Telling critical stories from the edges of the world.
As Expedition Blue Planet explored the Colorado River’s headwaters, John Wesley Powell’s name came up again and again. In this short film Alexandra Cousteau, and the experts she interviewed, elaborate on the story of this remarkable man who rafted the Colorado’s uncharted waters in the late 1800s and foretold of its mismanagement long before it was tamed.
Four months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster Alexandra Cousteau visits the Gulf States to find friends, communities and livelihoods burdened and broken by distrust and uncertainty in the aftermath of the the largest oil spill in US waters. In a region whose heart and soul can be found in the marine bounty of the gulf’s rich waters, Cousteau discovers that people are not only losing their jobs, but their way of life. “Ocean of Doubt: Polluted Waters, Broken Communities” puts a human face and stirring voice to that story of incalculable loss.
Alabama is home to the greatest wealth of freshwater and marine biodiversity in North America. As the BP oil spill continues to cast its shadow over the Gulf Coast, scientists keep a vigilant eye on frogs, sharks, and sperm whales–all indicator species and proxies for ecosystem effects caused by the oil spill and its clean-up efforts.
In July, Expedition Blue Planet explored the headwaters of the Colorado River to investigate how this mighty river is overallocated from the moment its waters touch the ground up in the Rocky Mountains, where the Continental Divide rises like a spine and demarcates the Mississippi watershed that lies to the East from the Colorado watershed that falls to the West. Today we find that this iconic river still means life for the 20 million people who live in its basin — just as it did for the Native Americans, just as it did for the settlers who drove West and claimed it as their own. But the truth is, the minute it touches the ground, we’ve allocated every drop and too often we’re not even judicious in how we use it. In this short film, we speak to key voices in the headwaters region and chart the path of the river’s flow to investigate water use and management issues in the American West. Here, it’s all about what’s downstream.
© Blue Legacy International
In this behind-the-scenes video for Alexandra Cousteau’s Expedition Blue Planet, the team continue their cross-North America trek investigating water issues across the continent. Watch as they muck through the icy cold headwaters of the Colorado River filming “The Headwaters”, raft its biggest water through Cataract Canyon in Utah and make their way up into Canada.
Hoover Dam is the heart of the American west’s water supply, a powerhouse for irrigation and farming in the region. But today a combination of drought and overuse have drained it half dry leaving a 135 foot high “bathtub ring” mark around Lake Mead. Will America’s largest reservoir ever fill up again as the water wars between cities, farmers and nature play out? Alexandra Cousteau’s Expedition Blue Planet investigates.
Expedition Blue Planet 2009 chronicled the interconnectivity of water. A key aspect of the project was its ability to show how individual stories are part of the larger, universal story of an interdependent, global water ecosystem. In this way, we created a new vision for what it means to live in a world where water is our most precious resource, and a plan for what we must do to protect it.
The miracle of the Okavango is water, an oasis in a country that is 85 percent covered by the Kalahari thirstland—the largest continuous stretch of sand on Earth. 9,000 million cubic meters of water flow annually from rainy highlands of Angola through Namibia in a river. When it hits a depression in northern Botswana formed between two fault lines, it spreads out like a hand, forming an alluvial fan. What makes the Okavango unique is that instead of emptying out into an ocean or lake as other deltas do, all the water here either gets used by plants or evaporates, simply fading out into the bone dry reaches of the Kalahari.
It’s impossible to imagine from where we are now that a vast desert surrounds us. Here in the deep, isolated wetlands, we can see and feel the abundance of water all around us, and the rich biodiversity that water supports.
In Botswana, a country the size of France with a population of just 1.6 million, one might imagine that competition for the water of the Delta—from humans, anyway—is not that fierce. One might argue that this is why the Okavango has remained one of the most pristine wetlands on Earth, largely undeveloped, the wildlife free to roam.
But this is not the case. The Okavango River Basin extends some 700,000 square kilometers across Angola, Namibia, and Botswana. Not only does the Delta in its natural state face threats from human populations and agricultural interests in Botswana itself, but also it risks diversion for dams and fresh water supplies by the people living in these neighboring countries to the North.
Four flights and just over 34 hours of travel marked the beginning of the second phase of our 2009 Expedition Blue Planet as we flew halfway around the globe to join the Blue Legacy film crew in Cambodia. What started as a research outline quickly evolved into a five continent expedition dedicated to chronicling the interconnectivity of some of our most critical water stories.
But it wasn’t water that caught my attention as we winged our way above the Mekong River and banked to touch down in Phnom Penh. It was a thick blanket blocking the sun and shrouding the twisting gold and orange spires of local Wats in a cloak of drab gray. The thick scent of burning wood was caught in my throat and I realized that the city’s shroud is it’s ancient forests slipping slowly skyward leaving only stumps and muddy hillsides where once stood a global treasure.
