Water: Images & Video

Environmental Studies in Video from Alexander Street Press covers all realms of environmental studies, particularly ethics, policy, economics, law, sociology, planning, and environmental science. Films were produced from 1970 to the present, and address specific topics including alternative energy, pollution control, eco-design, sustainability, farming and agriculture, the food industry, LEED certification, waste issues, and climate change.

The USGS produces many types of multimedia products. From this site you can browse their offerings of photograph galleries, podcasts and sound files, videos, aerial photos, and posters related to water.

"GROUNDSWELL RISING gives voice to ordinary folks engaged in a David and Goliath struggle against Big Oil and Gas. We meet parents, scientists, doctors, farmers and individuals across the political spectrum decrying the energy extraction process known as fracking that puts profits over people. This provocative documentary tracks a grassroots movement exposing dangers to clean air, water, and civil rights.

GROUNDSWELL RISING shows how fracking has contaminated drinking water and jeopardized health and quality of life. Homeowners near wells suffer from respiratory ailments and property devaluation. Reina Ripple, of Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, chronicles mounting ailments related to fracking. A former industry employee shows skin lesions and edema obtained while working with fracking waste."

"OIL & WATER is the coming of age story of two boys as they each confront one of the world's worst toxic disasters, the prolonged contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texaco and other oil companies. Hugo comes to America to fight for the survival of his tribe, the Cofan, while David goes to Ecuador to launch the world's first company to certify oil as "fair trade." Can Hugo become the leader his tribe so desperately wants him to be? Will David clean up one of the world's dirtiest industries?

This film is an intimate portrait of two young people finding their voices and trying to beat incredible odds. Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future, not just for the people of the Amazon, but for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet. Eight years in the making OIL & WATER is a shocking and inspiring David and Goliath story. "

"...One Water is a film that celebrates all the different ways water has touched human lives around the globe and explores our changing relationship to water as it grows ever more alarmingly scarce. The film leaves audiences with a series of provocative questions that culminate in one that will impact all of our futures: is water a human right or a commodity? Through a starkly emotional journey, the audience is invited to bear witness and encouraged to recognize this major global crisis at his or her very own.

The film highlights a world where water is exquisitely abundant in some places and dangerously lacking in others. Taps flowing with fresh, clean water are contrasted with toxic, polluted waterways that have turned the blue arteries of our planet murky. "

"A Mississippi River Story tells the story of the unintended yet severe consequences of farming along the Mississippi, and the efforts being taken to reverse this damage. America's heartland boasts some of the world's most productive farmland, but this bounty has come with a price. Excess crop fertilizers are contaminating the nation's rivers, lakes and aquifers, while at the same time precious soil is washing away.

The film traces the development of America's bountiful harvest and examines its effect on the legendary river, as well as the "dead zone" created in the Gulf of Mexico. Knitting together federal energy, farm and environmental policies, the film makes a compelling case for revamping US agricultural policy and practices. It also helps viewers to grasp a profound truth ¡V that a single drop of water in the upper Midwest has an impact far downstream."

"TAR CREEK is the story of the worst environmental disaster you've never heard of: the Tar Creek Superfund site. Once one of the largest lead and zinc mines on the planet, Tar Creek is now home to more than 40 square miles of environmental devastation in northeastern Oklahoma: acid mine water in the creeks, stratospheric lead poisoning in the children, and sinkholes that melt backyards and ball fields.

Now, almost 30 years after being designated for federal cleanup by the Superfund program, Tar Creek residents are still fighting for decontamination, environmental justice, and ultimately, the buyout and relocation of their homes to safer ground. As TAR CREEK reveals, America's Superfund sites aren't just environmental wastelands; they're community tragedies, too...until the community fights back. "

"Canada is the number one foreign supplier of oil to the United States, a fact little known in America. Most of the oil imported comes from the Tar Sands of Northern Alberta, the second largest known oil reserve in the world outside of Saudi Arabia.

But this is not a traditional oil field. The oil must be extracted and processed from the sands at a significant environmental cost -- requiring huge quantities of a diminishing fresh water supply and large amounts of energy that contribute to global warming.

Native peoples living downstream are contracting unusual cancers; new science shows that water resources in an era of climate change will be increasingly scarce; the proposed upgrading of the oilfields could endanger multiple river systems across Canada that makeup about half of its water supply; a planned oil pipeline across British Columbia brings fresh threats to rivers, salmon and the Pacific Ocean."

"Everywhere you look in Southern Louisiana there's water: rivers, bayous, swamps, the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico. And everyone in Cajun Country has a water story, or two or three or more. Its waterways support the biggest economies in Louisiana - a $70 billion a year oil and gas industry, a $2.4 billion a year fishing business, tourism and recreational sports.

They are also home to some insidious polluters: the same oil and gas industry, 200 petrochemical plants along a 100-mile-long stretch of the Mississippi known "Cancer Alley," the world's largest Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico and erosion that is costing the coastline twenty five square miles of wetlands a year. At the same time, SoLa is home to one of America's most vital and unique cultures."

"WATER ON THE TABLE features Maude Barlow, who is considered an "international water-warrior" for her crusade to have water declared a human right. "Water must be declared a public trust and a human right that belongs to the people, the ecosystem and the future, and preserved for all time and practice in law. Clean water must be delivered as a public service, not a profitable commodity."

The film intimately captures the public face of Maude Barlow as well as the unscripted woman behind the scenes. The camera shadows her life on the road in Canada -- including an eye-opening visit to Alberta's tar sands -- and the United States over the course of a year as she serves as the UN Senior Advisor on Water to Fr. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd Session of the United Nations."

"Depending on whom you ask, the United States has between 75,000 and 2,500,000 dams. Many have outlived their usefulness.

This film takes a personal, passionate, and controversial look at dams, where commerce is served but nature destroyed. Blending still photos with archival and new footage, the film considers environmental, cultural, economic, and spiritual arguments for and against decommissioning dams, arguing that dams divorce a river from its eco-system, thereby destroying biodiversity and the river's habitat."

"Featuring James Karr of the University of Washington and Charley Dewberry of Pacific Rivers Council, Fresh Waters Flowing shows how important biological integrity is for rivers and demonstrates how measuring biological condition with the index of biological integrity (IBI) can be a powerful tool for maintaining and restoring the health of watersheds. Biological Monitoring Protocol introduces the index of biological integrity (IBI), the best yardstick for measuring the health of rivers and streams. Measuring pollutants, such as temperature, phosphorus, or toxic chemicals, may tell you if a river is clean, but only a direct biological yardstick like IBI will tell you if a river is healthy.

IBI has now been adopted to monitor rivers on all continents except Antarctica, by states including Ohio, Vermont, and Florida, and by regional and local organizations nationwide. This program shows you the equipment and techniques you need to use this biological yardstick."

American Geological Institute's collection of archaeological, geological, environmental, geophysical, and other images. Also includes plants, animals, and weather and satellite images.

Collection of over 6,000 nature and wildlife photos provided by the U.s. Fish & Wildlife Service. Includes birds, plants, habitats, environmental sciences, wildlife refuges, and more.

Photographs, documents, and audiovisual resources from the UW Libraries, UW faculty and departments, and from UW collaborators.

Cultural production from diverse time periods and world cultures, and major monuments of world art and architectural history.

Research materials from the UW Libraries Special Collections, including photographs, architectural plans, postcards, historical maps, artwork and ephemera. Most of the items relate to various aspects of the Pacific Northwest, its history, geography, arts, and industries.