Last Call At The Oasis

Firmly establishing the urgency of the global water crisis as the central issue facing our world this century, this documentary film illuminates the vital role water plays in our lives, exposes the defects in the current system and shows communities already struggling with its ill-effects.  Featuring activist Erin Brockovich, respected water experts including Peter Gleick, Jay Famiglietti and Robert Glennon and social entrepreneurs championing revolutionary solutions, the film posits that we can manage this problem if we are willing to act now.  In 2011, the Aquidneck Land Trust completed a year-long mapping and prioritization study of all the remaining and threatened open space parcels within Aquidneck Island’s seven primary watersheds.  The loss of these critical natural buffers would further strain the island’s main watersheds and the waterways and reservoirs they serve.  Laura Gabanski, Senior EPA Biologist and Healthy Watersheds Initiative Leader, states, “The cost of protecting watersheds is much less than the cost of restoring impaired waters.  Choosing to protect ecologically valuable systems will save money in the long run.”  After the film, this global water crisis will be discussed in a Q&A with Alex Prud’homme, a journalist and author for over twenty years. He has written on a wide range of subjects for The New York Times, The NewYorker, Vanity Fair, and Time. He has authored four books, most notably asco-writer of Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France, which was abest-seller and inspired half the film “Julie & Julia.” His latest book is The Ripple Effect: the Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century, waspublished in 2011, and inspired the documentary film “Last Call at the Oasis.”  Alex Prud’homme lives with his family in Brooklyn, NY.  For more information please see: www.alexprudhomme.com

This film is being shown as part of newportFILM’s GREEN SCREEN program & Aquidneck Land Trust’s 2012 Conservation Speaker Series. To reserve your spot, please email Courtney Huth chuth@ailt.org or 401-849-2799 ext. 19 as space is limited. Jane Pickens Theater. 5:30pm reception. 6pm, film followed by Q&A. This event is free and open to the public.