Circle of Blue WaterNews » Film

Water News: What’s Ahead in 2012

Brett Walton — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:00:43 +0000

News headlines are often dominated by the big, unexpected events — BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, for example, or Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophes in 2011 — but some events come with advance warning. Here is a preview of the water news to look for in 2012.

Photo © Aubrey Ann Parker/Circle of Blue

Panama is one of the fastest-growing economies in the Western Hemisphere, largely thanks to a new free-trade agreement with the U.S. and an ongoing $US 5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Slated for completion in 2014, the expansion will double the canal's capacity, which will reduce emissions, and the new system will recycle 60 percent of the water in each transit, along with an overall decrease of 7 percent less water than is used by the existing locks.

By Brett Walton
Circle of Blue

Food
The food crisis in the Horn of Africa will continue this year, according to a famine early warning system funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Though the famine early warning system has global forecasts, the Horn of Africa is the only emergency spot forecasted in the near term.

In response, the United Nations, which said in a statement that the situation is “expected to get worse”, has called for more than $US 2.3 billion in aid to help Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti to cope with refugee settlement and the short-term effects of the drought. At the same time, the executive director for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that a million children in Africa’s Sahel region are at risk of malnutrition in 2012 because of poor harvests caused by insufficient rain.

Health
Global health leaders are hopeful that 2012 is the year that Guinea worm, a water-borne parasite, will be eradicated. Infections have fallen from 3.5 million in 1986 to 1,056 during the first 10 months of 2011. Following small pox, Guinea worm would be the second-ever human disease to be eradicated. Polio, another water-borne disease, is next in line. Advocates anticipate a polio-free world in 2013.

Energy
Thanks to the payroll tax cut compromise, U.S. President Barack Obama has 60 days to approve or deny a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. The 2,700-kilometer (1,700-mile) oil conduit from the Canadian tar sands to refineries in Texas would have an initial capacity of 700,000 barrels per day. The president’s decision should come by the end of February.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will make several final decisions this year that could have consequences for water resources, and the agency will start the rule-making process for several new regulations. In the spring, the EPA will decide what pollution controls are necessary for the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant that provides nearly all the electricity to move Arizona’s annual share of the Colorado River, 3.5 billion cubic meters (912 billion gallons).

The EPA will also submit a draft rule, expected to be released in January, to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing power plants.

By the end of 2012, preliminary results from the EPA’s investigation into drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing will be available. Already this year, Ohio has suspended operations at five deep wells used to dispose of fracking-related fluids, citing concerns of a possible link between well activity and nearly a dozen quakes in the area.

Governments could determine the fate of several large dams on major rivers this year: the Grand Inga on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; the Xayaburi on the Mekong River in Laos; the Mphanda Nkuwa on the Zambezi River in Mozambique; and a cascade of dams on the Nu River in China.

Barring any delays, two World Bank-funded studies on Tajikistan’s proposed Rogun Dam will be completed by the end of the year. The studies are a prerequisite for possible World Bank financing for the project. One study assesses the dam’s technical and economic merits; the other looks at potential environmental and social effects. At 336 meters (1102 feet), Rogun would be the world’s tallest dam, trumping the Nurek Dam, also in Tajikistan.

Policy
In Australia, water management officials are expected to release the final versionof the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, a controversial policy that will reduce the amount of water withdrawn from the basin’s rivers.

During the first half of the year, the U.S. EPA will hold public meetings to formulate a draft version of its new “integrated planning” policy, which will reduce the cost of complying with water quality violations. In October 2011, the agency’s acting assistant administrator for water used a three-page memo to introduce the concept.

March 31 is the target deadline for the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to decide whether or not to approve a plan for removal of four dams in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon and California. The Klamath agreements also include projects for environmental restoration, fisheries, water conservation, and tribal programs.

The Chinese government is expected to release its latest Five-Year Plan for the energy sector. The plan is expected to guide the country’s next phase of hydropower development.

Law
On January 9, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about landowner rights and government power. The case, Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, began when the EPA claimed an Idaho couple was building their home on a wetland — in violation of the Clean Water Act — and threatened fines of $US 32,500 per day until the couple complied. The Supreme Court will decide whether the EPA violated due process laws. If so, the agency may have to seek permission from a judge before using compliance orders, its most common enforcement tool.

