Life follows water.

Where there is water there is life, and where there is life there is water.

The two are inseparable.

This simple realization is imperative to the survival of our species.

As humans, we have systematically destroyed an innumerable number of natural ecosystems around the world. These are ecosystems that regulate the transfer of oxygen and carbon, maintain the temperature of the planet, and create the conditions for life as we know it. These are like the organs of the body: when treated properly, they support the life of the whole. When treated improperly, other organs begin to compensate and pick up the slack until they exceed their capacity, after which the health of the whole becomes increasingly compromised.

The structures that we are replacing these ecosystems with (think jungles, savannahs, etc.) are often cities, suburbs, or agricultural lands. Currently, our design of cities, suburbs, and agricultural lands is profoundly linear, extractive, and disconnected from the natural cycles of an ecosystem. Water runs right off the top of these landscapes carrying all of the pollutants that it picks up in the process to the sea. There is no root structure to attract and retain water in these landscapes, and there are hardly any life forms to build and benefit the soil health.

These lands are slowly dying, with less and less to contribute to the regulation of earth’s natural systems.

And here we are with more water crises on our hands than ever: resource wars, famine, eroding farmland, food scarcity, contaminated waterways, limited access to clean drinking water, drought, extreme weather patterns, expanding deserts, species depletion/extinction, drying watersheds, the displacement of native peoples…and so on.

When will we wake up to our inseparability from the life and health of water?

Reflection: a water story is a feature-length documentary orienting audiences towards the more expansive perspective of interbeing. Using the water crisis in California as a metaphor for similar concerns around the world, Reflection will weave a tapestry of stories featuring the most influential people and projects currently giving hope to California’s water struggles—examining the sort of shifts in perspective that are necessary for meaningful change to occur and revealing universal solutions to the issues at hand. It explores our interconnection with water in order to provide a map for the creation of a more harmonious world.

This is a follow-up film to the well-loved and award-winning film Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective.

Reflection will take viewers on an intimate journey, chronicling the experience of filmmakers Emmett Brennan and Cailey Clark as they one: embark on a 200-mile group pilgrimage—following one of LA’s major water sources from its origin in the the Sierras to its piped destination in the city—and two: meet with water visionaries from around the state to discover what must be done if we are to build an enduring and healthy society. These visionary visits will be lucid and personal, floating in and out of the pilgrimage as necessary to reveal and anchor the solutions.

The impetus is to provide humanity with a glimpse into what’s possible if we better understand our relationship to water; the vision is to orient people towards the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible.

The filmmakers are raising money for production right now through an IndieGoGo campaign. The campaign ends July 13th.

Learn more about the story and people involved and support the project here.

 

Author: Emmett Brennan

Image: European Parliament at Flickr 

Editors: Renée Picard; Caitlin Oriel