Raising the Alarm: Charlie Toledo on Aquifers and Riparian Corridors: The disconnect

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Charlie Toledo speaking at an open house for Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields in 2014

Below is a reprint of excerpts from a 2014 interview with Charlie Toledo, Executive Director of the Suscol Intertribal Council. What continues to be alarming is how our governing bodies override scientific knowledge in the face of perceived industry needs. We have witnessed this process over and over in Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor… Read more »

The Art of Dish Washing with Charlie Toledo

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Charlie Toledo on the Lincoln Street bridge over the Napa River.

Have you ever washed dishes with Charlie Toledo? You learn what Water is Sacred means. She wipes the dish using as little water as possible with soap that will not contaminate the water and then carefully rinses. You do not wash: you witness. She does the work, making sure Water is properly treated. How would… Read more »

Nature’s Inescapable Demands

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Casey raking debris after digging out inlets. He decided to patrol the road every two hours throughout the next night.

It takes two inches of rain to awaken the annual grass seeds in the savanna, and we definitely got two inches of rain last week. It started slowly, with 0.6″ on the first day followed by 1.5″ on the second. I was overjoyed. The dryness of the drought chokes the land. We were all suffering…. Read more »

The Overstory: Trees of Life

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Never read The Overstory, a beautifully written, transformative novel by Richard Powers, about trees and people and the earth, before going to bed. After reading another section last night, usually a great prelude to sleep, I couldn’t fall into that blessed state. When I must have accomplished some version of that, I slept fitfully, waking at… Read more »

Respect of Water as a Living Entity

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Visiting friends in Guanajuato, I experience what a different relationship these people have with water, at least from us in California— and United States, for that matter. Respecting water is so much more immediate and personal. If water is short, it is turned off by the city. You are left with what is in your tinaco, or roof… Read more »

March 22: World Water Day: California’s Crisis

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Water on its way to Dry Creek.

Today, March 22, 2015, is World Water Day, a day designated by the United Nations in 1993 to celebrate Water. Being in our fourth year of drought, there never has been a time that Californians are more aware of water. Many of us may be joining the 780 million people of the world who do not have access… Read more »