On July 5th, Clint Willson, Interim Dean of LSU College of Coast & Environment, and Zach Green, President at BeAlive Studios, joined Pattrn to share about the Rivers are Life film, “From Mumbai with Love”.

The film follows Afroz Shah, lawyer and founder of the Afroz Shah foundation, and his mission to clean up Mumbai’s largest river, the Mithi.

On June 27th, Ross Gibby, COO of CRDC Global, and Zach Green, President at BeAlive Studios, joined Pattrn to share about the Rivers are Life film, “Keepers of the North”.

In “Keepers of the North”, viewers of the film learn how a myriad of collaborators come together to address the issue of waste building up along Alaska’s shoreline. Litter collected by Gulf of Alaska Keepers (GoAK) is shipped to a CRDC facility in Pennsylvania where a better, more durable product is created from hard-to-break-down ocean plastics. This collaboration was made possible through the help of Pyrexa Global, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, FedEx, Dow, and Rivers are Life.

On June 20th, Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman and Kate Richter Green, Head of Digital Current Programming at BeAlive Studios, joined Pattrn to share about the Rivers are Life film, “Voices from the Water”.

The “Voices from the Water” film highlights several different conservation leaders working to protect the Patuxent, St. Lawrence, and Mississippi Rivers.

In the river-side village of Teluk Meranti, Indonesia, an immense wave roars through every full moon, flooding homes and waking locals. Down the Kampar River, Bono rushes from converging waterways to form one of the world’s longest and widest tidal bores. 

Cash “The Conservation Kid” Daniels of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has always had a strong love of animals–especially sea life. He was seven years old when he learned that 80% of the trash in the ocean comes from rivers. Instead of leaving him demoralized, the fact inspired him to take action in his local waterway, the Tennessee River. 

The Tennessee River

The Tennessee River begins in Knoxville, Tennessee and flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. It’s over 650 miles long and one of the most biodiverse river systems in North America. Its upper basin hosts over 200 native freshwater fish, mussels, and birds. But it’s also home to 18,000 microplastics per cubic meter of water (as of 2018) that threaten the health of the river and its inhabitants. 

The Rivers are Life team presented its film “River of Angels” at the FoLAR 2022 RiverFest. The film features the heroes of the Los Angeles (LA) River and their work to increase awareness of the urban waterway and restore it back to its place as a thriving part of the city.

“We were honored to have ‘River of Angels’ selected as one of the featured films in the inaugural FoLAR Film Festival,” says Kate Ritcher Green, Head of Digital Content Programming at BeAlive, who spearheads Rivers are Life. “We support FoLAR’s mission and appreciate the work they are doing with communities surrounding the LA River.” 

On February 18 and 19, 2023, the Rivers are Life team joined the South Yuba River Citizens league (SRYCL) for their 21st annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival.

SYRCL is a league of California conservationists founded by grassroots activists in 1983. It protects and rehabilitates the Yuba watershed through targeted river, meadow, and forest projects. It is the key advocate for California’s endangered aquatic populations, including wild salmon, and works to strengthen native fisheries in the Yuba watershed to help them thrive. 

Rivers are about so much more than a healthy ecosystem and access to fresh water. They are the cornerstone of settlements and communities, as cultural traditions, family roots, and ancestral memories all develop alongside their abundant resources. 

Despite this, many river-centric communities are threatened by encroaching harmful industrial practices, forcing them to fight  for their right to health and safety. The Indigenous Canihuante community surrounding the Río Cochiguaz has fought for over a decade to protect the Valle de Elqui in Chile. Because of their ongoing efforts, the Río Cochiguaz and the surrounding mountains are now officially a natural sanctuary. 

The Chinook salmon, more commonly known as “King salmon,” was named the official state fish of Alaska in 1963. They are the largest species of salmon, weighing at least 30 pounds on average. While this specimen has been a staple of Alaska since the 60s, it hasn’t always thrived in abundance. King salmon’s size, weight, and cultural significance make it attractive to both commercial fishers and hobbyists. This, combined with the limited run of King salmon in the summer months, make the population extremely susceptible to overfishing. 

Conversations around climate change and the state of our planet are often filled with dread. While there is much to be concerned about, there is also plenty to be hopeful for. Thanks to the efforts of scientists, activists, and local communities, we’re witnessing positive change around the world–even in one of our planet’s historically most polluted rivers. 

The Thames River runs through central London and Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is an essential asset to those who live along its shore. It not only provides drinking water and vegetation but also protects homes from coastal flooding. However, constant pollution has historically interrupted the helpful and healthy natural properties the river hosts. 

Cuando piensas en Los Ángeles, ¿qué te imaginas? Ahora intenta pensar como un pescador con mosca.

“When you’re standing on the LA River, it’s like fishing in any river,” says Lino Jubilado, an LA River fly fisherman. “You’ve got duck swimming around you; you’ve got geese guarding their nests. You can easily mask out all the sound from all the traffic of the freeways and the overpasses.”

Jubilado has been fishing the LA River for over 40 years. Early in the morning, he makes himself a cup of coffee, sits down, and ties flies. Then, he goes to the river.

That’s Max Steitz, co-founder of Glass Half Full, a grassroots glass recycling program based in New Orleans. Co-founder Franziska Trautmann adds with a laugh, “We were always hanging out in his creepy basement that he lived in and drinking wine from Trader Joe’s.”

They wondered, what’s the destiny of a glass bottle? Is it doomed to clutter our streets, landfills, and rivers? Modern glass takes about 4,000 years to decompose, but the average glass produced is estimated to stick around for 1 million years – that number is even higher if it’s in a landfill.

When we look at rivers, we’re usually just skimming the surface.

Flying alongside the St. Lawrence River are bald eagles, osprey, and black terns while muskrats, porcupines, and beavers scamper along the shore. If you dive beneath the fresh waters of the river though, you’ll see an ecosystem of smallmouth bass and freshwater gobies, nestled between chunks of rock reefs.

Nathalie Lasselin is a diver. While she’s explored the Arctic and underwater caves in China, she felt drawn back to the waters of her home – Montreal.

Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman and BeAlive Studios’ Kate Richter Green joined The Weather Channel’s Pattrn to discuss Voices from the Water. The film spotlights conservation leaders protecting the Patuxent, St. Lawrence, and Mississippi Rivers. Hear Tutman share his journey as Riverkeeper and the urgent challenges facing his watershed.

Every spring, Living Lands and Waters hosts what they like to call their Alternative Spring Break program: week-long volunteer trips for college students to meet new friends, learn about environmental issues facing our waterways, and play an active role in conservation. 

Students from across the country gather together and spend the week traversing river banks and lakeshores by foot and boat to clean up litter. The students work closely alongside the Living Lands and Water crew and get a first-hand look at what it’s like for the crew to live on the barge.