Faces:

Electric power

Filmmaker questions costs to the environment

Dawn Mikkelson had a simple question: Where does the electricity she uses originate? She had no idea that searching for the answer would occupy much of the last four years and result in the documentary film Green Green Water, which had its first screening in March at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C.

Carol Kobliski of Manitoba (center) talks with filmmakers Dawn Mikkelson (right) and James M. Fortier (left) on location for Green Green Water.

Mikkelson, a member of St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., discovered that northern Minnesota received electricity from the Canadian company Manitoba Hydro, which touts itself as a clean-energy alternative. She learned that while hydroelectric power releases no greenhouse emissions, the dams built by Manitoba Hydro affected several indigenous Canadian communities known as First Nations.

The rest of this article is only available to subscribers.