THE WATER CRISIS
WATER SECURITY
At least 40 of the 50 States will face water shortages this decade. Yet Saudi Arabia and China are extracting American water unsustainably. The Center for Naval Analyses released a report explaining how water insecurity can empower violent extremist organizations and place stable governments at risk. They also found that 70-80 percent of conflicts in rural areas are over water. The UN reports that since 1948, there have been 37 incidents of acute conflict over water.
Five billion people may face water shortages by 2050, according to the UN World Water Development Report and a 2016 UN Environment Programme study found that half the world could face water stress by 2030.
WATER AND DISEASE
At any given time, before COVID-19, half of the world’s hospital beds were occupied by patients suffering from diseases associated with contaminated water.
By the end of the century, almost all of the world’s population could be exposed to mosquito-borne diseases once limited to the tropics. The mosquito is already the world’s deadliest animal.
Diseases are emerging from melting permafrost and glaciers, where zombie fires are accelerating the disaster. Anthrax released from thawing permafrost killed a 12-year-old boy in Siberia in 2016. At least 20 other people were diagnosed and approximately 100 suspected cases were hospitalized. More than 2,300 reindeer in the area died from the infection. Even more worrisome are the microbes being released that scientists are yet to discover.
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
AND WATER
AND WATER
ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM AND WATER
In the predominantly African American community of St. Louis County radioactive and dioxin waste is being spread further by floods exacerbated by climate change. The year leading to the recent Midwestern floods was the wettest on record. Now the area is a cancer and autoimmune disease cluster.
The Navajo Nation who are suffering from a nearly-20-year megadrought, reached a grim milestone when they set the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rate in the U.S. At a time when handwashing is a matter of life and death, a third of the Navajo Nation lacks indoor plumbing.
In Fresno California half the water is polluted as fossil fuel companies sold their toxic waste to farmers as a pesticide, which was found to be carotenogenic and unfilterable. Fresno is pursuing a $100 million settlement with Shell Oil as a nearby town won a $22 million settlement.
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OUR PROJECTS
Our latest video was produced for Last Chance Alliance, a coalition of hundreds of NGOs calling for the phase out of oil and gas drilling in California. We will continue to produce work around fossil fuel production and its deadly impact on communities in the coming months.
PREVIOUS PARTNERS
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SHORTFORM DOCUMENTARIES
- 01
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia has been buying American water rights throughout the Southwest, despite a historic 18 year drought in the region. There are no limits on the amount of water foreign governments can extract and export.
- 02
VETERANS
Veterans who are lawmakers are continuing their service by protecting our land and water from water insecurity and climate change. They also fought for and won back the Land and Water Conservation fund in 2018.
- 03
MAINE
Water is a crucial geographic aspect of Maine, from the rivers to the coast. We explored how the State is protecting its waters from private interests to ensure future prosperity as the climate changes and water resources become harder to conserve.
- 04
WATER, FOOD, AND ENERGY
FEWSION is building the first complete database and empirical description of the U.S. food, energy, and water system so that every US citizen and policymaker can see where their food, energy, and water come from.
- 05
CODE BLUE PREVIEW
Our first video allowed us to plan and envision the work we have done ever since: using visual- storytelling to frame political challenges and direct attention towards practical, winnable solutions.
SAVE OUR WATERS
DONATE
Only together can we get the word out on the international water crisis and how it will influence the future of the United States. Please join us to make our future films possible.
OUR TEAM
Christian
CO-Founder
Christian Brock served as Air Force Logistics Officer for over 20 years, bring people and resources together to accomplish a shared mission in the face of powerful and seemingly insurmountable forces. He was deployed as a consultant to Senior Iraqi Army leaders, he came face-to-face with children forced to beg for food because their family’s livelihoods had been devastated by conflict over resources.
As Campaign Manager for a California State Senate campaign, we fought to protect water rights and homeless veterans. These along with my personal experience with systemic racism strengthened my determination to ensure elected officials put people before self-interests.
In 2015, he co-founded Code Blue, organizing 80 military veteran state lawmakers from 50 states to support the LWCF; permanent funding was announced within two weeks. President Trump signed it into law in 2019.He also co-founded Code Blue and founded our Elected Veterans for Climate Justice (EVCJ) to organize Black and Brown elected officials to fight against environmental racism.”
