Film "Last Call at the Oasis" is Sobering Look at World Water Crisis

This is a guest post from Tom Szaky, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraCycle, which provides free waste collection, and then turns that waste into sustainable products.

As trash takes over the planet via overflowing landfills, the growing Pacific Gyre, endless litter, and needless consumption, meanwhile something very important is rapidly disappearing – and you should be concerned. More and more trash, less and less… clean water.

I’ve dedicated my entire life to one environmental issue: Eliminating the Idea of Waste. When I met some of the talented folks at Art Takes Over (ATO) and Participant Media (producers of top films like Food, Inc. and An Inconvenient Truth), and I heard about their new documentary, "Last Call at the Oasis," I realized that while recycling and reuse should remain a top priority and top concern, there’s an environmental issue much bigger facing the 21st Century and that’s clean water.

I recently mentioned to you in my post about sustainable fashion that I think art is an incredible medium for pressing messages such as the need to recycle. TerraCycle had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Yu, the Academy Award-winning director of "Last Call at the Oasis," for our podcast this week.

When Jessica mentioned to us that making a film about water was appealing to her, she talked about the intense imagery provided by water that they used throughout the film such as waterfalls, geysers and oceans. The contrast of these images with those of barren deserts, contaminated waterways and dried up life is stunning.

"Last Call at the Oasis" shows us why we need to be concerned about our water, even if we seem to have clean water in our homes day to day. Jessica told us that there are over 80,000 chemicals swimming around the lakes and streams here in the US, and only five of them are tracked and controlled. Even cities that today seemingly have plenty of water and no worries could run out of water by 2050 if we don’t start being more cognizant about our actions.

Read More @  http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/last-call-oasis-its-true-we-have-w...