Waterlife

 

 

I happened to catch a screening of the new film Waterlife on the Sundance channel. This movie traces the Great Lakes from the Nipigon River (feeds Lake Superior) to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. Along the way you meet people who live, work and play on the 5 lakes and their related waterways.

 

McMahon provides a picture that is beautiful yet disturbing. The largest group of freshwater lakes in the world is under siege. The film touches on sewage treatment, industrial toxins such as PCBs, invasive species such as the zebra muscles or the sea lamprey and the dropping water levels. In their own words, people who live and/or work on the lake(s) describe how the waterway’s environment has changed. There is a sense of urgency/need for change that defies the beauty of these lakes. The film presents both in beautiful and stunning ways.

 

It is that beauty that helps generate the lack of outrage on what is happening below the surface. This is a familiar theme in raising environmental awareness throughout the US and the rest of world.   If the change is not in your backyard, why worry?

 

For more information go to the Waterlife website.