One resource that we often take for granted is water, it’s so important that we use it as a sign of potential extra-terrestrial life. Why you may ask? Well as far as we’re aware, water is essential for life and without the stuff it is unlikely that life could evolve. Therefore, when scouting exoplanets for the likelihood of sustaining life – we look for water. Given the watery world we live on (with more than 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by water), however only 3% of the water on our planet is fresh drinking water. Well, 0.5%, the other 2.5% is locked up in glaciers. The rest of the water on our planet is too salty for us to consume and makes up our oceans.
With that in mind, Brave Blue World is a documentary focussing on the world’s water crisis. A decade ago, someone I know who works in the oil industry said to me that the next major war would be thought over water and not oil. I thought this was ridiculous but every day I see that his prophecy is becoming reality. Of course Brave Blue World includes footage of people in less industrialised countries drinking dirty water, something that we should now all be familiar with. However it also highlights how businesses are helping to overcome these issues and reduce their own waste. After all, think about how much water is used to grow our food and dye our clothes etc.
As someone working in conservation, Brave Blue World doesn’t really offer me anything all that new. However, for general members of the public I can see this being quite insightful and hopefully it will lead to positive behaviour changes. I was expecting it to be scare-mongering however there isn’t a doom and gloom narrative. Despite the challenges we face, it isn’t game over yet and there is a lot we can do to try to reverse and overcome the issues before it is too late.
Why not check out Brave Blue World for yourself and let me know what you think?
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