The interrelation of water shortages and climate change is the subject of these two fascinating documentaries. In THE WELL: WATER VOICES FROM ETHIOPIA – a haunting study of the traditional herding methods of the Borana people from the vast and desolate Oromia region of Ethiopia – the effects of climate change on the water supply is revealed obliquely.
The story is shaped without a polemic narrative. Instead, subtle montage allows the protagonists to lead us through the dry season into the history of the ancient wells, which are apportioned out to each tribe and husbanded fairly and responsibly. Yet, each dry season, the water table seems to fall. To bring the water from the wells up into troughs so that their livestock may drink, young Borana men form brutal production lines, singing work spirituals as they go, to stave off boredom and fatigue. The job gets harder and harder with the passing of each rainy season. Less water seems to replenish the wells from the torrential downpours that fall biannually and, as a consequence, the herders often have to sell some of their livestock during the dry season in order to sustain themselves. And, of course, this cycle compounds the poverty of the herders.
This is not an artistic piece intended to raise awareness – this is proactive filmmaking with a clear directive.
THE WELL describes the effects of climate change from an anthropological perspective. It has some of the reserved, observational qualities of the ethnographic work of Jean Rouch, who was so admired by the French New Wave directors. CARBON FOR WATER, however, is an utterly different kind of documentary. This is not an artistic piece intended to raise awareness – this is proactive filmmaking with a clear directive.
In the Western Province of Kenya there are two main problems: deforestation, and a lack of clean drinking water. Vestergaard Frandsen, a global social enterprise, has spotted that they are linked – people are illegally logging firewood to boil and purify unclean water, which in turn leads to increased surface water run-off, less water in streams and rivers, and a higher concentration of disease in the unclean water. Because the reduction in firewood consumption and illegal logging will have a direct effect on carbon emissions (an estimated reduction of 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum), they have managed to secure $30 million of funding from firms engaging in carbon offsetting. With it they have produced a basic water filtering system, the LifeStraw, which they have now given, free of charge, to 4.5 million people in 900,000 families in western Kenya. CARBON FOR WATER is not a beautiful film – it’s a mouthpiece for the LifeStraw project. But what a project it is. Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, the company CEO, has a motto: “Do business, and do good.” He’s achieving both, and CARBON FOR WATER highlights this admirable work.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hI983pkgrU