Tag: Jessica Yu


Last Call at the Oasis

May 16th, 2012 — 7:18am

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Last Call at the Oasis- sp  – People kill for it and we all are dependent on it. This  documentary is all about it and it is  “water”. It may not be a total surprise to you but the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century. This film puts a human face on the struggle around the impact of global warming in areas such as the Central Valley in California which is drying up. You can look into the eyes of people from various communities in Texas, the Midwest and elsewhere. You can see how industrial chemicals are doing their damage to people through our water supply. You see an illustration in one locality where you could actually get a flash flame by putting a match to water coming from the faucet. You meet the real Erin Brockovitch (made famous by her film portrayal by Julia Roberts) who is still fighting for people suffering the effects of contaminated water. You also meet an everyday Midwestern housewife who achieved well deserved recognition when she went on a campaign to measure and demonstrate the impurity of the water in her community. The film doesn’t offer simple solutions. It makes the case for conservation of water and the urgent need to rethink agricultural techniques and urban water use. One of the many things that can be done is the recycling of our waste water which technology allows us to do but too many people are reluctant to consider. The film is directed and produced by Jessica Yu with major support from Participation Media which has supported many social action films such as Waiting for Superman, Inconvenient Truth, Darfur Now, The Help and many others. You will come away from this movie much better informed and most likely inspired to do something about one of the major global problems areas of your lifetime. However, you may, in fact feel frustrated and overwhelmed. At the conclusion of the film in very small print for a brief moment there are some  websites which are listed which should have been  shown in bold type across the entire screen. One of these sites is Takepart.com/lastcall. On it you will learn 10 easy ways you can conserve water as well as interesting facts such as that in poor parts of the world people live on 2.5 gallons of water /day, a 60 watt light bulb requires 5 gallons of water for every hour it is left on, toilets can use as much as 7 gallons/flush, the average household uses 350 gallons of water/day. There is also a story of one accident which  spilled  3 million gallons of manure into the Black River in NY causing an unimaginable amount of water pollution. You can all learn how to sign the Water Bill of Rights or get the National Geographic water calculator to test your true water footprint. This is the potential of this film to inform you and move you to action.

Comment » | 3 Stars, Documentary

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