In A New Documentary, Robert Redford Tells The
Colorado River’s Epic Story

post from ThinkProgress on 12 May 2012 11:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

by Michelle Nijhuis, via OnEarth

Actor Robert Redford has always loved the landscapes of the West, and his classic roles as the outlaw Sundance Kid and mountain man Jeremiah Johnson are now part of Western lore. As executive producer and narrator of a new documentary, Watershed, Redford takes a close look at the greatest Western icon of all: the Colorado River, which flows almost 1,500 miles from its source in the Rocky Mountains to its delta at the Gulf of California. The river?s water, notoriously dammed and diverted in order to meet the region?s growing thirst, now rarely reaches the sea.

Watershed profiles several people who are trying to change the region?s relationship with the river, including a Los Angeles bicycle activist, a Navajo Nation councilwoman, a Colorado fly-fishing guide, and a restoration ecologist in Mexico. In short interludes, a crew of animators illustrates the fiendishly complex politics of the river, the mechanics of hydraulic fracturing, and other issues facing the Colorado Basin. The documentary, written and directed by Mark Decena, was co-produced by Redford?s son James, who also produced the HBO documentary Mann v. Ford and directed the new film The D Word: Understanding Dyslexia. (James is 50, but as you?ll see, his 76-year-old dad still calls him a “good kid.”)

The new film screens at the Sausalito Film Festival on May 13 and is available through the Whole Foods-sponsored Do Something Reel online film festival this month. Robert Redford spoke about it with OnEarth contributor and longtime Western journalist Michelle Nijhuis. (Disclosure: Barry Nelson, a senior water policy analyst at NRDC, which publishes OnEarth, was an advisor on the film, and Redford is an NRDC trustee.)

Do you recall your first encounter with the Colorado River?

Well, I?ve had a lot of experiences on both the Colorado and the Green rivers — fishing for golden trout in the high mountains, filming Jeremiah Johnson, floating the Green River, and having a boat on Lake Powell for 30-odd years.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and after the Second World War, people flooded in there like it was gold-rush time. Suddenly, the place turned into concrete and smog and pollution. That made a huge impact on me.

I retreated into the Sierras and then into the deserts, the Mojave and so on. When that retreat began, I became aware of the value of the natural environment. So all those experiences — working in Yosemite, floating the rivers, raising my kids on the rivers — gave me a pretty good perspective on water in the West. I became acutely aware of the demand for water exceeding its supply.

What made you think that now is the time for a movie about the Colorado?

I realized that not enough people were paying attention to the issue. Water is a big subject — like air, you know. People take it for granted. For years, people thought water was just an endless resource to be used by anybody in any way. When I became aware that the Colorado River was no longer reaching its destination in the Gulf of California, that really hit me. I went down into that area and saw the cracked earth. I saw what was happening to what used to be marshland — that it was just drying up.

Then I became aware that cultures were suffering — that Native American cultures and Mexican cultures on the south end of the river were suffering. That hit me, too. And I looked at where the water was going — to dubious growth in Las Vegas. Las Vegas doesn?t have much water, and yet it?s growing in leaps and bounds.

The Colorado is an iconic symbol of America, of America at its best in terms of natural resources. Yet we?re destroying those natural resources. Not enough people know about that.

You?ve made many films with a political bent, but you?ve said that you?ve had to give up the idea that your films will make a difference. What do you hope to accomplish with Watershed?

I?ve given up the idea that I can really change anything, and I just do the best I can. It?s either that or do nothing, and we know that nothing doesn?t work.

Some of the films I?ve made in the past that I thought might make an impact, I don’t think did. I don’t think The Candidate [a satire of campaign politics] changed anything. I think politics are worse than they ever were. And Quiz Show [based on a 1950s Hollywood quiz-show scandal] was about the corruption in the entertainment business. Well, that?s as bad as it ever was.

In other words, you don?t want to deceive yourself. You just do what you can do the best you can, and you just keep doing it because that?s all you can do.

What do you hope that viewers will remember the most from Watershed?

I hope they?ll remember the people. The mayor of Rifle, Colorado — I just love that guy. He?s so simple and plain and gentle. Then you have that crazy kid in Los Angeles, that guy with the bike. He?s so wild and crazy and smart and committed. You look at a guy like that and you say, “Boy, there?s a kid that could have gone the other way, but look at what he?s doing.” He?s converting all his energy into doing something — because he loves the city, and wants to play a role in it.

Maybe these people can set an example. I hope viewers will realize the value of the river through the stories of the people who live with it.

You?ve lived in the region for decades. Did you learn anything new about the Colorado River while you were making the film?

The one thing that?s always been very impressive to me is its history, how it got that way. I went to college for a year, to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and then I was kicked out. One of the reasons I was asked to leave was that I was having too much fun — I spent too much time in the mountains, and I didn?t spend enough time studying. But two courses really got my attention, and they were geomorphology and anthropology.

