By using water as a commodity, we are using up the fresh water the planet provides faster than it can replenish it.

Back in 2007, Dr. Farrington, the Executive Director at the California Academy of Sciences took a step toward sustainability by banning water bottles at meetings and functions, noting that bottled water is expensive, wastes plastic, and is harmful to the environment.  Since then, bottled water has been banned at private functions and in the Academy café – glass bottles are available but not plastic ones.  At NightLife, water is dispensed in compostable cups.  I am in further support of this decision after recently watching the documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars.

Blue Gold is a documentary that focuses on the controversy that has arisen by the marketing and privatization of water.  The planet provides a cycle to provide fresh water. To begin, water in the oceans and in caches of ice and snow are heated by the sun and evaporate.  This water vapor is then carried into the atmosphere and condenses into clouds.  Clouds migrate through the sky, collide and grow.  Some of these cloud particles then fall as precipitations in as rain snow or ice.

This water then either falls back into the ocean or onto land.  Some of it accumulates into snow packs or glaciers.  A fraction of it enters streams or rivers and flows back to the ocean.   Some water seeps into the ground and becomes ground water.  Part of groundwater stays close to the surface and nourishes and replenishes topsoil.  Ground water can also seep deep into the ground and create a water cache in saturated subsurface rock; these catches are known as aquifers.  This water cycle is constantly replenishing and provides the freshwater for all life on the planet. A great chart and break down of this cycle is provided by USGS.

Blue Gold touches on how this cycle is getting interrupted.  For example, in cities ground water cannot seep into the ground through the concrete to create aquifers.  So most of the run off goes directly back to the ocean.  Thus most cities must cart fresh water from far away; water is most often pulled out of aquifers, which creates a desertification of once fertile land.  Without the ground water, soils dry out and cannot sustain the fertility of the plants and trees creating a dessert environment.  Streams and rivers in a natural cycle will push sediment and nourishment into the land surrounding them.  Much like blood is a super highway in our bodies, streams and rivers act like the vein and arteries of the Earth.  Huge dams used to harness power and provide drinking water have dried up these rivers and the subsequent land around them.

With the interruption of this cycle scarcity has emerged.  One of the biggest culprits of this scarcity is treating water like a commodity rather than a natural resource. Today, this has been seen prominently in third world countries where agricultural goods and water are being exported.  In Bolivia, a civil war broke out because a private company owned the water, including rainwater.  People could not pay for the water needed to survive and fought back.  More about the conflict is outlined in the following article.  By using water as a commodity, we are using up the fresh water the planet provides faster than it can replenish it.

So what can people do to help combat this scarcity?

-       Do not buy or drink bottled water.  The water is being sapped from aquifers, lakes and streams.  By doing so, that water cannot be replenished back into the natural water cycle.

-       Buy locally.  When you buy produce from far away, water is often being exported to grow that produce.  By buying locally, less water is being used for the products used.

-       Use a low flow showerhead or toilet at home.

-       Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth.

-       Look into charities that provide water for those in third world countries.  (Many people are being charged prices they cannot afford for metered water). Two great programs are Ryan’s Well Foundation, which is noted in this documentary and Play pumps that harness the energy of kids playing on a merry-go-round to pump water.

-       Watch Blue Gold for more background and options

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The Cove opened on August 7.

The Cove is a documentary like no other I have seen. Like other such films, it aims to inform viewers of an issue or species, but unlike others, it also hopes to use its creative powers to send you sailing out of your seat screaming, “Get out of my way, I want to help!” I knew this already, as I attended the premier of the film in San Francisco last Friday, and wondered if it would work for me, a Conservation Manager who has seen many, many movies about the plights of animals.

So, I sat back, marveled at the audience rich with environmental leaders, munched my popcorn, and proceeded to have my world rocked. The Cove is indeed a nature and conservation movie, but throw in spy movie, hero movie, horror movie and action flick and you have a more accurate description.

The main character is Ric O’Barry, the original trainer for Flipper the bottlenose dolphin, TV star of the 70’s. Ric believes it was partly his doing that brought the world to love these marine mammals too much, leading to their exploitation. He is determined to help a tragically suffering population of dolphins in one cove in Japan. As we are introduced to the issues, we feel Ric’s pain, and his quiet hopefulness. He longs to reveal to the world the truth about this cove and we long for his success.

And then, somehow, it gets fun.

Ric enlists friends. Talented friends. Lots of them. Louie Psihoyos is one of them. Master photographer and nature documentarian, he and his group, the Ocean Preservation Society (OPS), take on the job of movie making, though they have never done such a thing before. "We’re all professionals", they joke, "just not at this." Louie steps up as Film Director and seeks out other adventuresome teammates. On board jumps an Expedition Director, as well as a Head of Clandestine Operations, giving me a serious case of job title envy. Throw in two world-class free divers, a DNA scientist and various mold makers from Industrial Light and Magic’s Prop Shop, cue the thriller music, and the game is on.

As we, the audience, experience the thrill of their journey to covertly make the film, we are amazed by their courage, compassion and humor and are reminded that humans can be phenomenally brave, powerful and imaginative. We are schooled in the reality of certain industries and asked to make entertainment and recreation choices with knowledge and compassion. We are awoken to the fact that dolphins are likely more wonderful and fantastical than we ever dreamed and it is simply a privilege to live on this planet with them.

At the very end, the film offers the audience ideas of how we each can help. It invites us to climb aboard their ship of dreamers and change-makers, and exposes the media’s greatest strength; the power to inspire change for the better.

As the credits rolled, the free dolphins soared through the clear water and the Wallflowers brought us home with “I want to swim, like dolphins can swim…” My heart pounded, my eyes teared-up and my hands clenched into fists. I think I ran over three environmental leaders as I busted into the hallway screaming “Get out of my way, I want to help!” I guess it worked for me.

See if it works for you.

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