Hopis: Protectors of Earth and Water

A Hopi maiden, honored with the task of collecting water for their sacred ceremony, steps down the steep, rocky trail to the ancient spring.  As she climbs, she recalls the sacred covenant that her people made with Maasaw, the caretaker of the earth. Maasaw entrusted the tribe with the 3 POINTS needed to build a strong society.

• An ear of corn: representing food for the body and soul.
• A gourd of water: the gourd being a reminder that the water (from a confined aquifer) is limited so it must be preserved.
• The planting stick: the simple technology necessary to grow things in the desert.

She affirms the covenant her tribe made to be humble farmers, respectful of the land and the water. She bends down to scoop up some water with a gourd. But the water level has gone down so far that she can barely reach it. This is one of a few springs still flowing on the Hopi nation.  

The Hopi tribe is a sovereign nation located in northeastern Arizona. The reservation occupies part of Coconino and Navajo counties, encompassing more than 1.5 million acres. It is made up of 12 villages situated on three mesas. Their pueblo-style villages were settled in 900 AD. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited human settlements in the Americas and the people still maintain their culture. These resourceful people developed a method of dry land farming that sustained them as long as they kept their covenant to protect the water.

In the 1960s, the American government strong-armed the Hopi and Navajo into signing an agreement with the world’s largest coal company.  In 1970, Peabody Energy started strip mining their mesas destroying hundreds of archaeological sites.  From 1970 – 2005 alone over 45 billion gallons of pristine drinking water was pumped out of their confined desert aquifer to transport slurry (ground coal mixed with water) through pipes to a power generator in Nevada.  That was enough water to last the whole tribe of 10,000 for 300 years.

The tribe has paid dearly for breaking the covenant to protect the earth and water. Close to 400 million gallons of pristine drinking water is still pumped annually for the Kayenta Mine. Peabody pays them 3/10 of a cent per gallon.  Most of the rivers and streams that sustained the tribe since ancient times have dried up or have been polluted by runoff from the mine.

The coal is used to run the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona. The Western United States' largest generating system was built to power the pumps that push Colorado River water over 300 miles UPHILL to Phoenix and Tucson as part of the Central Arizona Project. Yes, that’s how we get our CAP water.

Because of the name, people think that it is owned by the Navajo people. It’s not. The tribes don’t get any of the water or power. Many people live in poverty with no running water or electricity. They drive 20 miles for drinking water. The U.S. government pronounced their sacred land a national sacrifice area in order to build up the southwest.

   

On top of that, the tribes were cheated out of the fair market value for the land and water. The Hopi receive only two million dollars a year, while Peabody generates $5.6 billion. To put this in perspective, their CEO alone makes three million dollars a year.  

Before their land was savaged by the mines, these tribes were self-sufficient farmers and shepherds. They are now forced to rely on the mines for roughly 50 percent of their jobs. The remainder are unemployed.

Vernon Masayesva, the founder of Black Mesa Trust, is fighting to shut down the coal powered generator permanently and replace it with solar energy.  This fight isn’t just for the Hopi and Navajo people. It is for all of us. The amount of pollution this plant is making is appalling. EPA spokesman Rusty Harris-Bishop confirmed that the Navajo Generating Station is one of the largest sources of nitrogen oxide emissions in the country.  It is an UPHILL battle, because many tribe members won’t hear of shutting down the mines, since family members still work there.

 An honored storyteller, Vernon evokes the revered teachings of the ancients on the 3 POINTS needed to build a strong society: an ear of corn, a gourd of water and the planting stick. He encourages the tribe to renew their covenant with Maasaw to be protectors of the land and the water. Black Mesa Trust is currently conducting workshops to teach their teens how to harvest the rain water and return to the ancient methods of dry desert farming. The Hopi Raincatchers are using traditional and modern knowledge to build ravines with boulders to restore their watersheds. 

 “Traditions, history about who we are, and where we came from, and what our responsibility is to the world and to peoples all over the world. That is one of our main moral obligations,” Vernon explains. “To be protectors of the land, to be good stewards of the land.  Which is why this mining company is such an intrusion on our way of life. It’s a violation of our beliefs.”

We have so much to learn about being sustainable in our desert from the Hopi way of life. They share important lessons about protecting and being good stewards of the earth.  The people of Tucson’s Mission Garden are incorporating similar dry land farming techniques and learning how to grow sturdy heritage plants from the Tohono O’odham.