The Mekong River, a mother for millions in South East Asia now under threat by dams, development and climate change. Expedition travels to the heart of the river in Cambodia where locals fear for their future if large hydropower projects are built on their river.
Washington DC casts a long shadow. Just a few miles from the Mall – famous for the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument – lies a troubled world that bears little resemblance to these iconic representations of democracy. No mobs of tourists throng the streets snapping photos there. Few world leaders ever visit.
Anacostia, in southeast Washington, D.C., is famous for entirely different reasons. It has one of the highest murder rates in the world. And its river is one of the most polluted in the country.
Anacostia, in southeast Washington, D.C., has one of the highest murder rates in the world. And its river is one of the most polluted in the country.
In this dark landscape, home to so much violence to nature and human beings alike, the Earth Conservation Corps shines a bright light. Part of AmeriCorps, a government-funded public service program, ECC’s mission for the past 17 years has been: “To empower our endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia River, their communities, and their lives.”
Alexandra Cousteau interviews ECC President, Bob Nixon.
The longest river in the USA and third largest in the world, the Mississippi drains 40 percent of the country, including the majority of its farming heartland. At present, there are no federal laws governing pollution being dumped into the Mississippi River, and last year alone some 817,000 tons of nitrogen made its way into the Gulf of Mexico via the river. These agricultural chemicals have led to the largest ever ‘deadzone’ (an area so starved of oxygen that it cannot sustain life) in the history of the Gulf.
The Mississippi River is one of the largest rivers in the world and drains 40% of the USA. Chemical fertilizers from industrial agriculture and urban runoff are contributing to create one of the largest dead zones in the world in the Gulf of Mexico.
The longest river in the USA and third largest in the world, the Mississippi drains 40 percent of the country, including the majority of its farming heartland. At present, there are no federal laws governing pollution being dumped into the Mississippi River, and last year alone some 817,000 tons of nitrogen made its way into the Gulf of Mexico via the river. These agricultural chemicals have led to the largest ever ‘deadzone’ (an area so starved of oxygen that it cannot sustain life) in the history of the Gulf.
Farmers and fishermen share one thing in common: the Mississippi River watershed. In this video, the team compares how both impact and are impacted by degradation of the river and its natural systems.
Alexandra and the team spend their final days on the Mississippi River visiting again with the Cajun people living at the frayed edges of the bayou close to the Gulf of Mexico. Talk to any locals here and you’ll find that their biggest concern is land loss. Louisiana is disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 25 to 35 square miles of land a year, nearly a football field every hour.
Anacostia, in southeast Washington, D.C., has one of the highest murder rates in the world. And its river is one of the most polluted in the country.
In this dark landscape, home to so much violence to nature and human beings alike, the Earth Conservation Corps shines a bright light. Part of AmeriCorps, a government-funded public service program, ECC’s mission for the past 17 years has been: “To empower our endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia River, their communities, and their lives.”
Alexandra Cousteau interviewed ECC volunteer, Patric Frazier.
Anacostia, in southeast Washington, D.C., has one of the highest murder rates in the world. And its river is one of the most polluted in the country.
In this dark landscape, home to so much violence to nature and human beings alike, the Earth Conservation Corps shines a bright light. Part of AmeriCorps, a government-funded public service program, ECC’s mission for the past 17 years has been: “To empower our endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia River, their communities, and their lives.”
Alexandra Cousteau interviewed ECC eagle wrangler, Rodney Scott.
St. Louis marks a dividing line in the Mississippi River. To the north, in Minnesota, it is a national treasure attracting more people for recreation than Yellowstone National Park. To the south, it is hardly a river anymore. It more closely resembles a drainage pipe.
Alexandra Cousteau speaks with Louisiana native Tab Benoit, President of Voice of the Wetalnds. Benoit has watched the wetlands of Louisiana disappear over the years with his own eyes. He believes they can be saved by letting the Mississippi River run its natural course.
The Tonle Sap, the largest inland lake in South East Asia is geographically and culturally the centre of Kindgom of Cambodia. The flooded forests of this epic inland sea, are so rich in fishstocks that they provide nutrition for the entire nation.
To quote Osama: ”In Arabic we have a saying, “The sword has two blades: either you can use it for good, or you can cut yourself with it.” It’s the same with water: you can use it for peace or it can be a source of conflict.”
Alexandra Cousteau interviews Arava Institute student, Osama Suliman.
Alexandra Cousteau interviews Carl Middleton from International Rivers on the Mekong River as it flows through Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
