Facing existential environmental threats, California is “the canary in the coal mine”
San Pedro will soon be host to an important documentary on the problems with California’s watershed areas and how to fix them, California’s Watershed Healing. A special screening will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Warner Grand Theatre in downtown San Pedro. Audiences will be enlightened about the conditions of Southern California’s forests and watersheds and how to heal them.
The National Integrated Drought Information System or NDIS reports that 99.76% of California is experiencing moderate exceptional drought and 43.2% of California is in extreme to exceptional drought. NIDIS is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning and information at national, state, and local levels across the country.
In the midst of this ongoing shortage of water, activist, director and executive producer Jim Thebaut’s latest documentary goes beyond reporting the dark, dangerous state of the world’s environment to, rather, focus on reasonable solutions.
Thebaut is the president and founder of The Chronicles Group. The international nonprofit prides itself on “tak(ing) an aggressive, issue-and-solution-based approach to documenting these wide-ranging and urgent challenges humankind is facing.”
This latest work is the sequel to Thebaut’s documentary, Beyond The Brink California’s Watershed, which aired on PBS It explained watersheds, their vital importance and the serious environmental problems they are facing.
Thebault says this about California’s Watershed Healing:
“Water Utilities and the Sanitation District within the LA region have recognized the reality that imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River will soon be unavailable. (The reasons transcend drought, climate crisis, population growth and lack of adequate infrastructure and regional planning).
“[This] screening encompasses the Sanitation District, WRD, Metropolitan Water District, LADWP, West Basin and other Southern California utilities collaborating to implement water reuse with the objective of complete water independence.
“It’s a unique, historical, and a great, inspirational story.”
Water utility companies rarely step up and sponsor events like this screening and discussion that Thebaut and his colleagues have arranged. That is a testament to how important this documentary is to all Southern Californians.
California’s Watershed Healing has garnered praise from a number of sources. Daniel Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, said, “…overall, I think this is excellent, and it’s right in line with what our position has been on the need to restore our forests so they can function the way they once used to, particularly regarding water supply yield … Great content, and awesome imagery.”
Watershed healing is an important national security issue. Former secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano says, “It’s climate security, water security, food security … ensuring that those things are adequately taken into account and planned for is an unmet challenge, I would say, in the United States.”
“My approach to doing documentaries is to take the audience to some place they’ve never been before, and educate and inform them,” said Thebaut, whose public speaking engagements have included the United Nations and the United States Congress.
The Chronicles Group is the result of Thebaut’s understanding the need for world policy for human sustainability. Thebaut is an Army Veteran and has earned two bachelor’s degrees and a masters. He created and produced his first documentary, A Tale of Two Cities, while studying at the University of Washington. The documentary compared and contrasted Southern California to the Puget Sound region. The goal was to keep Seattle from repeating the ecological mistakes made in Orange County and the San Fernando Valley.
As a pioneer during the ’70s, Thebaut created the first programmatic environmental statement in the U.S. His findings regarding proposed nuclear power plants near Seattle resulted in the withdrawal from the proposal. Through public education projects, documentaries, and commercial films, he has made an impact in helping bring awareness to issues such as illegal toxic waste dumping and toxicity of the human race, among other things.
Thebaut persists in his drive to inform the world and initiate positive movement where his work continues to shape holistic global sustainability policies.
It’s time for Southern Californians to get informed about what their water utilities are doing to protect them from inevitable shortages of water. Attend Oct. 15, for a screening of California’s Watershed Healing and to hear a discussion by local water agencies on drought-proofing California’s water future.
Time: 4 p.m., Oct. 15
Cost: Free
Details: https://tinyurl.com/Ca-Watershed-Healing and www.drought.gov
Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro