It's Time To Look Up & Not Look Away

Can A Satirical Comedy Help Turn The Dial On Environmental Issues?

Image by Rod Long/Unsplash

Have you seen the movie, Don’t Look Up?

It’s a Netflix film that came out during the holidays, and it’s worth the watch. The premise of the movie is two astronomers discover a huge comet approaching the planet with the power to destroy all life on Earth. As they go on a media tour to warn humanity, they are hit with a stark reality—few people are willing to listen to them. Few people care.

You can watch the trailer below:

I imagine many of you, myself included, can relate to the struggle of these characters, especially if you’ve been part of a water or toxic pollution struggle in your town.

The frustration these characters feel when no one listens to them is so real. Yes, it’s a fictional story, but it’s very much modeled after our own struggles to take action on huge environmental and social issues right now. Just read any of our back newsletter articles to see what a dire state of affairs we are in.

The system is stacked against all of us and is mostly set up to cheat itself. Most regulations are a joke and most agencies aren’t equipped to enforce them anyway.

Isn’t it devastating that in our quest to become a supergiant, industrialized country, everyday people have been secretly robbed of our most basic human right—our health and welfare?

Huge corporations and government agencies have been missing the mark, making grievous mistakes, or in many cases intentionally polluting our water (air and land too) for their own profit. And, not surprisingly, it’s making many people sick.

We shouldn’t be drinking dirty water. The air we breathe shouldn’t give us acute respiratory issues like asthma. Our land shouldn’t be home to hazardous waste and the fresh food on our dinner tables shouldn’t be full of agricultural chemicals directly linked to cancer and other deadly health problems.

But unlike this movie, I think we still have the power and time to make a change.

We need to use our power to turn the state of our water (and our planet) around. We can’t wait for someone else to come save us.

When you work with people who have been affected by such appalling disasters, like I have, then you understand the need to muster up your super strength to help out.

My role is to empower the people. I’m still here using my voice for good, working to help as many people as possible WAKE UP to these real problems.

Politics and party affiliation don’t matter when it comes to clean water (or any human issue). The answers are not on social media or in sound bites.

We need to stay educated on these issues, which is why this newsletter exists. We work to bring you news you can use, stories that offer inspiration and hope.

Change happens when people are willing to speak up and put pressure on politicians, agencies, and corporations who typically don’t respond until a community get organized and loud. We can use our collective voice to ask officials the necessary questions and garner more attention for these critical issues. That’s the power of the people!

Even just one person in one community who cares can quickly gain momentum. One can become two, two can become four, four become eight, and so on. I’ve seen it happen in many places. I know it’s not always easy to stand up and speak out. It’s scary! It takes courage and determination.

When it comes to drinking water contaminant exposure, toxicology, and health effects, concerned consumers are repeatedly laughed at and told that their water is perfectly safe to drink.

Even the so-called experts don’t always know the full scope of the problem as it’s unfolding. People are often told to talk with their medical doctors about their concerns with the water, but medical professionals are not usually in the know about these issues. Who can you turn to for accurate information about your drinking water? You can start by trusting yourselves to get more involved.

The irony is that big polluting companies have the resources, the technology, and the manpower to clean up their own mess, and yet they choose to lie, cheat, sue, intimidate, falsify documents, and outright bully anyone trying to protect the rights of drinking-water consumers.

We need to come back to the basic understanding that the planet is what drives life and drives the economy, not the other way around.

We’ve got to stay informed. We’ve got to reform the old way of doing things.

Let’s take back the health of our communities and our planet. If you’re up for making New Year’s resolutions this year, don’t forget to include some action you can take to help our planet.

It’s up to Y-O-U.

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Thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.