Expedition Blog

Four flights and just over 34 hours of travel mark the beginning of the second phase of our 2009 Expedition Blue Planet as we fly halfway around the globe to join the Blue Legacy film crew in Cambodia. What started as a research outline last year for my upcoming book on global water issues, quickly evolved into a five continent expedition dedicated

Washington, D.C. has been my home for many years. It is where my foundation is headquartered, where my family resides. It is also home to members of the Earth Conservation Corps, a service organization that teaches at-risk teenagers and young adults from the poorest, most violent neighborhoods to clean up their local Anacostia River – and their lives.

Our nation’s capital casts a long shadow. Just a few miles from the Mall – famous for the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument – lies a troubled world that bears little resemblance to these iconic representations of democracy. No mobs of tourists throng the streets snapping photos here. Few world leaders ever visit. Anacostia,

The team and I spend our final day on the Mississippi River visiting again with the Cajun people living at the frayed edges of the bayou close to the Gulf of Mexico. You only have to talk to a few of them to find out what their biggest concern is: land loss. We drive over an hour along the flat, long highway that leads from Golden Meadow, the Cajun

Today we feel blessed getting to spend another few hours with the generous, openhearted Cajun people. We’ve journeyed down the Mississippi River from St Louis to Louisiana to investigate how farming relates to fishing. In a general sense, both farmers and fishermen survive off the land. They may not consider themselves environmentalists, yet the livelihoods

Here on the Lafourche bayou about an hour southwest of New Orleans, the Cajun people have passed along shrimp trawling as a way of life for generations. We have timed our visit for the Blessing of the Fleet, an annual tradition at the start of the shrimping season intended to ensure a bountiful harvest and safety on the water. A dozen wooden boats

“I’ve been doing this way longer than Erin Brokovich,” says 65 year-old grandmother, professional chemist, and spitfire activist Wilma Subra. With her short blond ponytail and bangs, Capri pants and sandals, she looks twenty years younger than she is—and has the energy of a teenager. That’s lucky for the people of New Orleans because Wilma has made

“Louisiana’s wetlands are twice the size of the Everglades National Park, funnel more oil into the US than the Alaskan Pipeline, sustain one of the nation’s largest fisheries, and provide vital hurricane protection for New Orleans. And they are disappearing under the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 33 football fields a day.”

St Louis marks a dividing line in the Mississippi River. To the north, in Minnesota, it is a national treasure attracting more people for recreation than Yellowstone National Park. To the south, it is hardly a river anymore. It more closely resembles a drainage pipe. As it journeys through the middle of America, the Mississippi suffers the bombardments

On the day we’re investigating the truth about corn ethanol, and rapidly reaching the conclusion that the American public is being robbed blind when it comes to government subsidies for the stuff, we get robbed ourselves. MeiMei, Ben, Jos and I are filming interviews and stand-ups near the arch in St Louis for the afternoon. But after two straight

When your great-great-grandmother settled a place in 1823, you can call yourself a local. 186 years later, Steve Black still manages the family farm and rents out the archetypal white wooden house, complete with wraparound porch, and worn red barn. Like many other farmers in the area, Steve grows corn and soybeans, commodity crops subsidized by

Cold and wet. That’s what we are after an entire day out shooting in ceaseless spring rains. Only a scorching hot bath can cure this kind of shivering. In the morning, Ben, Pablo and Ali went to the cornfields to shoot b-roll of the agriculture—mostly corn and soybeans—that dominates the Mississippi River basin. They returned shortly after noon

The Mississippi River stitches together a quilt of ten states from Minnesota to Louisiana. The geometric plots of agricultural land stretching out to either side form the patchwork in shades of brown, planted mostly with corn and soybeans but not yet showing signs of spring growth. The team traveled today from Washington, D.C., where we’ve spent

We’re leaving the Middle East today to return to Washington, D.C. We’ll be traveling by bus for 30 minutes from the kibbutz in Israel to the border crossing, entering Jordan at Aqaba on foot, catching a taxi on the other side, and driving over three hours to the airport in Amman. From there, we will fly to Paris, and after a five-hour layover, on to

It is so dry here. I drink water constantly but always my throat feels scratchy. My eyes feel as dry as the barren riverbeds of the region, and it seems no amount of eye drops can remedy the situation. Water is scarce in the desert. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. The problem is, it is rapidly growing scarcer. So far the situation has

For this blog, I simply want to allow the inspiring, generous, and courageous students of The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, located on Kibbutz Ketura in Southern Israel, to speak for themselves. In a region torn by conflict, the Arava Institute brings together Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, and international students to learn about

Hindus call Varanasi, which was our first stop on this Expedition, their holiest city. Muslims, Jews, and Christians name Jerusalem, where we are today, one of their holiest cities. Both places contend that they are the oldest continuously inhabited cities on Earth, and you can feel their timeworn auras. Jerusalem’s narrow stone paths are totally

A concrete wall eight meters high divides the landscape. On one side, Israel. On the other, the West Bank. The barrier is decorated with graffiti in Arabic and English reading, “Imagine war is over,” and “Welcome to wall of tears.” A painting shows a dove with a blindfold and its wings tied behind its back. I’ve only seen a wall like this once before

After the intensity of our travels around the Jordan River Basin over the past week, today’s relatively mellow pace was a gift. The team stayed the night on a moonlit hillside overlooking the Dead Sea at a quiet hostel with no internet access. I must admit, that actually served as a welcome buffer between me and the never-ending barrage of urgent emails

In a region where terrorist bombings make headlines every few weeks, barbed wire fences and concrete walls sever the landscape like scars, and soldiers poke their heads out from checkpoints every few dozen kilometers, water lies at the heart of peace and conflict. I had imagined that I might be frightened or at a minimum jumpy while traveling in

We arrived late last night to a youth hostel north of the Sea of Galilee, and laughed when we found Jos and Duff editing blissfully away in the common room as hordes of club-going teenagers wandered by. The pounding music kept us up til 2am. Middle Easterners can seriously party; there’s been a raging discotheque at every stop of our trip here!