Even after being exploited, the Hopi feel a great responsibility to share what they have learned with the rest of the world. They are leading the Water Movement.

It’s time Tucson joined that movement. Recently, poisonous tailings from abandoned mines seeped into the streams that feed the Colorado River. The water in the reservoirs is evaporating at record rates. As temperatures continue to rise and more states experience droughts, there will be even more competition for that water.  

As we wake up to the reality that we don’t have an unlimited supply of water, there is much we can learn from the devastating impact of coal mining on the Hopi and Navajo lands. Currently, a foreign mining company has plans to build a mine on the Tohono O’odham Reservation. They will take advantage of an antiquated 1880s law and pay the tribe $5 an acre. The proposed Rosemont mine will destroy the desert habitat where the people gather their food, and contaminate their streams and rivers.  It will also deplete 20% of Tucson’s ground water.

Our representatives are pushing for these mines because they create jobs. But those jobs are temporary.  Ask the 400 workers who just lost their jobs at the mine near Green Valley or the Peabody workers whose wages will be decreased to cut back costs as the company reorganizes. Peabody just filed for Chapter 11 protection and is trying to avoid complying with the new pollution controls. But that won’t stop the company from pursuing more profit by expanding their operations on the Hopi reservation. (The mining company wants to expand, increasing coal production to 5.7 million tons a year and increase the water use by 33%.) It just allows the company to place the burden of cleaning up their mines on American taxpayers. 

UPDATE: Since this blog was written, Congress passed a law allowing mining companies to dump their toxic tailings into our waterways and not be responsible for the clean up.  

It’s time to join the movement to preserve our precious water by implementing sustainable desert farming practices and supporting a transition from fossil fuel energy to solar power. Let’s unite with our indigenous brothers and sisters and proclaim our Declaration of Water.

Declaration of Water

As children of water,
we raise our voices in solidarity to speak for all waters.

Water, the breath of all life, water the sustainer of all life,
water the voice of our ancestors, water pristine
and powerful.

Today we join hands, determined to honor,
trust and follow the ancient wisdom of our ancestors
whose teachings and messages continue to
live through us.

The message is clear: Honor and respect water
as a sacred and life-giving gift from the Creator of Life.
Water, the first living spirit on Earth.

All living beings come from water,
all is sustained by water,
all will return to water to begin life anew.

We are of water, and the water is of us.
When water is threatened, all living things are
threatened.

What we do to water, we do to ourselves.

Adopted at the Hopi Hisot Navoti Gathering
October 23, 2003 Second Mesa, Arizona

Here's how you can help  Black Mesa Trust.

UPDATE: Navajo Generating Station is closing. Tribal leaders, utilities, the federal government and energy companies must address injustices of the past to pave the way to a clean energy future for the Navajo. Find out how here!

Investing Ethically: or Putting Our Money Where Our Blog Is.

“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has sold off its entire $187 million stake in oil giant BP, as well as its entire $824 million holding in ExxonMobil. BP posted a record $6.5 billion annual loss in February while ExxonMobil is under investigation about whether it lied in the past to investors about the threat of climate change.”

"Climate change poses the greatest threat to health in the 21st century, according to doctors, and to avoid catastrophic impacts, most known fossil fuel reserves must be kept in the ground. If the world’s governments succeed as promised and halt global warming, those reserves could become worthless, and divestment campaigners argue there are both financial and moral reasons for divestment." - The Guardian reporter Damian Carrington.

At the end of 20 years of marriage, I was awarded half of our 401K. After sending the investment company our divorce agreement, I received letters urging me to make a decision on what to do with my share: keep the 401K with the current investment company or change companies. I procrastinated because, to be honest, I didn’t like either of those choices – especially after so many lost their retirement money when Wall Street made risky investments. I was grateful to have the money, but I didn’t care for how it had been earned. Part of me wanted to take the money out and pay off the rest of the mortgage on our modest house. After faithfully paying $860 a month for twenty years, I still had 15 years to go. I didn’t want the bank to get another dime of my money! But Dan crunched the numbers, and discovered that the penalty and taxes for taking the money out early was equivalent to the interest I would pay in the remaining 15 years of the mortgage – assuming the 401K wouldn’t make any additional money!

