Tonkel+Blue+Gold

1. Blue Gold was directed by Sam Bozzo and released in 2008. 2. The reason this film was created was to show people how our planet is entering a water crisis and the types of impacts that it will have on humans as well as on the biosphere. Underlying that issue is the major problem of water privatization and politics that are harming water quality and preventing people from having a fundamental right to water in order to survive. 3. There are many suitability problems addressed within this film. First and foremost is that many people, mostly in developed countries, take their water for granted and through wastefulness we are pumping much more water out of our environment than it can replenish. Secondly, much of our drinking water is being polluted and is having very negative effects on both wildlife and humans alike. Almost all of world’s 3% of useable fresh water has been polluted and more children have died from poor water quality than have died from aids. There are also always the issues involved with governments and corporations. Many of which collaborate together to ensure profits for the leaders in both sectors. 4. I would have to say that the most compelling part of the film was not necessarily any one major argument but the history behind the importance of water. The film talked about all the great ancient civilizations and how empires were built around water supplies like the Nile of the Egyptians or the Tigris river of Mesopotamia. Recently everyone has been so worried about the Mayan’s predicting 2012 as the end of the world, just as they are said to predict their own end, it is extremely interesting to know that many scientist credit the collapse of a great civilization like the Mayans to a huge water shortage. It just kind of shows the magnitude of the problems our generation could encounter if nothing is changed. 5. One of the issues the film talked about was the fact that water privatization makes water much more expensive and is always a bad thing. I would like to pick at the idea that with close enough regulation and the economic push to be the best quality at the lowest price, that it would be possible to privatize water in some areas. It wouldn’t be so much that the companies own the water it would just be more about the transport of the water. However, to counter that, this would really only be a viable option in developed countries that would have the resources and power to hold a large corporation to many regulations (which a lot of the time doesn’t even feel true). This does bring up many other issues that even the most powerful countries cannot control these monsters of corporate powers. 6. There are three things that I felt really necessary to learn more about after watching this film. The first of which was the food and water watch organization, from the film and their website the organization advocates education and provides information for many people to make smarter decisions. They list types of fish that are best to eat, the healthiest and best environmental ways to use water, as well as many other things. Second was this project blue alternative, where kids and young adults go to a summer camp and learn about the biology of a river and help to build natural dams, that don’t stop water flow but filter the water through plants and trees so that it can be cleaned absorbed by the soil. It really makes me think about how humans are really just getting in the way of nature solving or reducing many of our problems. Lastly, I think it would be really interesting to know more about the different ways to solve both the water shortage and pollution problem. I understand that water desalination is costly and energy intensive so how are current scientists proposing we deal with this. I talked with an environmental engineering professor that said it was much easier to clean our waste water than to use desalination plants. 7. It’s always difficult for me to assess who the best audience for a film like this would be. I think that it has the most effect on small town or middle class people in America and Europe. I also think that it was meant for many of the people that have power to change our governmental policies and the way we deal with many of these major corporations. I hope that a film like this changes how people use as well as buy water. It is really easy to go into a store and purchase a bottle of water, but it is just as easy to fill a water bottle at home. The second change I hope film would make would be to talk more about how food is usually a massive use of water. It apparently takes 99 liters of water to grow one apple. One of my favorite parts of the film was when it listed the amount of water put into making every day goods. 8. This film really advocates for the protest against these large water corporations, whether it be at a rally, volunteering for an organization like the Food and Water Watch or no longer buying any of the products of companies like coca cola. Overall, we need to get rid of water privatization and protect our precious water sources and keep them clean. 9. This film did a great job educating on the problem of a water shortage, but personally I think it could have been even better if the director had added more of the new technology and new ideas that are being developed to fix some of the problems. It always amazes me what some people think of and inspires me and hopefully others to improve on those new ideas.