Customer Reviews

Blue Gold: World Water Wars

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We can't live without water. You may have thought it was a human right. But certain corporations have been plotting to control the water supply on this planet for a while now, and have been moving into place around the globe. Now the World Bank has required certain governments to privatize their precious water supply -- make it a corporate commodity answerable only to stockholders -- as a condition to getting a loan. In some places it is now illegal to catch rainwater, because rain is being considered private property, including the United States. The evil of this worldwide corporate grab for control of your most precious resource is practically inconceivable, but it is happening. Blue Gold: World Water Wars is a landmark documentary that every school, library and church should own and show. Do you want the cost of your water to be controlled by private corporations and stockholders only interested in their bottom line? Do you want to give up your right to the water around you, including rain? It is time to get educated and get active. Start with this film.

Sam Bozzo has given us a real eye-opener, calling attention to a seldom thought of looming crisis. We have been bombarded by information on Global Warming and energy consumpton, but little has been said concerning the world's current and future water crisis. As long as we can turn on the faucet and get a clean glass of water, why worry?
This fascinating look at man's seemingly never ending ability to jeopardize his own well-being should be seen by everyone.

We hear a lot about a global oil shortage. Even more ominous is the growing shortage of water in the world, a shortage being compounded by global warming which is reducing the snow melt, a key factor in creating the water flow for rivers. An ugly secret of the "green revolution" that reduced hunger has been the huge expansion of pumping out underground aquifers around the world. From Arizona to northern China water tables have been falling rapidly for years. The percentage of world crops dependent on irrigation has soared in the last 50 years. Even the US CIA sees water as a severe global crisis. I don't agree with all the points in this DVD but it serves as a wake up call about what is to come. There is a related book by the same author Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water. I would also recommend When the Rivers Run Dry: Water--The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century.

I found this movie via torrentfreak which featured an article about the response of the independent film-maker to his movie being shared via torrent. His response was well written and thought out and simply asked for a donation if you respected what he was trying to do (donate to him via http://www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com/). I immediately donated but it wasn't until a couple of days later that I thought it would be worthwhile seeing something created by such a level headed and thoughtful man.

And am I glad I did! It was great! The material was important and in a lot of ways it was tragic but it was put together in a way that gave a human face to the suffering without rubbing your nose in it and actually gave hope that individuals could make a difference. It could have gone over the top and produced another 'corporations are evil' movie but it was toned down enough that you didn't dismiss it out of hand and listened to the important message.

The first hour and a bit is a lot to handle but it is offset by the upbeat ending which shows ways in which changes are being made for the better: basically "its not all doom and gloom, we have a big problem but we know the solution and can point to cases where it has worked".

I'm watching this in the context of reading and reviewing twelve books on water before I leave Guatemala. Having read Marq de Villier's book, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource several years ago, and more recently The Water Atlas: A Unique Visual Analysis of the World's Most Critical Resource, this movie is a collage. I recollect Human Footprint and The 11th Hour as better films but this one is focused and I am coming down on a five rating.

The tid-bits are certainly a pleasure to watch....

+ Pumping 15 times more water out of ground than going in
+ Sewage coming back into the food, especially vegetables, via groundwater pollution
+ Malaysia has imposed the death penalty on anyone polluting water
+ Cities can fall into hollowed out underground aquifers
+ Focus on how we are building housing that is out of synch with what local water can support
+ Focus on dams and other measures as changing the hydrocycle and destroying watersheds
+ Water privatization is the major disruptive and corrupting force right now--world-wide
+ Margaret Thatcher gave away England's water and set stage for global campaign to "own" and "sell" water
+ World Bank is in cahoots with water companies, including privatization of water as a condition for debt relief
+ Clearly time to shove back on "the Quad" (US, Canada, EU, Japan)
+ Suicides are a major side-effect of drought
+ Water privatization IS colonialism
+ First thing companies do (after bribing politicians) is to slash the workforce and lose the local memory
+ Then they raise rates and cut services (as well as safety of water)
+ Corruption is endemic at the state and province levels, and often for trivial amounts
+ Coca-Cola and Nestle come out as the new face of colonialism
+ Major players with terrible records are hiding behind new names, new brands, no change in corruption
+ Fifteen stock indices for water
+ Changes in governments turn contracts for export of water upside down
+ Desalination is a more stable solution BUT creates its own energy and pollution side-effects
+ 87 major corporate players in the water business including General Electric
+ They profit from dirty water
+ Millenium Goals over-looked entire issue of polluted water and who owns the plants, the products, and the pollution
+ Bottle of water $2.00, tap water less than a penny for the same amount
+ US legal framework gives corporations same standing as citizens--they also abuse legal counter-attacks
+ New term "hydrostitute" (prostituted hydrologist)
+ Wisconsin beat them, Michigan is making huge mistakes--if water is shipped it does not return to its basin
+ Supreme Court in late 1800's held Great Lakes to be a public trust that could not be privatized
+ Great T-Shirt: "My Mom Eats Transnationals for Breakfast"
+ 210 million gallons a year being shipped by various means
+ Contest for water heating up between "city people and real people" as corporations try to buy/rent farms
+ Virtual water/embedded water discussed, agribusiness is a huge stake in the heart of local ecology
+ 120 liters for a dozen roses--need many more examples
+ World Bank demanding that poor countries with low water export it to cover debt, this is being called murder and theft
+ Assassinations of water activists have occurred (e.g. Kenya)
+ Choice: cholera water from river or pay for clean water ("can only afford two flushes a month")--state pays for illness!