It was either keep the 401k for another five years or suffer a huge loss. We half-heartedly accepted the help of a persistent financial adviser. He did the usual assessment of our investment objectives and how much risk we were comfortable with. I shuffled uneasily in my seat as he explained our moderate risk growth profile, which means 40-50% income investment (safe investments like bonds that return slightly above the rate of inflation, but aren't likely to lose value), roughly 30% long-term growth (blue chip stocks), and about 10-20% short-term growth investments (high yield, somewhat high risk, stocks).

About a week later, our adviser called, wanting to just “swing by” to drop off the prospectus he had worked out. I sat there in agony as we read over the list of companies that were the antithesis of everything we believed in: all the big pharma companies, all the big box companies, and every big energy company, including Exxon. There was no way I was going to invest in Exxon! We don’t even drive a car in an effort not to contribute to climate change! Apparently these big companies are included in most prospectuses because you could count on them to make big profits – never mind how unethically they did that.

I explained to our poor adviser that it was less important that the fund grow than it was for us to invest in something we believe in. Were there possibly any “green” or “sustainable” companies we could invest in?

A few days later he dropped off the prospectuses of some “sustainable funds”. Flipping through their holdings, we saw they also included big pharma and even GE! GE represents everything we were fighting against. They use coal and water to power their plants, they got billions of dollars in subsidies and hid their profits overseas. They were on the list because they manufacture wind turbines in addition to their many not-so-green products.

Frustrated, I blurted out that if I had my way, I wouldn’t be investing in a broken system that rewarded CEOs with million dollar bonuses for firing and exploiting workers. Dan replied, “Unfortunately, that’s how capitalism works – by exploiting other people.” I exclaimed, “Then I don’t want to be in this system!” It was not going to be easy to invest ethically in a process where the actual system itself is the problem.

We tried another angle. What about socially responsible companies? Our persevering adviser really took on the challenge. He dug up two “socially responsible funds” for us to check out. One of them came highly recommended by his firm. But Dan looked it over and found many of the same companies we objected to in the growth funds. It appeared that the company’s priorities had shifted to making more money for its investors. The other company’s definition of “socially responsible” was Christian fundamentalist values. In other words, they would not invest in alcohol, tobacco, guns or companies with health plans that included birth control. Argh!

Back to the drawing board. Our adviser asked if we had any companies in mind. He suggested that we could put together our own portfolio including government bonds and individual companies of our choosing. Our adviser was really starting to get into it. He even enlisted the help of his assistant.

He e-mailed us the prospectus on a water fund. After reading it, we couldn’t figure out why he had chosen it. Just because it was a water fund, didn’t mean it was necessarily sustainable. We certainly didn’t want to invest in a company that would exploit Native Americans or destroy their aquifers to get to it. He read their mission over the phone, “We have a team of analysts dedicated to environmental, social and corporate-governance research, including environmental technology, science, policy and issues of sustainability. In addition, our unique Grassroots Research platform combines an in-house staff, over 300 independent researchers and more than 50,000 industry contacts to gather on-the-ground market intelligence.” We were sold. We had 20% of our portfolio right there.

He looked up renewable energy companies on Wikipedia and recommended three solar companies. Bingo!

With our adviser on the phone, me on my computer and Dan on his, we googled social justice companies and brainstormed companies that treated their employees well. Dan looked up their reputation for being socially responsible and sustainable and shared his expertise on the big computer companies. Our adviser made sure they were public companies, and let us know how they were doing in the market. (We were disappointed to find that Trader Joes and Ben and Jerry’s weren’t publicly traded and that most B Corp funds aren’t rated high enough to be sold by our adviser.) In addition to recommending companies that reflected our principles, it was our financial adviser’s responsibility to make sure the companies were solid and had growth potential. Together, we cranked out the rest of our portfolio in no time at all.

What we ended up with was a mix of "income securities" - mostly government and some private bond funds. The rest is "growth securities:" the water investment mutual fund and a portfolio of stocks we chose ourselves including two solar companies and companies that treat their employees well. We’re still not entirely comfortable with our role in securities markets that are the engine that drives so much inequality and environmental destruction worldwide. But we did do our best to make sure that our investment will do as much good as possible in our current economic system. Sometimes, that’s the best you can do.

Restoring Tucson's Rivers video

In 2013, Tucson's own Watershed Management Group launched a 50 Year Program to restore the heritage of year-round, free flowing rivers in southern Arizona.