As Campaign Manager for a California State Senate campaign, we fought to protect water rights and homeless veterans. These along with my personal experience with systemic racism strengthened my determination to ensure elected officials put people before self-interests.
In 2015, he co-founded Code Blue, organizing 80 military veteran state lawmakers from 50 states to support the LWCF; permanent funding was announced within two weeks. President Trump signed it into law in 2019.He also co-founded Code Blue and founded our Elected Veterans for Climate Justice (EVCJ) to organize Black and Brown elected officials to fight against environmental racism.”
Alex
CO-Founder & Director
Alex Cornell du Houx was elected to the Maine State Legislature and served on the Energy Utilities and Technology and Legal and Veterans Affairs committees. He won the REED award for the best national Public Affairs Campaign for his work founding Operation Free, a coalition of veterans combating climate change.
Alex participated and led State Department delegations to Southeast Asia to foster government-to-government relations, is a Huffington Post blogger, a Kentucky Colonel, a senior advisor to the Veterans Campaign, a member of the Global Advisory Council for the American Veteran’s Committee, Partner with the Truman National Security Project and founded the Maine New Leaders Council. His value-based communications trainings are requested worldwide.
He served in the Marine Corps infantry for seven years, is currently a Public Affairs Officer with the Navy Reserve and consults for businesses, nonprofits, elected officials and candidates.
Adrian
Producer
Adrian Grenier is an actor, musician, director and producer; he is a non-fiction, multimedia storyteller best known for his acting role in the Emmy-nominated HBO series, Entourage. As a vehicle to craft socially responsible human stories, Adrian founded Reckless Productions in 2002. Through television and film, both documentary and narrative, his company aims to evoke dialogue on important, current topics.
Jon
Outreach coordinator
Jon Hinck served in the Maine House of Representative for six years, including as co-chair of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. He was elected to the Portland Maine City Council at large, where he chairs the Energy and Sustainability Committee. Hinck previously co-founded Greenpeace USA and was staff attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Hinck’s law practice concentrates on mass tort litigation, representing plaintiffs in investor, consumer, and environmental cases.
Steve
videographer
Steve Holleran is a Los Angeles based cinematographer. His most recent feature, The Land, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and had a theatrical release last summer. He has over a dozen short film credits, two of which were selected in the top ten of NBC Shortcuts and Project Greenlight. His commercial work includes brands like Google, Nike, and Chevy. He has an MFA in cinematography from USC, where he was awarded the Charles Lang cinematography scholarship. Please visit http://www.steveholleran.com for his work.
CONTACT US
Alex@ProtectingAmerica.net
207 319 4511
The Solon Center for Research and Publishing
PO Box 311
Solon ME, 04979
Anna
Journalist-videographer
Anna Therese Day is an award-winning independent reporter and social media researcher. She was recently recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of their 30 Under 30 in the Media Category for 2017. Day is a Fulbright Fellow, a UN Press Fellow, and was named one of Google Zeitgeist’s top 30 Great Young Minds of Our Time. The Shorty Awards for Social Media recognized her as one of the Top 10 journalists of the Year. She was selected as one of Mic.com’s Millennial Leaders and contributes to The New York Times Women in the World, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, AJ+.
Day became a global brand ambassador for Skype’s “The Things We Can Do” English-language campaign. Anna is a partner with the Truman National Security Project and is currently reporting on how wildfires become more dangerous with climate change. In the Pacific, she has documented the lives of climate refugees.
Kari
Assistant Director
Kari Barber is a writer/director. She received her MFA in Film Production from the USC, a Bachelor’s from Bowdoin College and a Masters from Harvard University. Her film The Fifth Horseman won numerous awards around the world. Currently, Kari is working as a production sound recordist for celebrity interviews with Conde Naste Time Inc., and Spielberg. Additionally, she works as a sound editor for feature films.
Mike
Assistant producer
Mike Moschella is the Vice President of Innovation for DKC News. He co-founded the New Leaders Council and www.Organizing.Center – both of which provide practical organizing tools and training to campaigns and nonprofits. Campaigns & Elections Magazine recently named him one of the top 50 campaign influencers in the country. Previously he served as Vice President of Organizing at NationBuilder, is a Partner and Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.
Andy
outreach coordinator
Andy Katz is an environmental and workers’ rights attorney, public health advocate, elected Director to the California East Bay Municipal Utility District, and former chair of Sierra Club California. At the Climate Change Conference, Andy had an active role in negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement.
