Over the weekend G2 Gallery hosted their 2nd Annual Green Film Festival. ME came to hear the panel discussion for urgent conservation of water in California and watch the documentaries Backyard and Trashed. Both films are so important to see. Please, when you have the time, watch and share with your network.
The experts shared many facts about water usage in California. The gist of the discussion, we must be more aggressive with our conservation efforts.
A few statistics:
•88% of water in Los Angeles is piped in from hundreds of miles away AND 50% of that water is used for landscaping
•98% of Los Angeles’s wetlands has been lost in the last 100 years
•Orange County is better off than LA because they are already drinking recycled water
•80% of water in CA is used for agriculture
•We are essentially exporting water to China through water intensive crops like almonds and alfalfa
•LA DWP pays $3.75 per sq. ft. if residents replace their lawn with drought tolerant native plants
•Some parts of California has allocated 800% more water permits than is available
•Fracking is a serious problem
Pictured above: Robin Black, G2 photographer and Owens Lake expert; Tom Ford, Executive Director of The Bay Foundation; Dr. Thomas Holyoke, Associate Professor of Political Science at Fresno State; Brianna R. Pagan, MSE Civil and Water Resources Engineering Candidate at Loyola Marymount University; and Randi Lynn Beach, producer of Westlands: A Water Story.
G2 crew- Bennett, Elise, Patrick and Jared
Sad fact.
Screen shots from Backyard.
Screen shots from Trashed Film.
Thanks ladies for coming out, Models for Earth: Anastasia Griffith, Jen Hluska and Jessica Navedo.