Up until about the 1950s much of the Santa Cruz River and its tributary streams flowed year-round, allowing cities in Southern Arizona to grow and flourish. Now our rivers, creeks, and springs only flow after heavy rains and for short periods of time. Join us in forging a new path for Arizona’s water future.

https://watershedmg.org/

Simple Habits Make a Big Difference

Grabbin' my handy-dandy Arizona International Film Fest water bottle.

When attempting to get people involved in fighting climate change, I often hear, "What can I do? I'm just one person."

Since Dan and I committed to transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle, I am always on the lookout for simple actions we can incorporate into our daily routines that don't contribute to climate change. Here are two things we found that make a big difference.
1) Instead of buying bottled water, we bring a refillable water bottle wherever we go.
2) Rather than taking home numerous plastic grocery bags, we try to bring reusable bags whenever we go to the store. (Our previous method was to reuse the bags for trash or to pick up after our dog Poo. But there was still a whole box full left!)

Maybe Poo can help me remember the bag...lol That joke never gets old! .

It's actually pretty easy once it becomes a habit. Dan has a special pocket in his man purse (I mean backpack) where he always keeps a bottle of water. I have a lightweight bag I throw mine in. We live in the desert - so it's a good idea to bring water anyway.

Yeah, I know. It takes a real effort to change ingrained habits. But it can be done. You might recall my frustration when I kept forgetting to bring reusable bags while walking to the store. But with my son's help, I am getting in the habit of grabbing those bags (strategically placed by the front door)! I've seen people who keep them in their car (we don't have one) or handbag. (Gotta try that one!) We can change. My boys and I are a testament to that. We were addicted, I mean totally addicted, to diet Pepsi. Now we don't even miss it. And every change just improves the quality of our lives.

We got to take home our water jars from WMG as favors!

A special note to Tucson's incredible sustainability groups.... Thanks for all you do. We love you guys! I want to thank you for implementing a BYOC (bring your own cup) policy!  I know it's so much easier to put on an event using bottled water and disposable tableware. But our convenient, disposable life style is exactly the problem.  Watershed Management Group led the way by using real tableware for their Flow and Feast picnic at the river. What a treat to eat off of real plates! And they made it more fun by supplying reusable jars filled with yummy rainwater! Many thanks to the generous volunteers who did dishes out there in the field! It got me thinking about how many plates and glasses I would have used throughout the evening. I suggest that every sustainability group invest in a big water jug. And include a reminder in your event announcements to bring cups to be filled up (and plates for potlucks).

As you can see from this video, using reusable water bottles and grocery bags can make a HUGE difference! If you don't believe me try a little experiment - leave all the water bottles you use in a month (or from your next BBQ) in your front room! And that's just one household. Imagine the impact if we all made this simple lifestyle change!

Check out the video above and PASS IT ON.

Documentaries on Climate Change and Hope

Between doing research for this blog and Reel Inspiration, Dan and I have seen a plethora of films on climate change. Recently we watched “This Changes Everything,” screened as part of the Social Justice series held at the Loft Cinema. In the opening, narrator Stacey Raab admitted that she didn’t want to make another climate change documentary with polar bears. I found her doc in turns infuriating and inspiring. It was particularly painful to see conference attendees from the Heartland Institute (a think tank owned by the Koch brothers) cheering their success in convincing Americans that there was no global warming. But I loved the overall theme that we could rewrite our story. We don’t have to continue the narrative of profit at all cost. We can work together to take care of each other and the planet.

The film shared powerful stories of people from all over the world uniting to do just that. Members of the first peoples of Alberta, Canada investigated a pipeline oil spill on their ancestral hunting lands. Indigenous people were studying up on the law in order to better fight for their rights. They were even installing their own solar panels. The movie demonstrated how much power people have when they stand together. Villagers in India succeeded in stopping a coal-fired power plant from being built in their backyard by using their bodies to block anyone from the power company from entering their village. People from around the world are now successfully using this ploy. This is the kind of message that people can get behind – one of hope.

Friday night at the Arizona International Film Festival, we had the pleasure of seeing “The Anthropologist.” One of the great things about attending a film festival is hearing the filmmakers illuminate us on their process and what inspired their projects. Director Seth Kramer also commented on how he didn’t want to make yet another climate change movie with polar bears and scientists explaining the greenhouse effect. Fortunately, the National Science Foundation sponsored the project based on the angle of an anthropologist studying the effect of climate change on people.

