Announcements - AWR Fall 2014

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Native Eyes Film Showcase: Honoring the Power of Coming Together

This fall, the annual Native Eyes Film Showcase, produced by the Arizona State Museum in partnership with the UA Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, presents programs that honor the power of coming together for social change. On Friday, October 24, “Meet the Filmmakers!” a brown-bag lunch, begins the showcase with a discussion about women filmmakers, films with Native American stories, and making documentaries. LaDonna Harris (Comanche) and the late Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee) will be celebrated at an induction ceremony into the honor roll of the UA’s Women’s Plaza of Honor, a sculpture garden that celebrates the accomplishments of women. The public is invited to attend the induction ceremony and a reception immediately following at the Arizona State Museum.

On Sunday, October 26, the films LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 and The Cherokee Word for Water will be presented followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, a resource fair, and a panel discussion with tribal leaders moderated by Arizona legislator Sally Gonzalez (Pascua Yaqui). LaDonna Harris: Indian 101 is a documentary that explores the political life and social activism of activist LaDonna Harris, renowned for educating Congress about American Indian Tribes and their unique relationships with the federal government. The Cherokee Word for Water tells the story of the struggle to build a 16-mile waterline system and a reawakening of the traditional indigenous values of reciprocity and interconnectedness from the perspective of tribal leader Wilma Mankiller and organizer Charlie Soap.

On Wednesday, November 12, the film Oil and Water will be screened at the Loft Cinema, the true story of two men born on opposite sides of an oil pipeline that changed the lives of the indigenous Cofán peoples in the Ecuadorean Amazon. The viewing will be accompanied by in-person commentary from the film’s subjects and S. James Anaya, professor of human rights law and policy at the James E. Rogers College of Law.

Mapping Tool Shows Flood Risk of U.S. Energy Facilities

A new online map tool, available to anyone with an internet connection, provides information on flood risks to energy facilities. Weather events, such as hurricanes, overflowing rivers, flash floods and storm surges can threaten energy infrastructure, such as power plants, oil refineries and crude oil rail terminals. The new map tool matches flood hazard information with energy infrastructure locations to help users understand what energy facilities may be affected by flooding. Developed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Flood Vulnerability Assessment Map combines EIA’s existing U.S. Energy Mapping System with flood hazard information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The EIA is the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.

The map shows areas that have a 1 percent and 0.2 percent annual chance of flooding (a 1-in-100 and 1-in-500 chance, respectively). It also contains regulatory floodways, areas with levees (reduced flood risk) and areas with conditions that might have a 1 percent annual flood risk identified in the future. To determine if a specific area is vulnerable to flooding, users can type an address, town or county name in the “find address” box, or zoom in on areas of the United States map shaded to indicate that flood hazard information is available. Flood hazard information is shown at the map’s street level. The Flood Vulnerability Assessment Map is available at: http://www.eia.gov/special/floodhazard/.

Arizona Forward Honors APW

Arizona Project WET’s Maricopa County program received an Award of Merit for environmental education in Central Arizona at the Arizona Forward Environmental Excellence Awards. Arizona Forward is an organization that brings business and civic leaders together for dialogue on the environmental sustainability and economic vitality of Arizona.

New Arizona Prize: $100K Water Consciousness Challenge

The New Arizona Prize is a competition organized by the Arizona Community Foundation, Republic Media and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona State University. Its aim is creating the Arizona of tomorrow: A state in which innovation thrives, ingenuity is supported and the best thinking is harnessed to create long-term, positive solutions to persistent needs. The $100,000 prize will be awarded in the Water Consciousness Challenge to a proposal for activities raising public awareness and understanding of the issue of water scarcity, ensuring that the public recognizes the urgency of the warnings from our state leaders and other experts. Teams will propose a creative content strategy that relies primarily on digital mediums, with an emphasis on social shareability. The competition encourages teamwork, and student teams, as well as professionals from a range of disciplines, are encouraged to compete. One multi-disciplinary team will be awarded $100,000 to implement its proposal, but every team that submits an application will receive valuable feedback from credible authorities and chances to connect with others.

The Water Consciousness Challenge is described in a newly released Briefing Book that includes a detailed timeline for each phase of the competition, a copy of the application, and the Trait Scoring Rubric that judges will use to assess each completed application. Registration deadline is December 19, 2014, and the submission deadline is January 16, 2015. Additional information can be found at https://www.newarizonaprize.org/.