By Lookout Staff

February 11, 2010 -- Santa Monica College students worked both in front of and behind the camera to produce a one-minute spot making the case that water conservation is important locally and globally.

Produced and created by SMC students, alum and faculty, "SMC Global Citizens for Water Conservation" was made possible by a $10,000 water conservation grant SMC won in 2008. The grant was to be used for student-created video public service announcements on water conservation around the world.

"I am very proud of this public service announcement," said philosophy professor Amber Katherine, who headed up the team that produced the spot.

"It intercuts interviews with our multicultural, multinational student population in a dynamic and interesting way to show that 'every drop of water counts,'" Katherine said.

SMC was one of 15 California colleges and universities - chosen from a record 40 submissions -- to receive one of the Southern California World Water Forum grants.

The grant was awarded by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.

Winning this grant was part of the inspiration for selecting "water" as SMC's global citizenship theme for the year.

The SMC team responsible for wining the grant included Katherine, adjunct sociology professor Elham Gheytanchi, Director of Grants Laurel McQuay-Peninger, Sustainability Coordination Project Manager Genevieve Bertone, and former student Luis Suarez. The crew that produced the PSA included students from Katherine's environmental politics course, and the spot was edited by SMC student Patricia De Borba.

The team also created 30- and 18-second versions of the spot. The one-minute PSA can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Cde29lYXE&feature=player_embedded