Educational Media Reviews Online

What does it take to make or keep a river healthy? Program number two in the Water and the Human Spirit series does an excellent job of answering this question. Deteriorating river conditions can be the result of agricultural runoff, streambank erosion, siltation, water temperature changes and livestock encroachment.

Filmed in Canada, Water and the Human Spirit documents the efforts of individuals and community groups to preserve or improve the conditions of their watersheds and to teach others the importance of conservation. For example, the efforts of Shuswap elder Mary Thomas sparked interest in watershed restoration in her community of Salmon Arm. Her efforts blossomed into a "Watershed Celebration" which united private citizens and government resource managers in the common goal of watershed restoration. Don Lobb voluntarily tested environmentally sound agricultural practices on his family farm and these very practices turned out to be economically sound as well. The Children's Groundwater Institute developed a "Children's Ground Water Festival" to teach children about the workings of their watershed and the importance of water conservation. A group of fishermen undertook a marsh restoration program on the Fraser River. These and other success stories make for an informative and uplifting video. The skillful inclusion of "before-and-after" photos of restoration projects lends great support to the message of this program.

The first program in the Water and the Human Spirit series received an "A" grade in a Booklist review (Dick 1996) and the second video in this series deserves equal praise. I highly recommend this film for public and school libraries. The message is clear and the film will be educational and thought provoking for viewers of all ages.

Literature cited: Dick, Jeff. 1996. Water and the Human Spirit. Booklist 92(21):1836.