In honor of the national Imagine a Day Without Water campaign, the WRRC provided free, week-long access to the film Thirst for Justice and hosted a webinar with a panel of the film’s affiliates. To expose the failures of environmental justice in communities with contaminated drinking water, the film follows community mobilizers in Flint, MI and the Navajo Nation in their efforts to fight for water justice. These activists highlight the physical, psychosocial, and political challenges stemming from the lack of clean water and the implications on community health and well-being. The four panelists were the film’s director, one of the film’s main protagonists, an environmental health specialist, and a community mobilizer in Flint, MI. To start the webinar, Director and BBC Multi-Media Investigative Journalist, Leana Hosea, spoke about the film’s production, her intention to feature heroines who are often leaders in the water movement, and her dedication to environmental justice coverage. One of the film’s lead characters, Co-Founder/CEO of Sixth World Solutions and Navajo community activist Janene Yazzie, Environmental Health Specialist Chris Shuey, and Kettering University Professor of Mechanical Engineering Laura Sullivan continued the dialogue on water justice in underserved communities. Their “clarion call” focused on the lack of support for sustaining mitigation measures taken since the film’s production, the continuing lack of research, and the need to transform water policies and systems to prioritize protecting lives in vulnerable communities.
Weekly Wave Clarion Call for Water Justice: Imagine a Day Without Water Panel
October 28, 2022
Weekly Wave
,
10 vol.
,
no. 29
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Water Resources Research Center
,
Tucson, AZ