Wed Oct 19th 4-5:30pm (PT): Watershed Wisdom Councils
Come share about what is happening in your watershed, and hear about what is happening in other watersheds. Learn about different projects you can do to help the water in your neighborhood, what your community can do to rehydrate the environment, lessen wildfire risk, increase groundwater, lessen floods, and decrease heat waves. Learn about different methodologies that restore the water cycle like swales, terraces, check dams, compost teas, mycelia innoculation, and vegetation growth.
Zoom : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4387884267?pwd=Qk1Ob0RIbjhEQzBCcWpyazFXVG1QUT09
Thu Nov 3rd 9-10:30am (PT)
Regenerative Water Alliance (RWA): 5 key Water Stories
We know the main carbon narrative, which is that when emitted into atmosphere it becomes a greenhouse that warms the planet. What are the main water narratives? In order to better spread the water story to the world, it can be helpful if we come to agreement what is the story to be told. So we have a roundtable discussion in this rwa meeting about what are the five main water stories.
Are the key stories about the small water cycle, how evapotranspiration cools the planet, the significance of groundwater to soil and atmosphere, what determines where water vapor blows to form rain, the role of forests in the water cycle, how our continents are drying out? Feel to start engaging in the discussion with each other, post your ideas in the comment section of this newsletter, or send us your ideas.
Zoom Call: Same as zoom link above : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4387884267?pwd=Qk1Ob0RIbjhEQzBCcWpyazFXVG1QUT09
Here is a list of possible water narratives
Here are some possible water stories, which would you choose as the 5 key ones? Would you have some other ones? Would you weave some of these together? Would you reword some of these? (Discuss in the comment section below)
A. Evapotranspiration cools earth
B. Small water cycle creates rain
C. Hydraulic lift keeps soil wet
D. Wetlands cleanse water
E. Cities can recycle stormwater
F. Organic Soil absorbs more rainwater
G. Slowing water keeps continents hydrated
H. Tile drainage wastes water
I. Wetlands humidify winds lessening wildfires
J. Wetlands replenish groundwater
K. Groundwater is our water bank
L. Groundwater increases the small water cycle
M. Groundwater quenches wildfires
N. Forests attract rain
O. Biodiversity increases small water cycle
P. Absorbing the rain lessens floods, drought, heat, and fire
Q. Dams stop fish, sediment, wetlands, and groundwater replenishment
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Other Water related events:
Open Future Forum Oct 18-20. Online. On Oct 20th 11:30am (PT) will be a session on soil and water which the Regenerative Water Alliance will be part of. openfuturecoalition.org/forum2022
Global Earth Repair Summit Oct 21-24 . Online. globalearthrepairfoundation.org
RWA’s Alpha Lo will be leading a session on collaborating developing a pattern language of water, eco, and climate restoration at 9am (PT) on Sat Oct 22, and during the action plan stage on Mon Oct 24.
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Subscribe to our RWA newsletter to keep up to date on events and various water topics
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Our last RWA session on Oct 6th was on the topic of “Forests and the Water Cycle”. Hydrologist Sieger Burger gave this talk:
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Home2Headwaters: Where Does Your Water Come From?
This past summer Nina Gordon-Kirsch walked over 240 miles from her house in Oakland (Chochenyo Ohlone Land) to the headwaters of the Mokelumne River - the river that East Bay Municipal Utility District sources to provide drinking water to 1.4 million people in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. After 33 days of walking, she finally made it to Highland Lakes in the Sierra (Washoe Land) and collapsed in gratitude next to the waters that have made her life possible. On the trek, she was joined by a film team to document the journey and will be making an educational film to bring into Bay Area schools to teach students where their drinking water comes from. Donate to help make this film possible!
On her journey, she interviewed farmers, river conservationists, hydropower employees, and regular citizens, collecting stories about how we all relate to water. She walked on the Bay Trail, through the Delta Islands (swam a few river crossings), kayaked upstream for 2 days, and backpacked off-trail in a remote river canyon. She endured 250AQI smoke, walked through burn scars of fires, and ran into obstacles with PG&E road closures.
She believes that if people learn where their water comes from (especially from a young age), they will be more able to tune into larger water issues at hand that desperately need human attention.
Read more about her journey here and stay up to date by joining her mailing list
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Note from RWA’s Ananda Fitzsimmons on France:
Although there have been permaculturalists and hydrologists working for many years in France, trying to spread the word about the importance of water cycles and keeping the land hydrated, this summer sparked more widespread popular interest in matters of water. Europe has experienced droughts for the past 5 consecutive summers and this year was reported to be the worst drought in 500 years. Water levels in the Rhine River, which serves as a major cargo route dipped so low that it disrupted the passage of boats. Between a lack of rainfall and sustained exceptionally hot temperatures, soil moisture levels have gotten dangerously low and crop yields are expected to be down by around 15%.
The field of Regenerative Hydrology has been birthed out of this tragic situation. I have been invited to showcase my book Hydrate The Earth and to participate in a panel of experts with Charlène Cardoso, hydrologist, Simon Ricard of Permalab and Samuel Bonvoisin, agronomist at a launch event on October 20th in Annecy, France.
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RWA member Hart Hagan hosted an interview with Rodger Savory about how to turn deserts into grasslands. They discuss how to restore the water cycle and grasslands to the Salton Sea/Imperial Valley desert area in California.
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From Vijay Prashad on Pakistan’s floods:
A third of Pakistan’s vast landmass was inundated by floods in the last week of August. Satellite imagery showed the rapid spread of the waters which broke the banks of the Indus River, covering large sections of two major provinces, Balochistan, and Sindh. On 30 August 2022, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called it a ‘monsoon on steroids’, as the rainwaters swept away more than 1,000 people to their deaths and displaced about 33 million more. The situation is dire, with those who fled their homes in immediate and long-term danger. The people camped out on higher land, such as major roadways, are currently at risk of starvation and in danger of contracting water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, and hepatitis. In the long-term, people who have lost their standing crops (cotton and sugarcane) and livestock face guaranteed impoverishment. Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal estimates that the damages will total more than $10 billion.
At first glance, the primary reason for the floods appears to be additional heavy rain at the tail end of an already record-breaking monsoon or rainy season. A very hot summer with temperatures of over 40°C for long periods in April and May made Pakistan ‘the hottest place on earth’, according to Malik Amin Aslam, a former minister for climate change. These scorching months resulted in abnormal melting of the country’s northern glaciers, whose waters met the torrential rain spurred by a ‘triple dip’ – three consecutive years of La Niña cooling in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
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Here’s an article about how Pakistan could have better defended itself against floods through the use of wetlands https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/618011-wetlands-matter
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This rwa newsletter has a format for showcasing the projects, events, courses, initiatives, updates, etc. of all our members, along with updates as the Alliance grows. We invite you to share and showcase your work!
You can send your contributions for the following categories to alplo@yahoo.com