PICKED: Beautiful Short Film for World Water Day

Today is the 19th annual World Water Day and French nonprofit Solidarités International marks the occasion with a beautiful short film to raise awareness about safe drinking water: It’s estimated that 3.6 million people, of which 1.5 million are children under 5, die of diseases caused by water contamination every year, making it the world’s leading cause of death. Yet both the public and political leaders remain largely unaware and thus unlikely to take action against this preventable epidemic.

This film, produced by agency BDDP Unlimited and directed by young director, illustrator, musician and photographer Clément Beauvais, is both a moving reminder about the importance of this fundamental substance and a specific call to action for journalists to spread awareness about it and appeal to readers to sign a petition that will be personally handed to the French president during the 6th World Water Forum in March 2012.

Looking for meaningful ways to support World Water Day beyond awareness? Here are a few actionable ideas. And to further grasp both the beauty and the gravity of the subject, don’t miss the remarkable Blue Planet Run.

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The Coca-Cola Case

What Colombian laborers have to do with American foreign policy and the history of soda.

Labor rights are among the most pressing human rights issues in industrialized nations. But what makes the subject most devastating is how remote it feels to most of us yet how deeply infused our everyday lives are with its enablers, from the inhuman factory conditions in the Chinese factories that churn out our favorite shoes to the impossibly low wages of the Indian farmers who grow our afternoon tea. The Coca-Cola Case is an unsettling feature-length documentary by directors German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia exploring the subject through the lens of America’s favorite soft drink, investigating the allegations that Coke orchestrated the kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders trying to improve working conditions in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey.

Of the 4,000 trade unionists killed in Colombia since 1986, only five have been successfully prosecuted. Five. It’s the trade union capital of the world, by far.”

The filmmakers zoom in on two labor rights lawyers and a human rights activist as they attempt to hold the beverage behemoth accountable in a vicious legal and human rights battle. Regardless of whether or not the allegations are true — though, as the film progresses, it becomes increasingly hard to believe otherwise — the film exposes the ugly underbelly of corporate politics, PR spin and the ruthless pursuit of competitive advantage.

After months of investigation into Coca-Cola, all evidence shows that the Coca-Cola system is ripe with immorality, corruption and complicity in gross human rights violations, including murder and torture.”

The film is available on YouTube in 9 parts, which we’ve conveniently collected in this playlist:

For a closer look at Coke’s alleged transgressions around the globe, take a look at Mark Thomas’ Belching Out the Devil: Global Adventures with Coca-Cola. And for more on the broader subject of corporate spin and human rights abuse, we highly recommend Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy.

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Climate Kid: UNICEF’s Platform for Preparedness

What evolutionary fantasies have to do with the future of practical education.

The true litmus test for the value of education is how well it equips us for navigating modern life. And while it might be an uncomfortable one, climate change is one of its increasingly urgent realities. Yet traditional education rarely equips kids with the essential lifeskills for dealing with the consequences of climate change, many of which will reach threatening proportions within the lifetimes of today’s youth. To address this, our friends at Do The Green Thing (remember them?) have teamed up with UNICEF to launch Climate Kid — a new platform for UNICEF’s work in helping children around the world adapt to climate change.

Though wonderfully animated and playful in tone, the short film raises the important question of how we adapt — biologically, maybe, but certainly socially — to a world changing before our eyes.

The effort is accompanied by a Twitter competition to win some lovely original artwork by talented independent illustrators who have developed their own interpretation of climate kid. To enter, simply tweet about what evolutionary enhancements you think a climate kid would need in the future, and hashtag it #climatekid.

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Inside Out Project: Street Artist JR’s $100K TED Prize

What the global importance of women has to do with favela murals and graffiti in Kibera.

Last fall, in a bold and unexpected move, TED granted the $100,000 TEDPrize to shadowy Parisian street artist JR. Known for his large-scale graffiti murals tackling social justice and human rights issues like freedom and identity, the semi-anonymous 27-year-old artist made his most revealing public appearance to date on the TED stage this week, showing some of his truly incredible work and sharing his vision for how the prize will empower his art.

The launch of JR’s Inside Out Project, an ambitious global collaborative art initiative, is a truly inspired experiment in civic engagement through art — a different iteration of something we looked at earlier this week.

If JR’s project tickled your soul like it did ours, here’s how to get involved.

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