tempestas et caelum productions » films » expedition endurance (2014)
Expedition Endurance: An Inquiry into Human Survival
New Members of TCP Films will Head to the Southwest
Since the major drought of 2012, water resource availability has been a serious concern among environmentalists, farmers, science educators, and concerned citizens here in the Midwest and throughout the world.
At the beginning of each semester, Cameron Craig, geographer in the Department of Geology/Geography, asks his classes the primary question that gets to the essence of the situation, "how will we all endure as water resources dwindle with a changing climate?" With puzzled expressions, he sometimes gets a single response, "there is no concern, we have plenty of water." This statement concerns him as an educator even though he provides examples of Indian populations in India standing in line with buckets in hand in the early morning to obtain the day's water supply or showing satellite images of the Aral Sea in Russia shrinking significantly since 1989. Mr. Craig has also explained the story of the dwindling Colorado River that no longer reaches the Gulf of California or the drying up of the acquifer under Arizona and New Mexico. Telling stories of the problems provides some idea of the future dangers from plundering the water supply but change is slow among the youth who will manage our environment for future generations.
EXPEDITION ENDURANCE is a documentary film project led by Nathan Page, a WEIU/CATS undergraduate, and Cameron Craig that will explore and document the dwindling water resources of the Colorado River and its effect on the population of that region. Three other EIU students will complete the documentary team. Among them are graduate student, Darius Holland, undergraduate Kinesiology major, Aric Ascot Pelafas, and undergraduate Geography major, Jay Bushen. The team will set out for the southwest United States in May and spend 11 days exploring and documenting on film the Colorado River, Hoover Dam and the Colorado Mountains in hopes that they will persuade the young citizens of the Midwest that water is vital to humanity's future survival.
The team will set out to interview experts and film arid locations such as Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Tucson, Grand Canyon National Park, Hoover Dam, Arches National Park, Estes Park, and various locations in Kansas.
The 2-hour documentary, "EXPEDITION ENDURANCE," will premier in late 2014 on WEIU. Classroom versions of the film and teacher resources will also be available.
During the expedition, the team will keep an online diary of their experience for you to read. Watch this page in May for links to their diaries.
EIU/TCPFilms Production Team:
Nathan Page, Co-Director/Co-Producer/Student Project Leader
Darius Holland, Co-Producer/CATS Graduate
Aric Ascot Pelafas, Videographer/Project Coordinator
Jay Bushen, Geographer/Environmental & Sustainability Co-Investigator
William Roth, Economic Co-Investigator
Cameron Douglas Craig, Co-Director/Co-Producer/Executive Producer/Lead Project Researcher
Eastern Illinois University and the Center for Academic Technology Support with the Department of Geology/Geography present a Tempestas et Caelum production, "Expedition Endurance," a film by Nathan N. Page and Cameron Douglas Craig with Darius Holland, Aric Ascot Pelafas, and Jay Bushen.
Further Information
Cameron Craig, cdcraig@eiu.edu