The Nevada state engineer will decide by March whether to grant groundwater rights in four rural valleys to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the wholesale provider for the Las Vegas area.

In August the International Court of Arbitration will submit its final decision on India’s Kishanganga hydroelectric project, a point of contention between India and Pakistan since construction began five years ago. In the fall of 2011, the court issued an interim decision that ordered India to halt construction of works that would permanently affect the river’s flow.

This could be the year that the International Maritime Organization’s convention on ballast water management is approved. The convention would reduce the risk of invasive aquatic species by requiring cargo ships to manage the water they use to balance their loads. For the convention to enter into force, it must be ratified by countries representing 35 percent of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage. To date, the convention is 9 percentage points below that threshold.

Meetings
The sixth edition of the water-sector’s largest gathering, the World Water Forum, will take place March 12 through 17 in Marseille, France. The fourth World Water Development Report will be released that week.

In June, sustainable development advocates will come together in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit, a landmark conference that produced agreements on climate change and biological diversity. This iteration will focus on the green economy and poverty.

Arts
Several water-themed documentaries will be released in 2012. The global water crisis is the subject of Last Call at the Oasis, while actor and director Robert Redford narrates The River Red, a film that considers a new “water ethic” for the Western United States. Hidden history is the topic of Under the City, in which filmmakers go underground to explore rivers buried by urban development in London and New York City, among others.

Photographer Edward Burtynsky, who has turned his lens on the mining and oil industries, is now working on a series about water, which will be completed in 2013.

Brett Walton is a Seattle-based reporter for Circle of Blue. Walton can be reached at brett@circleofblue.org.

“Crude” Director Joe Berlinger Fights Against Chevron’s Subpoena

Aubrey Parker — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:25:19 +0000

While promoting his 2009 documentary, Joe Berlinger has landed his own day in court against U.S.-based oil giant Chevron.

UPDATE FROM MAY 12, 2010: More than 300 filmmakers and industry groups, including An Inconvenient Truth’s Davis Guggenheim as well as the Tribeca Film Institute, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last week to reverse a lower court’s ruling to allow Chevron Corp. access to Joe Berlinger’s 600 hours of raw footage from Crude: The Real Price of Oil, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Berlinger spent three years documenting the David and Goliath lawsuit between 30,000 people in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest and the U.S.-based oil giant.

The request builds on a friend-of-the-court brief made by major U.S. news and broadcast companies–including NBC, the Director’s Guild of America, HBO and the New York Times–in early June to protect Berlinger’s journalistic privileges and to prevent long-term damages to documentary filmmaking. Berlinger’s supporters argue that under the first amendment, journalists have the right to keep sources undisclosed, and that taking the director’s unpublished, confidential footage is the equivalent of obtaining a reporter’s notebook.

Berlinger has battled in court since early May to keep the unused, nonpublic film from Chevron, which claims “could be helpful as it seeks to have the lawsuit [in Ecuador] dismissed and pursues an international treaty arbitration related to the litigation,” because of corruption in the Ecuadorian court system, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile Dole Food Company Inc. has come to Chevron’s defense, saying the footage can be turned over if subjects were interviewed voluntarily and signed release forms, according to WSJ.

The court is schedule to hear Berlinger’s official appeal regarding the material on July 14.
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Welcome to Circle of Blue Radio’s Series 5 in 15, where we’re asking global thought leaders five questions in 15 minutes, more or less. These are experts working in journalism, science, communication design, and water. I’m J. Carl Ganter. Today’s program is underwritten by Traverse Internet Law, tech savvy lawyers, representing internet and technology companies.

JOE BERLINGER:

Joe Berlinger is a filmmaker who spent three years in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador, documenting the international legal battle between Chevron and the indigenous peoples for his film, Crude.