I got so taken with geology, just fascinated with how the earth got to be the way it is. When I would drive from Boulder back to Los Angeles, I was thrilled by the idea that wherever I looked, I could understand how it got that way, whether it was a mountain or a river or a valley. I think that?s probably where it all started for me, driving through that country and looking at what I had learned.

Then when I studied anthropology, I learned how people connected with the land in ancient times, and how we evolved to the point where people and geology came together and produced what we have today. I wanted to tell that story.

I wanted to ask about you and your son James. You worked together on Watershed — how did that come about?

We?ve worked together on a couple of other things, and on his own, Jamie has moved in the same direction that I?ve been moving in over the years — I think largely because of the way he was raised and the things he saw.

What was your partnership like?

It was great. He?s got a great sense of humor, so we can kid each other. I?ll tell him, “This is one of the worst things I?ve ever seen.” And he?ll say, “Next to yours, you mean.” So we have a lot of fun. He?s a great kid, and I?m very proud of him.

Michelle Nijhuis is a contributing writer for Smithsonian, a contributing editor at High Country News, and a 2011 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow. She lives in rural Colorado.

This piece was originally published at OnEarth and was reprinted with permission.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/12/483009/in-a-new-documentary-robert-re
dford-tells-the-colorado-rivers-epic-story/

Digg this

NATO Summit Roundup: Peoples Summit, Pakistan
Intimidated & Nurses Make a Deal

post from Firedoglake on 12 May 2012 10:52:09 AM. © Firedoglake

Member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will be sending heads of state and leaders in their governments to Chicago in about a week. They will be coming to Chicago for a NATO summit on May 20-21. It will be the first NATO summit[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/-D1W64gBiMI/

Digg this

President Obama urges Congress to act now on an
economic 'to-do' list

post from Daily Kos on 12 May 2012 10:30:05 AM. © Daily Kos

Acknowledging the economic difficulties America has gone through, this week President Obama urges Congress to act on a common-sense "to-do" list that he says will "help create jobs and restore some of the financial security that so many families have lost." But:

... the other side isn?t so optimistic. They think all we can do is cut taxes ? especially for the wealthiest Americans ? and go back to letting banks and corporations write their own rules again. That?s their plan.
But I think they?re wrong. We tried their ideas for nearly a decade, and it didn?t work out so well. We can?t go back to the same policies that got us into this mess. We?ve got to move forward.

And to move forward, the president calls on Congress to "stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas," to help responsible homeowners refinance their mortgages, to help small businesses by "giving them a tax break for hiring more workers and paying them higher wages," to extend tax credits to clean energy companies and to create a Veterans Jobs Corps.

So that?s Congress?s ?To-Do? List. But now we need them to start crossing things off. I need you to call your Members of Congress, write an email, tweet, and let them know we can?t afford to wait any longer to get things done. Tell them now is the time to take steps we know will grow our economy and create jobs.

So, you know the drill: call or email your representatives and tell them to get busy!

Complete transcript below the fold.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/sUl8XdttMtw/-President-Obama-urges
-Congress-to-act-now-on-an-economic-to-do-list

Digg this

Catholic Bishops are now going after Girl Scouts
over religious orthodoxy

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 12 May 2012 10:00:18 AM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

All you need to know:The Catholic Bishops are once more acting like a Republican GOTV organization in an election year.The Catholic Bishops defend the boy-abusers but put their nuns (average age, 74) into receivership. Many Scout groups are organized in parish schools, which gives the Bishops some leverage. It's the old old story ? homophobic, misogynistic, often-closeted men acting...

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/U_-UQGnbEvc/catholic-bishops-are-no
w-going-after.html

Digg this

Mitt Romney’s Support Of Same-Sex Adoption
Lasts One Day

post from ThinkProgress on 12 May 2012 10:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

Among Mitt Romney’s timid responses this week after President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality was an admission that he was “fine” with same-sex couples adopting children, saying, “that’s something that people have a right to do.” But by Friday afternoon, he was already backing away from that position, suggesting that he merely “acknowledges” that many states offer same-sex adoption:

ROMNEY: Actually, I think all states but one allow gay adoption. So that’s a position which has been decided by most of the state legislatures, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one.

Watch it:

Not only does this bland answer show little respect for nearly two million children being raised by LGBT parents, but it’s also horribly misinformed. Adoption laws vary widely from state to state with little consistency between them. In only 18 states and the District of Columbia can same-sex parents can petition for joint adoption. There are 12 (some of which overlap with the 18) that allow for second-parent adoption. And if same-sex couples wish to serve as foster parents, there are only seven states that guarantee their right to do so. Because of the disparity of laws and the absence of any written policy in many states, judges often make their own decisions and families can never be sure in which states their adoption will be recognized.

Romney has a long history of dissembling on the issue of same-sex adoption. In 2007, he appeared to support the right of same-sex couples to adopt, saying “obviously, that?s their right.” But last year, a Romney spokesman said that same-sex adoption ?should be assessed on a state-by-state basis.?

