DamNation: Environmental Activism Has Never Looked So Good

DamNation Doesn’t Disappoint

DamNation, the 2014 documentary from Patagonia which takes a close-up look at the changing attitude toward dams in the U.S. is environmental activism at its finest.

In the film’s opening minutes, director and narrator Ben Knight reveals how clueless he was about dams before filming DamNation.  And that right there might be why the film is so effective.

“It was kind of embarrassing how little I knew about dams before working on this film. Dams don’t just blend in as part of the landscape to me anymore. Knowing what I know now, it’s impossible for me to look at dams the same way as I did a few years ago, or even rivers for that matter.”

Together with director and producer Travis Rummel, Knight takes a topic that most of us never think about, and makes us care.  Through storytelling, beautiful shooting and a few shenanigans here and there, DamNation is not a hard-hitting expose, rather it’s a rousing glimpse at what the future could look like for our wild rivers if we rethink some of our country’s dams.

To highlight this, the filmmakers tell the story of the Elwha Dam in Olympic National Park, which in 2011 became the largest dam removal project in history. Today, the dam is completely gone and the restoration of a thriving salmon population is well underway.  But if the momentum for dam removal was moving full speed ahead there wouldn’t be a need for this film.  That’s why Knight and Rummel also make sure to touch on mistakes of the past, weaving in imagery and stories from some of the beautiful places that have been lost by dams, like Glen Canyon, which now lies underneath Lake Powell.

“Neither you nor I, nor anyone else, knew it well enough to insist that at all costs it should endure. When we began to find out it was too late.” ~David Brower, Founder of the Sierra Club

The river community knows all too well what was lost when the Glen Canyon Dam was built on the Colorado River, drowning what was believed to be one of the most beautiful canyons in the world.  But for those who haven’t had the benefit of hearing old-time river runners talk about this “Eden” and what it was like, DamNation will give you that. The filmmakers tracked down author and activist Katie Lee who was among the few who rafted the full length of the canyon before it was gone.  Her spunky and entertaining interview almost steals the show, but doesn’t overshadow the more important message here…that Glen Canyon was a place we lost because nobody knew it was there.

So, is DamNation environmental activism at its finest?  Absolutely.  Because as the film does well to point out on several occasions: we won’t save what we don’t know. And now we know.

Photos courtesy of DamNation