Film examines man's relationship with air, water

By The Standard Staff - 10/01/2005

"The Matrix of Life," the second film in biologist David Suzuki's 2003 series, "The Sacred Balance," will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Main Hall, Room 112 at Montana Tech.

It's part of the free Citizens Education Project of the Montana Tech Peace Seekers Club and Taking Action for Peaceful Solutions.

In this episode, the Canadian biologist travels around the world, exploring our intimate relationship with water and air. His journey begins on the banks of the sacred Ganges River in India, a river that supports the lives of 400 million people.

With the guidance of Veer Bhadra Mishra, a Hindu priest and hydrological engineer, Suzuki is introduced to the Hindu worldview, which sees water, air and all life on Earth as part of a matrix.

He next visits Las Vegas, the Fantasy City in the desert built on water from elsewhere. In South Africa, he descends three kilometers into the deepest gold mine on Earth to examine the mysterious microbes extracted from water in the rock.

Viewers will see conversations with geomicrobiologist Tullis Onstott, chemist Richard Saykally, astrobiologist Malcolm Walter, NASA scientist Michael Keller, and ecologist David Schindler.

A short second film on Wednesday is Dahr Jamail's "Eyewitness in Iraq: An Unembedded Report." Jamail is an Arab-American journalist who spent eight months among the people of Iraq in 2004-05.

Tech's Main Hall is the third building overlooking the city, south of the Marcus Daly statue. On Oct. 11, the film series will return again to Tuesday evenings. For more information call 723-3851.