Carleton College’s Environmental Studies Department will host a public screening of the Emmy-winning documentary film, Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story, in Boliou Hall, room 104, at 5:30 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 3. This event is free and open to the public.
Released in 2006 and running 90 minutes long, Troubled Waters documents how runoff from agricultural fields and cities contributes to pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. It also highlights how some farmers are working to prevent pollution.
Troubled Waters uncovers the price we pay for the agricultural abundance of the American Midwest. Although the region includes some of the world’s most productive farmland, much of this agricultural output is fueled by nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers that contaminate the nation’s waters – even as erosion is leading to the loss of many of our most naturally fertile soils. Phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilizers leech into waterways, eventually converging in the Mississippi River, and from there flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Fertilizer run-off is a leading factor in the growing “dead zone” in the Gulf – a massive and growing expanse of sea, which is virtually devoid of life as a result of our chemical run-off.
Produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum, Troubled Waters is the winner of three Emmy Awards, for Best Topical Documentary, Best Writer of Program (non-news), and Best Editor of Program (non-news).
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Environmental Studies Program and Department of Geology. For more information or disability accommodations, contact Tami Little at (507) 645-5769.
