California's Watershed Healing Special Screening

James "Jim" Thebaut, President/Founder, Executive Producer/Director

Facing existential environmental threats, California is “the canary in the coal mine”

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, August 25, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A special screening of the highly anticipated sequel “California’s Watershed Healing” is set for Sept. 8, according to James Thebaut (pronounced “tee-bow”), whose latest documentary goes beyond reporting the dark and dangerous state of the world’s environment to shine a light on some reasonable solutions.

Thebaut is the president, founder, executive producer, and director of The Chronicles Group, an international non-profit that “takes an aggressive, issue- and solution-based approach to documenting these wide-ranging and urgent challenges humankind is currently facing,” according to its website. Thebaut’s latest work is the sequel to a documentary that was broadcast on PBS and explained watersheds, why they are vitally important, and the serious environmental problems they are facing.

“My approach to doing documentaries is to take the audience to some place they’ve never been before, and educate and inform them,” says Thebaut, whose public speaking engagements have included the United Nations and the US Congress. He quotes Wade Crowfoot in explaining that California is the “canary in the coal mine,” and the wildfires, droughts, coastal erosion, sea level rise, and extreme heat the state is experiencing are existential threats for the rest of the world as well. “We’re talking about now. We’re talking about how people’s lives are affected by these things. We need to believe in science. We need to believe in technology, in environmental engineering, and even public-private partnerships, establishing policies, and start implementing solutions. If we don’t do it, I firmly believe that civilization as we know it will cease to exist.”

The special screening is in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Westlands Water District, whose customers, like most Californians, depend on the Sierra Nevada mountain range for their water. The federal government defines a watershed as “a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers, and eventually to outflow points such as reservoirs, bays, and the ocean.” Thebaut laments the fact that, as Tom Birmingham stated, “so many people in California don’t know where their water comes from.” This is especially troubling considering that water security is one of society’s foundational principles. “Every developed region of California depends on our ability to import water from distant regions of the state—the watershed.”

The purpose of the new documentary is “to present the threat of climate change, wildfires, and inaction by public agencies which is causing threats to California's food and water security, the economy of the state, and the national security of the United States," says Thebaut. The “documentary was designed to establish the reality of current conditions of the forest and to also present suggested viable solutions to be immediately implemented."

“The San Joquin valley agriculture productivity is a matter of national security,” explains Thebaut. “The evolving threat of drought and warming temperatures and limited water availability is jeopardizing the capacity to provide food to our nation and world.”

The special screening is 5-8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 8, at the offices of the local PBS affiliate, Valley PBS, 1544 Van Ness Ave, Fresno, CA 93721. The approximately one-hour screening will be preceded by a brief discussion of the California watershed and will be followed by a panel discussion. Register here.

Jim Thebaut

Jim Thebaut is an Executive Producer/Director with the capacity to interweave creative commercial production concepts with contemporary cutting-edge realities of today's dangerous and complicated world. He has generated a wide domestic and international audience for his work.

During his early years, Thebaut focused on the criminal justice system and created a movie for CBS titled A Deadly Business, The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer for HBO and Execution at Midnight and Bad Cops for the A&E Network.

During recent years, his objective has been to shine a spotlight on the realities of the climate crisis, water and food, scarcity, impact of fossil fuels, pollution, public health, nuclear weapons proliferation, global conflicts, famine, population growth and the breakdown of ecological systems -- and communicate the consequences of these realities as they impact the survival of humanity.

He has traveled throughout the planet and created documentary productions that identify ecological and geopolitical impacts on land, air and water systems and population. These travels have included numerous trips to Moscow, Beijing and northern China, Singapore, Middle East, India, Africa, Europe, Washington DC and beyond.

His documentary Running Dry premiered at the caucus room at Russell Senate Building and resulted in U.S. Foreign Policy Legislation (The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act).

Thebaut is currently transitioning to establish a new state of the art dynamic production company which will create commercial television series and movies and will also continue to produce his well-received documentaries.

For more information, contact:

Aurora DeRose
Boundless Media Inc.
+1 470-661-1843
email us here