Jane Seymour Movie:

		List Price: $29.95		Label: The Chronicles Group Salesrank: 126320 Released: August 14, 2008
		Our Price: $28.88
		MPAA Rating: Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: ARE WE RUNNING DRY? is a documentary hosted and narrated by actress Jane Seymour. Viewers will learn how land use planning affects the water needs of cities in the Southwest and how relentless drought and record low precipitation have depleted water levels on vital sources such as Lake Powell, Lake Mead, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta system, the Rio Grande and the Colorado River. Interviews with key policymakers, members of Congress, water authorities and scientists about the looming crisis make for absorbing and contemplative discussion about conservation, water reuse, and consequences of urban growth and water policy. Nuanced interviews, discourse about vanishing groundwater reserves, and potential political battles over how future demands for water resources and how water was historically divided among Southwest states, are part of the compelling documentary. THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: ARE WE RUNNING DRY? includes discussion about water crisis solutions such as desalination, rainwater harvesting, green construction, individual conservation choices, and shared community efforts. The film ultimately serves as a teachable moment and a wake-up call that although the water crisis deserves urgent attention -- all is not lost individual responsibility can lead to collective power to turn the tide. All audiences, domestic and global, will confront their own regional water delivery challenges and associate new environmental patterns that may be related to climate change. The film points out that because of projected population, urban growth, and agricultural needs, the Colorado River may soon out-strip the available water supply within these regions, which could lead to chaotic conditions in the not-too-distant future. These conflicts include city versus city, city versus farm, and upstream versus downstream. Viewers will learn how desert communities and high growth cities such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, the Albuquerque area, and Palm Springs are working to surmount water scarcity. The film demonstrates that many of the rivers in the American Southwest are at the lowest level ever recorded. But it is the Colorado that is the primary water source for about 30 million people, says Gene Whitney, Office of Science & Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President. The bottom line is there is only so much water in the Colorado River. Thebaut developed his documentaries based on former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon s book, Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It (1998) considered by many a harbinger of things to come and excerpted in Parade magazine. Thebaut's water documentaries were developed in association with Simon until his untimely death in 2003. In fact, Simon's book along with the Running Dry documentary influenced passage of the landmark Sen. Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, which established access to safe water and sanitation as a major US foreign policy objective. 'Former Sen. Paul Simon's book inspired me to get the word out about the water crisis, says Thebaut. I created this film to be a wake up call to a mass audience. The ultimate goal is to encourage as many individuals as they can make a difference'. Native prayers voiced by Native American actor Michael Horse. Filmed in high definition (HD) at diverse locations including Navaho and Hopi Indian Reservations, watersheds and urban settings.