More about Joe Berlinger…

Photo Copyright Ali Pflaum

Thirty-thousand rainforest dwellers have taken on one of the largest companies in the world, Chevron, for allegedly having polluted nearly 2000 square miles of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The locals say 50 years of drilling have caused high rates of cancer in their communities; Chevron insists that the inflated illness rates are due to poor sanitation. Chevron inherited the David and Goliath lawsuit–it’s worth $27 billion–when it bought Texaco in 2001. Circle of Blue reporter, Aubrey Parker, spoke with Joe Berlinger about his latest film, Crude. Three years in the making, Crude documents the rising international support for this environmental issue as the lead attorney, a man from the affected area in the Amazon, speaks at Live Earth, graces the cover of Vanity Fair and wins a Hero Award from CNN.

Joe, can you give us an introduction to the nature of your film and how the alleged contamination in the Amazon by Chevron/Texaco relates to water?

Joe Berlinger: Basically, it is alleged that a 1700 square mile area, the size of Rhode Island, has become a cancer death-zone due to negligent drilling practices, which included the creation of these probably over 1000 unlined pits where raw crude and toxic waste was dumped, and this material continues to leech into the water table. In addition, they directly released toxic waste directly into the rivers and streams at the time of production. When crude comes up from the ground, the crude and the water are separated, and the water has a lot of chemicals in it, and that was released into the environment. That’s what’s alleged in the lawsuit. Chevron claims that they did everything by the book and that this is just a lawsuit brought about by environmental con men who are looking to line their pockets. The film captures that dynamic.

So, access to clean water for drinking and bathing is definitely a central issue to your film?

Joe Berlinger:Yeah. I mean, this is the heart of the Amazon rainforest where people depend upon the river for everything: for transportation, for their food supply, for bathing, for drinking. These are water-based communities that have been completely devastated.

Play “Q&A: ‘Crude’ Director Joe Berlinger on Chevron in the Amazon”

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I know that in this region babies are getting a horrible skin rash; however, Chevron/Texaco says that these illnesses are the result of sanitation issues and not oil pollution. How did you deal with both sides of the equation, and how do you know that there’s a direct connection between the elevated cancer rates that are seen in the Amazon and this oil contamination?

Joe Berlinger: You know, the thing that made me want to make this film in the first place was on our first scouting mission, we went by canoe to a village of the Cofan people–one of the five indigenous tribes that are part of this lawsuit–I noticed some village elders sitting by a fire near the river’s edge preparing a meal, and they were preparing a meal using cans of tuna: the kind of tuna that you would maybe buy at Costco or Best Buy in a giant, industrial-sized can. The cheapest, most processed kind of tuna you could imagine and this just kind of broke my heart because we were deep in the heart of the rainforest on a river, and these were people who have lived off the water for millennia and could no longer sustain themselves because the fish in the river were all dead. Whether it’s legal or illegal, that’s for someone else to decide, but it certainly is immoral in my opinion that the oil industry has gone into these areas, completely disregarded the indigenous populations [and] released toxic chemicals into the water supply. These communities have been devastated–there’s high rates of alcoholism, almost universal unemployment, a loss of their traditional cultures. In many ways, it’s a cultural genocide.

Your film follows two attorneys: one is from New York City, and the other is from the affected region in the Amazon. How did this legal framework shape your film?

Joe Berlinger: You know, one of the problems with this case is that there are a lot of highly paid lawyers, especially on the Texaco side, and there are study after study of conflicting and competing claims. Your head would spin if you looked at all the paperwork and all the tests. . . Again I’m not a lawyer or scientist, so I’m not here to say who’s right or wrong. The film portrays the issues and portrays the lawsuit, but I think any reasonable person could walk away with the conclusion that if you have a region with significantly high rates of cancer and soil and water contamination, that somehow the two issues are linked. The damage is due to poor sanitation as opposed to anything related to oil, and yet you see oil in the water; you smell it.

Really, it’s for the viewer to judge as to who’s right, but people have been systematically poisoned. The larger issue of the film is not who should win the lawsuit, but the larger issue that industrialization and oil production, whether it’s legal or illegal, has had a tremendous impact on these people. Basically they have been poisoned, and the area needs to be cleaned up.

In the film itself, we watch as the story grows and gets more and more tension and starts to be picked up by the international media. What are some examples of when you saw the outlook of the story change? What have you seen in your three years of filmmaking that you can consider as positive, and what are some positives since the film has been released?