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/05/12/483187/romney-now-only-acknowledges-same
-sex-adoption-days-after-supporting-it/

Digg this

Grijalva Slams Arizona Governor For Using
Foreclosure Settlement Funds To Balance Budget

post from ThinkProgress on 12 May 2012 10:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

Thursday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) announced that her state would become the latest to devote its portion of funds from the $25 billion mortgage fraud settlement to balancing the state budget. The funds were intended to go toward relief for struggling homeowners, but Brewer and the state legislature will use $50 million of its funds elsewhere.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva (D) isn’t pleased with Brewer or the legislature and said as much Friday, saying Brewer took away “the once chance” homeowners had “to get some help,” The Nation reports:

?Working families were given the short end of the stick, and now Gov. Brewer and the Legislature won?t even let them have that,? Grijalva said. ?This decision takes away the one chance Arizonans had to get some help navigating the banking bureaucracy that greased the skids on millions of foreclosures. It?s a clear statement of principles, that?s for sure.?

Arizona has been torched by the housing crisis — it lead the nation in foreclosures in March, and nearly half of its homeowners are underwater, the second most in the country. According to the Arizona Housing Alliance, the $50 million could help as many as 85,000 homeowners. Instead, it will go toward balancing a state budget that hands out more than a half-billion dollars in corporate tax cuts.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/05/12/483081/grijalva-slams-arizona-governo
r-for-using-foreclosure-settlement-funds-to-balance-budget/

Digg this

Come Saturday Morning: This and That

post from Firedoglake on 12 May 2012 09:45:10 AM. © Firedoglake

Here are a few nice articles, blog posts and other bits of semi-ephemera that deserve a little additional prominence before going gently into that good night.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/jOTlMBlr-r8/

Digg this

EPA Tells Dimock Residents There Are No Unsafe
Levels Of Water Contamination

Would that be the same EPA that let BP off the hook for the massive Gulf oil spill? The same EPA that says it's safe to eat Gulf seafood? Just wondering, since they don't seem to have a very good track record with "facts":

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) ? Federal environmental regulators say testing of scores of drinking-water wells in a northeastern Pennsylvania village has failed to turn up unsafe levels of contamination, providing ammunition to a gas driller that denies it polluted the aquifer with hazardous chemicals while prompting accusations the government is distorting the data.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released test results for an additional 12 homes on Friday and said they ?did not show levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action.? It was the fourth and final release of data for homes in Dimock, a rural Susquehanna County community that?s found itself in the middle of a passionate debate over the safety of drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in deep rock formations like the Marcellus Shale.
The EPA testing is only a snapshot of the highly changeable aquifer and will not be the final word on the health of the water supply. But pro-industry groups and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based driller whose faulty gas wells were previously found to have leaked methane into the aquifer, assert the test results justify their position that Dimock?s water is safe.
?Cabot is pleased that EPA has now reached the same conclusion of Cabot and state and local authorities resulting from the collection of more than 10,000 pages of hard data ? that the water in Dimock meets all regulatory standards,? spokesman George Stark said Friday.
But residents who are suing Cabot and anti-drilling activists say the EPA has issued a series of misleading statements on what the tests show. They say some of the wells had a combination of chemicals, metals, gases and salts that suggest the influence of drilling and fracking; that drinking-water standards have not been established for some of the toxic substances that turned up in the wells; and that testing also revealed high and sometimes explosive levels of methane in about a third of the wells. Opponents also raised technical concerns about the data.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/epa-tells-dimock-residents-there-are-

Digg this

EPA Tells Dimock Residents No Unsafe Levels Of
Water Contamination Found

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) ? Federal environmental regulators say testing of scores of drinking-water wells in a northeastern Pennsylvania village has failed to turn up unsafe levels of contamination, providing ammunition to a gas driller that denies it polluted the aquifer with hazardous chemicals while prompting accusations the government is distorting the data.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released test results for an additional 12 homes on Friday and said they ?did not show levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action.? It was the fourth and final release of data for homes in Dimock, a rural Susquehanna County community that?s found itself in the middle of a passionate debate over the safety of drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in deep rock formations like the Marcellus Shale.
The EPA testing is only a snapshot of the highly changeable aquifer and will not be the final word on the health of the water supply. But pro-industry groups and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based driller whose faulty gas wells were previously found to have leaked methane into the aquifer, assert the test results justify their position that Dimock?s water is safe.
?Cabot is pleased that EPA has now reached the same conclusion of Cabot and state and local authorities resulting from the collection of more than 10,000 pages of hard data ? that the water in Dimock meets all regulatory standards,? spokesman George Stark said Friday.
But residents who are suing Cabot and anti-drilling activists say the EPA has issued a series of misleading statements on what the tests show. They say some of the wells had a combination of chemicals, metals, gases and salts that suggest the influence of drilling and fracking; that drinking-water standards have not been established for some of the toxic substances that turned up in the wells; and that testing also revealed high and sometimes explosive levels of methane in about a third of the wells. Opponents also raised technical concerns about the data.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/epa-tells-dimock-residents-there-are-

Digg this

Cartoon Land

What does it say about a president's policies when he uses a cartoon character, rather than a real person, to justify his record? [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/29860/cartoon-land

Digg this