Alexandra Cousteau’s Expedition Blue Planet is in the midst of a 14,500-mile journey across North America to raise awareness of water issues, and this short film on the Colorado River is the first big segment of video story telling to come out of the project. It’s filled with gorgeous imagery and a smooth narrative style, and for those who are unfamiliar with the Colorado’s 1,400-plus miles across the West it will serve as a nice introduction.

However, the film will leave those who care about river issues and this particularly mighty watercourse will be left longing for something substantive to chew on. Cousteau chronicles “a river in collapse”, but offers little evidence of it. There’s no question, the Colorado faces gargantuan challenges, but they are only fleetingly addressed, if at all. I’d like to learn more about how much water cities like Las Vegas use to irrigate their desert golf courses, or the impact of fluctuating levels of Lake Powell (and whether the dam will ever come down), or how much or how little of the Colorado actually makes it to Mexico and what shape the water’s in when it gets there. And, too, I’d like to hear solutions, or at least ideas, no matter how impractical. The Blue Legacy Expedition is working on watershed restoration projects along its journey; if this film had that same practical bent, it would be much more powerful.

Tagged as: conservation, environment, water