We’ve been working to line up these water interviews for months, and it’s a good thing. Suddenly water scarcity is everywhere in the news. Lake Mead and Lake Powell are at historically low levels. The Colorado River was listed as our nation’s most endangered watershed. The original intake pipe to deliver water to Las Vegas was suddenly exposed by lower water levels, as were human … Continue reading Water
John Weisheit grew up with a love for the Colorado River and has worked as a river guide for more than four decades. In the year 2000, John co-founded Living Rivers, an advocacy group that seeks a path to restoring the ecology of the Southwest, balanced with meeting human needs. I interviewed John in the cool shade of his backyard boathouse in Moab, Utah just … Continue reading John Weisheit
Eric Balken is the executive director for the Glen Canyon Institute, which is dedicated to the restoration of Glen Canyon and a free flowing Colorado River. Eric grew up and still lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he developed an early love for mountains, rivers and deserts. “Wherever you live, realize that we have to get smarter with water and learn about it and … Continue reading Eric Balken
We’ve witnessed some remarkable terrain in this year on the road. If there’s such a thing as a spiritual home, I’ve been at the center of mine for the past two months in the Pacific Northwest. Their combination of mountain and sea, wrapped in a lush green blanket is my idea of paradise. But, as they say, there is trouble in paradise. The Northwest suffered … Continue reading Watching the earth
Jeff Rennicke is a writer, a photographer and a storyteller in Bayfield, Wisconsin. He is the Executive Director at Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. “Pay attention. Things get really interesting below the surface. Wherever you are, there’s more going on than a superficial glance will reveal to you.” “I was a freelance writer for 20 some years and traveled to six different continents, … Continue reading Jeff Rennicke
Tania Aubid is an Anishinaabe woman involved in the Water Protector movement resisting the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. “You know, they wanted their pristine lands, and then they pushed us all into the swamps. And now that the swamps have resources for them to exploit, they want to push us out over here too. Through the logging companies, through the pipelines, through the … Continue reading Tania Aubid
Neal Moore is a journalist, an adventurer and an expatriate. He is in the midst of a two-year journey, paddling 7,500 miles across the United States. I met him in a coffee shop—by chance—in Columbus, Mississippi and we found time the next day to do an interview. You can follow Neal’s journey at https://22rivers.com/. “There’s this strange phenomenon that takes place, when you realize that … Continue reading Neal Moore
I’ve been around a lot of water lately. We traveled to the mouth of the Mississippi River, where sometimes there’s too much water and humans have tried to tame its power and flow. Just two months later, I was more than 1,000 miles to the north, near the headwaters of that same river, where Indigenous voices are trying to stop an oil pipeline from passing … Continue reading Water
Joe Hill is from the Seneca Nation. He traveled to northern Minnesota to a Water Protectors camp north of Palisade, to protest an oil pipeline that will cross the Mississippi River and many others. He spent the winter there living in a yurt and said he had come to support an Indigenous women-led movement, to live simply, and to exercise his obligations under the Great … Continue reading Joe Hill
I spent last week in northern Minnesota with a camp of Water Protectors along the Mississippi River. The Indigenous, women-led movement is currently working to stop construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. I went, specifically because I wanted to learn more. I went because I want to get better at hearing Indigenous voices. I went because I have heard the Water Protectors called radical, … Continue reading Water is Life
