Telling critical stories from the edges of the world.
Three lucky city dwellers were chosen through a call for video auditions put out via Chinese social media to travel to TNC project sites to both experience and participate in conserving nature. This video follows Iris (Beijing), Jenny (Shanghai), and Jared (Chengdu) from their city surroundings to some of China’s most important natural areas.
Read more about the project here
In 2010 Australia was facing the worst drought on history, but the death of the Murray Darling River had been written much earlier in European management without regard for Australia’s realities.
Tired of watching his ancestral home the Coorong die Ngarrindjeri elder Major Sumner united a group of different aboriginal nations from along the river on a 2300 kilometre pilgrimage to sign the spirit back into the river and into themselves.
By the time they had finished the drought had broken and what followed was the wettest wet season in living memory with floods throughout the basin. In 2011 the Aboriginal families retraced their ritual pilgrimage down the rivers from Southern Queensland to South Australia, and around them the river and the floods had transformed land. But in their lives the same struggles continued, and in the news the rest of Australia had already forgotten how close we all came to killing the river, and running out of water.
This is the story of a group of aboriginal families living between two worlds, struggling to have the knowledge of the world’s oldest surviving cultures heard in the national debate over how to live along Australia’s greatest river. And it is the story of two very different aboriginal leaders, Major Sumner and Cheryl Buchanan, traditional owners from either end of the Murray Darling River, elders, veterans of the tent embassy. Bound together by the rivers, the stories and their work to sing the spirit back into the land, their people, and the lives of their grandchildren.
In August 2010, Alexandra Cousteau’s Expedition Blue Planet crossed over the Arizona/Mexican border to follow the Colorado’s dry riverbed to its historic mouth in the Upper Gulf of California. The Colorado’s rivers once nutrient-rich waters no longer even reach the sea. This short film tracks the ghost of a mighty river that used to run free over this land just half a century ago.
The stately Colorado, that same iconic river of history that carved out the Grand Canyon and made the deserts bloom in the American southwest now ends in a hypersaline mudflat rather than a punctuation mark of aquatic biodiversity. The Colorado’s once-lush estuary is no longer a nursery for marine life. The people whose lives were intertwined with the river’s wealth in its flood plain are now culturally bereft.
10 countries, over 100,000 kilometres, 45 critical water stories, 100 days. Expedition Blue Planet.
Alexandra Cousteau’s 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 inter-dependent and 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 plan for what we must do to protect it.
© Blue Legacy International
Seasonal rice harvests in the Mekong River Delta are threatened by the rise of sea tides due to climate change.
This film is part of the Mekong Diaries; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the Mekong, the world’s last wild great river, as the forces of development change it forever.
At the mouth of the river, climate change is affecting of the lives of both those who fish the river and those who fish in the sea.
This film is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the Mekong, the world’s last wild great river, as the forces of development change it forever.
The Mekong Delta has traditionally served as a nexus of commerce to the people of South Vietnam, but now development is threatening the way of life for millions who call the Delta home.
This film is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the Mekong, the world’s last wild great river, as the forces of development change it forever.
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.
Kanpur is a city characterized by the countless tanning factories that line the sacred Ganges, pouring millions of gallons of toxic effluent into the river on a daily basis. The Expedition team interviews local environmental hero to learn more about this threat to the holiest of rivers.
Expedition: Blue Planet investigates the impact of the river’s increasing seasonality on the physical wellbeing, spiritual practice and cultural identity of the Indian people. This is more than simply an academic question. The water that flows in the rivers is the lifeblood of India, tying together her history, her people and their future.
© Blue Legacy International
At 1,560 miles (2510 km) long with a river basin between 200 and 400 miles wide, the Ganges river supports nearly half a billion people ‘Mother Ganges’ is revered by Hindus as the incarnation of a god.
The source of the Ganges is Rishikesh, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains and fed by its enormous and endangered glaciers. The Expedition team investigates the impact on India of the threat posed by an increasingly seasonal Ganges river.
©Blue Legacy International
Expedition: Blue Planet’s first stop in India is Varanasi, the most ancient and most holy place in India, a pilgrimage destination for millions of Hindus who gather to pay homage to a living goddess- the Ganges River.
A drought in the West Bank is exacerbating the situation in the already conflict-riddled region. As Israelis experience unprecedented water shortages, residential wells in drought-stricken Palestinian regions continue to dry up due to decreased rainfall and Israel’s tightening grip on water use. Parts of major West Bank cities such as Jenin, Hebron, and Bethlehem have experienced a lack of running water for weeks at a time. Even faucets in parts of Ramallah, the occupied West Bank’s political hub, which rarely experiences cuts, have been known to go dry for days at a time.
© Blue Legacy International
A drought in the West Bank is exacerbating the situation in the already conflict-riddled region. As Israelis experience unprecedented water shortages, residential wells in drought-stricken Palestinian regions continue to dry up due to decreased rainfall and Israel’s tightening grip on water use. Parts of major West Bank cities such as Jenin, Hebron, and Bethlehem have experienced a lack of running water for weeks at a time. Even faucets in parts of Ramallah, the occupied West Bank’s political hub, which rarely experiences cuts, have been known to go dry for days at a time.
Alexandra interviews Palestinian student Muna Dajani about what the wall separating Israel from the West Bank means for water distribution between the two sides of the conflict.
© Blue Legacy International
A drought in the West Bank is exacerbating the situation in the already conflict-riddled region. As Israelis experience unprecedented water shortages, residential wells in drought-stricken Palestinian regions continue to dry up due to decreased rainfall and Israel’s tightening grip on water use.
Parts of major West Bank cities such as Jenin, Hebron, and Bethlehem have experienced a lack of running water for weeks at a time. Even faucets in parts of Ramallah, the occupied West Bank’s political hub, which rarely experiences cuts, have been known to go dry for days at a time.
The Expedition team talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian students at the Arava Institute where they are studying environmental and water issues as a vehicle for diplomacy, cooperation and ultimately, peace.
© Blue Legacy International
A drought in the West Bank is exacerbating the situation in the already conflict-riddled region. As Israelis experience unprecedented water shortages, residential wells in drought-stricken Palestinian regions continue to dry up due to decreased rainfall and Israel’s tightening grip on water use. Parts of major West Bank cities such as Jenin, Hebron, and Bethlehem have experienced a lack of running water for weeks at a time. Even faucets in parts of Ramallah, the occupied West Bank’s political hub, which rarely experiences cuts, have been known to go dry for days at a time.
Expedition: Blue Planet’ examines the impact of water scarcity in one of the most volatile regions of the world and how communities in Israel, Jordan and Palestine are coping with water shortages.
© Blue Legacy International
Ratanankiri, North East Cambodia, and in 2010 the sudden release of excess rain waters from overburdened dams in Viet Nam has catastrophic consequences on river communities downstream in Cambodia. This is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the world’s last wild great river as the forces of development change it forever.
China stakes a claim in Chiang Rai province, Thailand, with its news casinos.
This is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the world’s last wild great river as the forces of development change it forever.
A fishing community in Chiang Khong talks about changes in the ecology of the river that make it difficult to continue the traditions of their trade. The Mekong catfish, a monster that can reach nine feet in length and over 650 lbs in weight, has been endangered since 2004. But is their scarcity due to overfishing, industrial development upstream, or climate change?
This is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the world’s last wild great river as the forces of development change it forever.
In northeastern Burma’s Shan State, our team met with Lahu villagers to speak about being forced into sometimes deadly service as unwilling labor for the Burmese Army.
This is part of the Mekong Diaries series; Goodmorningbeautiful travelled the length of the world’s last wild great river as the forces of development change it forever.