Joe Berlinger: One definite positive outcome of the attention that the case was getting is that Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, came down for a visit and was horrified at what she saw with regard to the water supply. So she and her husband, Sting, have a foundation called the Rainforest Foundation, in collaboration with UNICEF, created a fresh drinking water/rainwater program in which they installed these large rainwater collection tanks with heavy filtration, because even the rainwater there is polluted because there’s a lot of black-rain phenomenon because one by-product of oil production is natural gas. And that natural gas is burned off into the air–all of which is legal, but it’s just another assault on the environment. It’s a band-aid solution because the groundwater is so heavily polluted. People are still living on top of toxic pits. The place is still a mess, but at least there’s a ray of hope in terms of the freshwater drinking project, which people can find out about and donate to if they go to our website, www.crudethemovie.com, there is a link to the rainwater program sponsored by UNICEF, and you can make a donation. Each of these tanks cost about $400. One of the things I’m proud of with this film is we’ve done a number of high-level screenings to do some fundraising. The film has raised several hundred thousand dollars for this freshwater drinking program.

How was the film received in Ecuador?

Joe Berlinger: I was stunned that so few people in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, where–I forget the actual population, but a good deal of the country lives in Quito–most of them had never even heard of the case, and it was quite surprising to me. In fact, it was an incredibly moving moment for the film and for the case when we premiered the film in Ecuador. There’s a film festival in Ecuador called EDOC, which is a documentary film festival of Ecuador. It’s a nice little documentary film festival. When they saw the film, they were so enthusiastic and decided to make it the opening night film. In fact, they were so worried that they didn’t have the right seating capacity–because the normal theater they use fits about 500 people, and they knew there would be more people who would want to see this film–and so they actually opened up a theater that was dormant at the university that hadn’t been used in a decade, and they fixed up the theater and got it ready for the screening. It’s a 1200-seat theater, and I was told there were 1400 people jammed into a 1200-seat theater with people kind of hanging off the rafters to see the Ecuadorian premiere of Crude. We had done a Spanish–you know the film is primarily in Spanish with English subtitles–we had to make a version that the Spanish was not subtitled but the English was then subtitled into Spanish. It was an incredibly moving night. I mean, there was a line around the block; there was 1400 people. People were just overwhelmed by the film. Pablo got a 15-minute, you know the lead lawyer in the case, got a 15-minute hero’s ovation after the screening. But the comment that most people said when they came up to me afterwards–thanking me for caring about their country, thanking me for making the film–and that they were completely unaware of this case in their own backyard, which was shocking to me.

And how has the film been received since its release in the United States last September?

Joe Berlinger: In some ways, this film has been treated as an environmental film, but really for me it’s a human rights film. It’s a human right struggle, and I believe everybody is entitled to fresh drinking water. In particular, they’re entitled to the sovereignty of their own water. For multinational companies to come in and damage the water supply where people have been living for millennia, to me, is just morally unacceptable. Whether they’ve protected themselves with enough legal arguments to not lose the lawsuit that’s for somebody else to decide, but from a moral standpoint, to violate indigenous peoples’ rights to fresh drinking water is, to me, just morally unacceptable.

Joe, how can people get more information about your film?

Joe Berlinger: If people go to crudethemove.com, there’s a whole website devoted to the theatrical release where you can learn what theaters and what the dates are and sign up for our mailing list. I really encourage people to get involved in the film [which is also available on Netflix].

Thank you, Aubrey. Circle of Blue’s Aubrey Parker has been speaking with Joe Berlinger, director of the movie, Crude. It’s a film about oil, conflict and water in the Amazon. To learn more about the challenges in the Amazon and to find more articles and broadcasts on water, design, policy and related issues, be sure to tune in to Circle of Blue online at circleofblue.org.

Our theme is composed by Nedev Kahn. Circle of Blue Radio is underwritten by Traverse Legal, PLC. Internet attorneys specializing in trademark infringement litigation, copyright infringement litigation, patent litigation and patent prosecution. Join us again for Circle of Blue Radio’s 5 in 15. I’m J. Carl Ganter.