It takes a minimum of two hours and four buses, each of which travels approximately the length of a tennis court, to cross the border between Jordan and Israel at the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. We just learned that through experience. The two countries enjoy an uneasy peace. Jordan lies along the east side of the Jordan River Valley, Israel

Othman Mizra grew up swimming, catching fish, hunting birds, and setting his family’s water buffaloes out to pasture in an oasis. Literally. It was not some fantasy world you read about in storybooks, but an actual living, breathing wetland on the northeastern edge of the dusty, barren expanse of desert that covers much of Jordan. But that was before

We lost an hour last night. No, we didn’t leave it behind on the plane or accidentally toss it in the laundry. It was daylight savings here in the Middle East, and we had to set our clocks back. Which was especially tough given that we were scheduled for a sunrise departure anyway. Still, the team managed to wake up, eat breakfast at the kibbutz,

We arrived at the kibbutz in Israel at 2am last night, after 21 hours of travel from Cape Town. Africa is an enormous continent! Flying two hours from Cape Town to Johannesburg, followed by another nine hours direct to Tel Aviv really put things in perspective. But our exhaustion quickly transformed into excitement the moment we touched ground.

While I remain in Saudi Arabia for another day, the team travels from Cape Town, South Africa to Tel Aviv, Israel. The focus in Cape Town was production: cranking out our three short films about India, as well as interviews and audio podcasts – all posted now on our website. We’ve also made solid progress on the two Botswana films. Last night I

I’ve had fascinating meetings in the past two days with the Saudi Arabian Minister of the Information, the Minister of Tourism an others about bringing Expedition: Blue Planet here in the near future. In response to desertification, depletion of underground water resources, and lack of perennial rivers or permanent water bodies, the government

Today I flew from Istanbul to Saudi Arabia. I will spend a few days here attending a royal wedding and meeting with various government officials about the possibility of making this a future Expedition: Blue Planet destination. The rest of the team remains in Cape Town, working hard on our videos and web content.

We are really getting our rhythm down as a team now in terms of the Expedition videos, figuring out our workflow and style, which is exciting. Today, we’re putting finishing touches on the third film about India – “Ganges: Endangered Source.” It addresses the issue of global climate change, which is causing the rapid disappearance of the Himalayan

We’re so fortunate to have a team of enthusiastic, dedicated researchers preparing our location and policy briefs for each Expedition: Blue Planet destination, as well as coordinating outreach to schools and assisting with social media development. Most of them are students at the Harvard Extension School. Check out their briefs and bios under the

I did a satellite media tour today from the World Water Forum in Istanbul, and reached an estimated four to five million people. Hoping to increase awareness of water related issues – and inspire active engagement.

We did it! We posted four videos today, mostly of the India portion of Expedition: Blue Planet. Check under Expedition Videos to see them – each one is quite different. 1) The Introductory piece explains the mission of our 100-day journey. 2) “Ganges: The River Goddess” shows you the ancient and holy city of

Hard at work in beautiful Cape Town! Jos and Duff continue to put polishes on the films of India. Pablo and Ben are crafting the Botswana rough cuts. MeiMei is producing audio podcasts from India interviews. Ali is uploading photos to Flickr and making a Behind the Scenes video for India from our Flip video cameras. And I am in Istanbul for the World

I leave the team working on videos in Cape Town and fly today to Istanbul for the World Water Forum. The international conference, which includes representatives of governments, NGOs, and water-related industries, runs from March 16 to March 22. Discussions will focus on how to cope with the growing shortage of clean water around the world, as this

Justine, our Executive Producer, arrived last night in Cape Town from Washington, DC. It was a joy to see her smiling face in person, as we speak to her nearly every day from the field. She is our lifeline to the outside world: coordinating our travel, our website changes, and all the people contributing to our efforts, and sharing valued insights

Jos and Duff, the editing team, are wonder twins: put their fists together (preferably near a mountain of electronic equipment) and watch the fireworks explode! These two have been literally holed up in a room day in and day out editing non-stop, tirelessly, with so much devotion to their art. They even stayed behind in Maun to get the job “properly”

We traveled yesterday from Maun, Botswana to Cape Town, South Africa, a beautiful seaside city with brave mountains towering just around the edges. The Expedition team will be spending a week here producing our first videos and preparing for the intensity of our upcoming visit to the West Bank.

“Welcome to my office!” announces Sean with a grin as he leaps overboard and pulls his motorboat up onto a bank of the Okavango Delta. He then informs us that it is safe to shoot underwater footage in this particular river offshoot because the crocs don’t come here—usually, anyway. This morning’s tour with the lodge owner, a round and generous man

Today was just plain fun. And gorgeous. After days of rain, I have to admit it was a joy to see blue sky scrambling its way out from behind the abundant clouds. Even the birds seemed in a celebratory mood, chirping with extra glee. We started the day with an interview with Professor Lars Ramberg, Founding Director of the Harry Oppenheimer Okavango

We finally have an opportunity this morning to sleep in, and I feel spoiled by waking after sunrise. Hippos moo like cows in the river that flows just outside the rooms, yawning their massive jaws. We’ve been told that they kill more people in Botswana than any other wild animal. They’re aggressive and surprisingly quick given their girth. In Botswana,