Save-the-world Sunday: Waterlife documentary film

On a train journey from Toronto to Montreal one time, a woman from England turned to me and politely inquired, "What's the name of that lake?" I replied, "That's Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes." Over an hour later, our train's route once again took us alongside a vast body of water and she turned to me, wide-eyed, and exclaimed, "Surely that's not the same lake?! It must be absolutely enormous!"

She was right, of course, it is physically enormous (although it's the smallest of the Great Lakes - the largest is more than 4 times the size and nearly 7.5 times its volume) but it's the environmental significance of the Great Lakes that is larger still.

In this Sunday's post I want to highlight a documentary film about the Great Lakes from Canada's National Film Board that I believe is well worth seeing. It's called Waterlife and below is the blurb for the film, plus a link to the interactive website.

If you are in the Sydney area, the film's Australian Premiere will take place on Thursday 20 August as part of the "Possible Worlds" Canadian Film Festival. Check it out!

No matter where we live, the North American Great Lakes - the last great supply of fresh drinking water on Earth - affect us all. As species of fish disappear and rates of birth defects and cancer rise, it seems something's not quite right with the water....

Fascinating characters tackle the big environmental issues surrounding water and explore the dangers of taking water for granted, in a film which is also an epic cinematic poem for the senses.

Filmed over a year with a variety of specialty cameras and innovative techniques, Waterlife is a documentary experience like no other. Narrated by Gord Downie, lead vocalist of The Tragically Hip, the film feature hypnotic, jaw-dropping imagery and features an ace soundtrack by Sam Roberts, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Rós, Robbie Robertson and Brian Eno.

Winner Special Jury Award, Hot Docs Film Festival 2009

Explore the interactive multimedia website http://waterlife.nfb.ca

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New series: Save-the-world Sundays / this week - the Meatrix!

Regular readers are aware of my support (and that of my company, tmc) for environmental causes, particularly those devoted to animal welfare and habitat preservation. A quick glance at the right-hand sidebar of this blog makes this equally clear - "supported causes" and the "unofficial adopted mascots gallery" are given prominent mention.

Today I'm starting something new, which I'm calling my Save-the-world Sunday series of blog posts. On the principle that weekends are for spending time pursuing hobbies and interests, I'm designating Sundays as the day to highlight some of these important causes and provide information on how readers can act for change.

This week: Enter...the Meatrix

There's an important viral campaign going round at the moment which, as of this writing, has had at least 15 million viewers.

It's clever, it's informative, and it's something that we can all do something about - industrial meat production. Go inside the Meatrix, find out where meat really comes from and vote with your purchasing power and decisions.

Watch The Meatrix (part 1) and then check out what the movie's producers at the Sustainable Table have to say here.


Australia: Animal testing experiments kill one animal every hour

ONE animal in NSW is killed every hour during testing for new medicines and cosmetic products. The Daily Telegraph can reveal 8813 animals - including birds, guinea pigs and endangered marsupials - were killed during 12 months of trials.

Another 16,000 were kept conscious and subjected to a "a moderate or large degree of pain/distress that is not effectively alleviated". [...]

University of Wollongong researcher Dr Denise Russell said the tests were cruel and had continued even when alternatives were available and in spite of government appeals.

"What hasn't been addressed is replacing animals with alternatives like computer simulation and the use of tissue samples which don't require that we take the animal and house them in a prison and just kill them in cruel ways," Dr Russell said yesterday.

NSW review panel chair Professor Margaret Rose said that the 16,000 animals being subjected to category 7 testing, the most painful test while the animal remains awake, was cause for concern.

Among the thousands of animals were 14 horses, almost 3000 fish which had their water poisoned for environmental testing, almost 1000 chickens, 379 sheep and 59 cows.

What you can do:
Join or support the efforts of Animals Australia, the only national animal protection organization that actively exposes animal abuse and promotes a cruelty-free lifestyle.

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