Aubrey Ann Parker is a reporter for Circle of Blue where she specializes in data visualization. Reach her at aubrey@circleofblue.org.

Q&A: ‘Crude’ Director Joe Berlinger on Chevron Oil in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Aubrey Parker — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:48:47 +0000

Joe Berlinger discusses the three years he spent documenting the international legal battle and the human faces that have emerged from a major environmental disaster of oil contamination in the rainforest.

Joe, can you give us an introduction to the nature of your film and how the alleged contamination in the Amazon by Chevron/Texaco relates to water?

So, access to clean water for drinking and bathing is definitely a central issue to your film?

Play “Q&A: ‘Crude’ Director Joe Berlinger on Chevron in the Amazon”

powered by Vertio.net

Your film follows two attorneys: one is from New York City, and the other is from the affected region in the Amazon. How did this legal framework shape your film?

How was the film received in Ecuador?

And how has the film been received since its release in the United States last September?

Joe, how can people get more information about your film?

Aubrey Ann Parker is a reporter for Circle of Blue where she specializes in data visualization. Reach her at aubrey@circleofblue.org.
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UPDATE: On May 24, 2010, according to Reuters, Chevron filed to dismiss environmental expert Ryan Cabrera from the case because the geologist violated his legal duties by having ongoing contact with plaintiffs’ representatives. Meanwhile officials from the Amazon Defense Coalition have said Chevron’s claims against Cabrera are another attempt for the leading energy company to evade liability.

Video: WaterLife Director Kevin McMahon Tells the Story of the Great Lakes

Aaron Jaffe — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:51:02 +0000

From Canadian filmmaker Kevin McMahon comes Waterlife — a cinematic survey of the state of the Great Lakes in Canada and the United States. Holding one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, the Great Lakes are, as McMahon puts it, “home to 35 million lucky people in a thirsty world.”

In his aquatic exploration, McMahon tours the waters, the ecology and the environmental challenges of the lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. The feature-long documentary reveals how the lakes shape the lives of those living on their shores and how individuals, industries and invasive species subsequently transform these vast bodies of water.

McMahon spoke with Circle of Blue about his film, the Great Lakes and the world fresh water crisis.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Kevin McMahon talks about Waterlife after its debut at the 2009 Traverse City Film Festival in July. Video by Aaron Jaffe for Circle of Blue.

Digital Drought: Australia’s Future on Fire in Acclaimed Media Project

Sarah Haughn — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:51:57 +0000

Australia’s drought remains severe, but the award-winning interactive drama project, Scorched, offers a searing reality check for Australians nationwide. The year is 2012 and Sydney, facing raging bushfires, is finally out of water. As politicians, journalists, and ordinary citizens race to save their country, the project urges real Australians to join the not-so-fantastical fiction.

Using popular new media tools, the project turns viewers into participants in the unfolding crises — delivering Orwell’s dystopia into the 21st century. Scorched uses of a television series, live characters reporting on YouTube, cell phone alerts, mock news updates, blogs and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to weave a complex theater of narratives staging a desperate future for Australia.

To date, at least 10 percent of Australia’s population has taken part. Recent winner of an International Digital Emmy Award for best fiction program at the Cannes MIPTV conference, Scorched continues to earn attention and accolades across the world.

Video: The Biggest Dry, Stories of Australia’s Waning Rivers & Worried Towns

Sarah Haughn — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:59:44 +0000

A love song, a hymn of mourning: where has Australia’s beloved water gone? As the Murray-Darling river basin trickles into another decade of drought, its people catch what remains of the waning water and parched earth in their stories.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Video by Aaron Jaffe; edited by Eric Daigh for Circle of Blue.

“Darling” written by Nadav Kahn; performed and produced by Nadav Kahn and Nic Johns.

Once the source of a burgeoning agricultural sector and tourist economy, the Murray-Darling was the pride and promise of farmers and business owners alike. Not anymore. In the face of changing climate, its water intensive crops — like cotton, rice and stone fruits — thirst for the suffering resource. And who cares to vacation in a land of toxic mud flats and skeletal gum trees?