Compared with other environmental docs I’ve seen, this is a light-hearted romp. It stars a squabbling mother (Mary Bateson) and daughter (Susie Crate.) Susie is your typical American teenager. She doesn’t understand why she has to go with her mom to third world countries when she just wants to stay at home and hang out with friends. The film also featured segments with legendary anthropologist Margaret Mead’s now adult daughter about what life was like growing up in the field. It was included to explore how Susie might turn out.

As audience members we might relate to her discomfort of being dragged along on physically challenging trips to witness communities suffering from the effects of climate change, while being very aware of the great opportunity it is to see breath-taking scenery and colorful cultures.

Their first trip is a sort of family reunion with Susie’s relatives on her father’s side in Siberia. (Her mom met her father while working there as a young anthropologist.) We soon discover that Susie knows the language. In fact, she has a keen ear for languages and blatantly expresses her embarrassment when her mother struggles to communicate. We watch this teen grow as she sees firsthand how climate change is affecting that part of her family. The permafrost has melted causing the ground to turn to mush. The hay they need to feed their cows (their main source of food) has died as well as the trees. The change in Susie is especially evident when they return home and she visits with her friends. You can see it in her eyes as one of her friends says she doesn’t know if she believes in climate change because her father says it isn’t true.

After witnessing the devastation on island villages in the South Pacific being bombarded by the rising sea or the impact of glaciers melting in Peru, it’s hard not to believe in climate change. Traveling along with an anthropologist, we got a glimpse of the effect on the indigenous people, their cultures, and communities. What we learned about people left us with hope. People are durable and capable of change, and will find a way to adapt.

Both of these movies express hope for the people who inhabit this planet that we call home. “The Anthropologist” shows how people are capable of change and “This Changes Everything” shows how we can change our story to one where we unite to save it.

Enjoying the Living Streets of Tucson

It was a dark and stormy night...

No. Really. It was. After a Saturday that had what could only be described as "Chamber of Commerce" weather with mild temperatures, beautiful clear skies, and just a slight breeze, threatening grey clouds rolled in. But that didn't deter anyone - they jumped on their bicycles, got out the strollers, put a leash on the dog, and headed out to take over the streets.

The idea of closing off city streets to allow bicyclists, pedestrians, and the community at large to enjoy car free streets started in the 70s in Columbia, with Bogota Ciclovía. To this day, major cities in Columbia close roads to auto traffic every Sunday and holiday. Unfortunately, Tucson doesn't close the streets as often as that, but, twice a year - once in the Spring and once in the Fall - the Living Streets Alliance hosts Cyclovia Tucson.  The event this Spring featured a 2.5 mile auto-free route from the Lost Barrio to Himmel Park.

And, even with the threat of rain (and several downpours), the people were there!

They were jousting.

They were walking tightropes.

They were showing off their neighborhoods.

Setting up "Urban Lounges."

Riding zip lines.

Getting information about community organizations.

Eating food.

Drinking beer.

But, most of all, just being together with other Tucsonans.

Isn't that what community is all about: Talking to our neighbors, getting some fresh air, and enjoying our beautiful city? I think so. And, luckily, we have Cyclovia Tucson to remind us what our streets and neighborhoods could be like, if we chose to make them that way.

Restore the Flow!

The water must flow.

Yet it so often does not.

The water must flow.

I'll admit...it's a pretty bad haiku. That was my entry in the poetry slam at the Watershed Management Group's Flow & Feast event held last night at a ranch that straddles Sabino Creek. I was inspired by the good fellowship, great food and drink, and by the number of enthusiastic people who joined together to share the dream of restoring Tucson's watershed.

Did you know that most of the now dry riverbeds in Tucson used to have running water in them nearly year-round? That Sabino Creek had running water for 200 days this year? We can increase that number by implementing common sense measures to reduce our impact on Tucson's aquifer. For much of Tucson's history, we were water self-sufficient, but over-development and unsustainable practices have made that impossible. So, we joined together on Saturday night, wearing our blue to symbolize flowing water, to envision a future where Sabino Creek flows nearly year round.

Restore the flow!

We can do this. It's really not that hard, it just requires being mindful of how we use water and where our water goes to and comes from. It's actually a lot of fun to observe the water flows in your own yard and imagine how you can redesign your landscape to make use of that totally free resource we all have available to us. When we think of the Sonoran desert, we think of Saguaro - and with good reason. But we should remember that these are also native to our desert:

We can restore our riparian areas. We can restore the flow.