Flow

Last night, I had an eye opening experience unlike any that I can remember. I saw the movie Flow.  Have you seen it?

It's a documentary that investigates the world water crisis: our dwindling supply, the pollution, politics & evil business behind it.  When I see movies like Flow, there is a devil's advocate who lives inside me that tries to poke holes in whatever the movie is saying.  This time was different.  I couldn't poke any holes in the argument presented to me.  I was shocked, appalled and nearly in tears watching this movie.  The people who control water terrify and disgust me...it's so scary to think of what is coming.

You really have to check out this movie.

I felt so helpless as I watched Flow.  But, as I racked my brain for ways I could help from here, without uprooting my whole life, I realized I can help. With my camera.


This has been brewing in my mind for less than 24 hours, so who knows what will happen...but I feel deep inside me that this is big and I have to do it.   I don't know where this will go, or exactly what I'm doing yet.  But, I'm thinking that I'll make a new body of work, about water in all its forms and uses to raise awareness about this critical issue.   I don't think I need to travel far away to do this.  The image above was taken right here in Cali, and it makes you think about water, doesn't it? How about this one:



I hope I'm just really late to the party and every single one of you is saying, "Liz! I am very well aware of all of this!  Did you know [fact about water and how it's being fixed]?  You mean you DON'T already donate to charity:water?"   But, based on the few conversations I had about this today, I fear that's not the case.

Imagine that one day water will be like oil - it will have the power and human/political/environmental devastation that oil does.  Only worse, because every single one of us needs it to live. Without it, we'd be dead in a matter of days.  We can't make hybrids to solve this problem.
 
Thanks for listening.  Images coming soon : )

Over and out,
Liz

PS  If you have a chance, take a look at this petition and sign it if you agree.   This petition is asking that Article 31 be added to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (ratified by the UN).  Article 31 states:

Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and family, and no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due to individual economic circumstance.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Liz! I just found your site...you have a great style of writing! It's so true, there are plenty of places for us to stand up and take action. In what ever way moves us, and sharing awareness with your pictures is great. Charity Water is a story that really moved me and inspired me. Water IS life. Thanks for your post, I'm looking forward to reading more.
Anonymous said…
The thing we have to make sure of is that people know there is a distinction between the water most commonly found around the world and the water that is salt-free and clean and healthy enough to drink. Because if we look around, we can see oceans and lakes and rivers...plenty of water!

But we can't drink that water unless we have a desalination plant nearby or a water treatment facility. Not many countries in need can afford that kind of technology.
Joanie + Ryan said…
Right on Liz. I saw this film last year at the Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington. Most people are too distracted by hollywood happenings to realize some of the bigger problems that are unfolding behind the scenes and news reports of the corporate owned media. There's a bunch of good documentaries like this out there. One of my recent favorites is Food, Inc.
Anonymous said…
I've never seen this film, but I'm certainly going to now. You can help with your camera! And I'm excited about this new work. You have a positive and distinct voice in both your writing and photography that is not behind at all...you've got the capability to help lead us all in raising awareness and making a change.

Water is something I think we all have taken for granted. It's almost too hard to imagine anything different and it seems like such a huge issue that we wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But, I think, you're absolutely right and we CAN do something about it, and now is always the best time to start.
Candace said…
I haven't seen this film but I'm interested to now! Are you on twitter? I follow Charity Water on there and they do a photo of the day from places all over the world, not to mention update their news and happenings. I'm excited to see how this unfolds for you, great idea!
Thanks, Liz. I haven't seen this yet but I will now. I had seen this small video recently and thought it was pretty great. http://bit.ly/9AOoIT

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