments has outlined plans for its search that are likely to disturb the kangaroo rat, an endangered species whose prime habitat is precisely where the operations would take place.

Connecticut Bats Are Dying From Mysterious Ailment 03 Apr 2008 Alarm spread among wildlife biologists this week when white nose syndrome (WNS) was found in a second bat population in Connecticut. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) first announced the presence in Connecticut of bats affected with WNS last Friday and the second location was discovered Tuesday.

Fishery Council Bans Commercial Salmon Fishing In OR, CA 10 Apr 2008 West Coast fisheries managers have voted to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year. Scientists and government officials are expecting this year’s West Coast salmon season to be one of the worst in history.

There was a fuss recently over legislation requiring a moment of silence in Illinois classrooms. But maybe we should consider a daily moment of silence - for the 200-some species going extinct every day.

What a Way to Go
“We can’t survive apart from the earth. We’re killing it.”

In the news there is evidence of a terrible disconnect between actions of the US government and any sense of human decency. Torture - relished by leaders, rape at KBR - ignored for years by the Department of Justice [sic] as further assaults occur and more victims come forward, scientific truths suppressed in NASA and elsewhere, researchers attacked for reporting Iraqi death estimates..

The aggregate view is sickening.

What to do? One thing we can do is work continuously at keeping one another informed, blowing aside the media smokescreen with all the facts we can get from all the sources we can trust.

Build a community of trust. Encourage listening to one another with an open mind and being ready to admit we are wrong when that happens.