WAY COOL: Ryan Hreljac $70 will buy a well. 10 steps versus 10,000 steps. Ryan's Well has raised money to fund 266 projects helping a half million people. I've heard about the Twitter fund-raising that does $250 wells, with proof on the web very quickly of accomplishment.

+ Export crops--cash crops--are for national foreign exchange, but not in the public interest
+ Lawrence Summers testified to Senate, US corporations get 1.30 back from every 1.00 in foreign aid
+ Fair trade rather than free trade is what the indigenous peoples want and need
+ The Western system creates losers, that is the system that has to be taken on

Minute 59: Begin Water Wars

+ Theft of water from clouds via cloud seeding now popular
+ When the water system does not work, the civilization crashes
+ So many water wars are presented as religious or ethnic conflict, this is not correct
+ Governments put military on side of corporations
+ Brazil, Canada, Russia already treating water as a strategic asset & planning protection
+ World wide water channels are being militarized
+ Bolivia a case study of public finally getting government to kick Bechtel out for its criminal behavior
+ Huge resorvoirs can become stagnant and mercury concentrations rise--ground water does not have this issue
+ Local control of growth can take years in court, but it can be done--live within limits of watersheds
+ America could save 25% or more of its water
+ Constitutional Amendments are the model--establish right to water
+ World Social Forum worthy and worth keeping an eye on
+ Small town mayors being convicted and sent to jail

Bottom line: know your water source, ask the questions, be active for future generations

Like "Food Inc."
"Blue Gold" is another must see documentary.
I'll admit I was completely ignorant of our water crisis.
Who would even think the planet is in a water crisis?
We're surrounded by water so what gives?
As usual it's the major corporations that are destroying our planet.
From our water to our food....uugh, it just never ends does it?
The greed shown by certain companies is just sickening.
I'll sum up "Blue Gold" like this.
Brilliant movie.
Eye opening.
Great direction.
Paced well.
A awesome and eye opening movie from start to finish.
Like "Food Inc." I give this documentary my highest recommendations!!!
I'd do a more in dept review but other reviewers have done that already, and done it well.
Trust me, watch this movie, you'll never buy bottled water again.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Like "Flow," another great film concerning the coming - and inevitable - water crisis, "Blue Gold" relies primarily on the work of Canadian Maude Barlow. It presents the current state of fresh water: where it is; how much there is; how it's gotten; how fast it's disappearing; who wants to control access to it; and what communities can do to help protect their water sources from the corporate raiders. And it interpolates the kind of dog-eat-dog world the gradual loss of fresh water sources may generate. While the picture it paints is not necessarily catastrophic, it is quite forboding. Global warming is working hand-in-hand with global economics to produce a very bleak future for most the world's inhabitants. Three countries stand to become the new super-powers because they have the greatest fresh water reserves in the world: Russia, Canada and Brazil. Because of the virtual blackout of this topic in the mainstream media, this film, along with "Flow," are absolutely crucial to understanding what lies ahead.

This film was a great teaching tool for my college students learning about conflict and how to transform it. Water is already a conflict in the Middle East, but it won't be long before we see this conflict rearing it's ugly head on all continents. We have the tools and expertise to prepare and prevent water conflicts, and this movie allows us to see this in advance so we can act on it.

talks about desalination, hydrological power, impact of dams, relation to erosion, to earthquakes, global commercialization of water by corporations, social impacts, hydrological cycle of clouds, contamination, examples all over the world, not just U.S and Europe. Just great!

Of course, this information is not being showcased in the mainstream media. I often wonder if these evil big wigs have children, spouses, or grandchildren? And, if they do why they are jeopardizing their futures along with ours. I also wonder why they are without conscience? It is so beyond my comprehension that greed could be so large that it's absolutely blinding. The human race is on the brink of extinction and most people are unaware of the man- made problems pushing us toward the edge of the cliff. This is a wonderful documentary.