As the soil dries, as the forests catch fire and wildlife flees, an all too common silence pervades the basin. Will the water return? wonder the country’s growers, governers, and indigenous people. Scientists say Australia’s approach to water must change entirely if any hope of recovery exists.

Video by Aaron Jaffe and edited by Eric Daigh. Reach Jaffe at aaron@circlefofblue.org and Daigh at eric@circlefofblue.org.

Singer-songwriter Nadav Kahn was born in Israel and migrated to Sydney, Australia as a teenager, where he is currently based. His most recent project is alongside his brother in the band the Kahn Brothers. Their debut album, Love Melts Fear, was released in 2008, and is a heart-warming collection of inspired acoustic pop songs. Formerly, he was a member of the Australian art rock band Gelbison, releasing two acclaimed records known for their experimental sound scapes. Other collaborations include the band Nations by the River, and Operation Aloha, with its upcoming record due for release in May 2009. Operation Aloha features members of Maroon 5, Gomez and Phantom Planet.

For a complete list of credits, acknowledgements and other resources related to Circle of Blue’s coverage of “The Biggest Dry” please click here.

Video: Aboriginal Elder Beryl Carmichael Sings the River’s Lament

Sarah Haughn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:25:16 +0000

Using chants and stories, Aboriginal elder Beryl Carmichael shares with Circle of Blue the spiritual and visceral pain of a dry and dying Darling River.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Video by Aaron Jaffe for Circle of Blue

She tells of the social and cultural price its disease visits on her people. Carmichael has spent seven decades living near the river. She speaks from her home — the town of Menindee, New South Wales. The river is suffering because it is over governed, she says. Beyond song, there remains little else she and her people have been able to do to change that.

Video by Aaron Jaffe, reach him at aaron@circlefofblue.org. For a complete list of credits, acknowledgements and other resources related to Circle of Blue’s coverage of “The Biggest Dry” please click here.

Video: Caring for Basins Beyond Reform with Australian Scientist John Williams

Sarah Haughn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:21:19 +0000

It’s time to stop playing around with reform, says renowned Austrialian water scientist John Williams.
[See post to watch Flash video]

Video by Aaron Jaffe for Circle of Blue

The former Chief of Land and Water for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation discusses the impossible decisions Australians must make to bring water use in line with capacity. It’s time to have courage and recognize the social and political consequences of irresponsible water use, he says.

Williams asserts the resilience of the Australian landscape, but emphasizes the spiritual trauma European-Australians have exacted upon their indigenous counterparts. Aborigines are much more in tune with the water’s cycles, Williams recognizes — an attitude he believes the rest of the nation needs to learn.

Video: Julian Cribb Predicts “Diabolical” Future for World’s River Basins

Sarah Haughn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:15:16 +0000

Agricultural journalist Julian Cribb forecasts a perilous destiny for the world’s river basins and food baskets, a destiny he attributes to climate change and unchecked agricultural demand for water.
[See post to watch Flash video]

Video by Aaron Jaffe for Circle of Blue

Consider Australia’s Murray-Darling, where iconic forests of red gum trees have gone skeletal from thirst. In small towns across the basin, farmers and residents worry their livelihoods may soon share the fate of their beloved gum trees. Cribb, also a professor of science communication at the University of Technology in Sydney, thinks the time has come to manage river basins with efficiency and environmental sensitivity. Farmers, whom he cites as primary managers, must rapidly begin sharing good ideas on a global scale.

Video: Greg Ogle Illustrates Murray’s Failing Circulatory System

Sarah Haughn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:47:33 +0000

Farmer turned conservationist, Greg Ogle explains how the healthy appearance of the Murray channel can be deceiving. He details the crucial importance of tributaries, lakes and wetlands to the river’s health.

[See post to watch Flash video]

Video by Aaron Jaffe for Circle of Blue

With the Murray running as an irrigation channel, its circulatory system has become dangerously dry. According to Ogle, its lungs and heart will continue to suffer the consequences. Many of the most serious changes are yet to occur, he says. Ogle currently works as a regional manager for Australia’s oldest land trust, the Trust for Nature. He has lived in the area for nearly half a century.