It began with a short description of the history of Changemakers in OTCF and the role of cooperation between companies and journalists, educators and activists. Szymon emphasized that he partnered with us because he believed in 4F Change project – it started from bottom-up and translates into real actions that aim at closing the loop and transitioning towards circular fashion. No greenwashing here! What is more, Changemakers try to educate their colleagues and make them change their way of thinking and such changes are really the key to a bigger one.

Szymon’s cooperation with OTCF started with an educational webinar about water crisis and the impact of textile industry on water resources. It turned out that it was just a small step to the much bigger cooperation – 4F Change supported (financially and in products) Szymon’s trip to Iraq whose goal was to gather information for his new book. At the same time, we partnered with Wydawnictwo Poznańskie publishing house and assumed patronage over the book.

After the interview, Michał Żakowski read an excerpt from the book, putting emphasis on the literary artistry and poetry of this atypical reportage. Why atypical? Because it’s written as a crime fiction in order to attract also those readers who are not looking for an environmental non-fiction. Hopefully, it will bring everyone some reflection on the water crisis and its impact on global social and economic relations.

The plot starts with a wildlife ranger who goes missing – an event that becomes an important part of a bigger investigation whose goal is to find out why the water is disappearing. It will soon turn out that everything, even the migrants on the border between Poland and Belarus, is a part of a complex cause and effect sequence that leads us to conclusions that, for many reasons, we won’t like. Why? They are a real indictment against all of us. The consequences of overexploitation sometimes are not instantaneous, but from time to time they can be visible almost immediately, like in the case of the Three Gorges Dam that was built on Yangtze river. The hydroelectric power station certainly does produce a lot of green energy and thus limits the greenhouse gas emissions but at the same time it increased the total length of the Earth’s day by 0.06 microseconds and endangered hundreds of freshwater and terrestrial animal species in Cambodia and Laos. No interference in nature goes unpunished. Reversing the flow of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates by Turkey results in big water shortage in Iraq. And these examples go on and on.

At the end, the participants of the event could ask questions, buy books, get autographs and simply talk with Szymon and

Michał.The event took place in 4F Spot, under the patronage of Wydawnictwo Poznańskie publishing house.