“We need to ask: how do we honor place? How do we embody justice? How do we regenerate life? How do we grow participation? How do we foster resilience?” –Andy Lipkis

Welcome to the Water Learning Series: Los Angeles. Throughout 2024, we have been hosting conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from LA and places impacted by LA’s water story. This is Session 10. We have one conversation remaining in the series.

We are joined once again by Andy Lipkis, who was also the guest in Session Two. Andy is a visionary and pioneer in urban forestry and watershed restoration in Los Angeles, as well as the founder and project executive of Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA). Through his decades of ground-breaking work on behalf of living infrastructures, Andy has remained faithful to a vision of a water-sufficient Los Angeles despite continued water importation and waste.

Drawing on his experiences in organizing, partnerships, public policy, and his love of Los Angeles, as his birthplace and home, Andy articulates a vision of what LA can become, delving into history, philosophy, and logistics. Andy speaks about the necessity of informed, empowered, and engaged communities stewarding water as crucial to shifting LA’s water story from one of scarcity to abundance.

Listen to Session Two to hear Andy Lipkis’s first conversation in the Water Learning Series.

Andy Lipkis
Andy Lipkis has spent his life crowdsourcing climate resilience, both coordinating flood emergency disaster relief and addressing long-term causes and vulnerabilities. At age 18, he founded TreePeople, and served as its president from 1973 to 2019. Lipkis is a pioneer of Urban and Community Forestry and Urban Watershed Management, the principles of which have spread across the world. He has consulted for Los Angeles, Seattle, Melbourne, Hong Kong, London and other megacities, helping plan for climate resilience and adaptation. With climate change impacts already creating a chronic emergency for cities around the world, Andy’s work has demonstrated promising new ways for individuals, communities and government agencies to collaboratively reshape urban tree canopy, soil, and water infrastructure to save lives and grow a more livable future.

After retiring from TreePeople in 2019, Andy launched Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA), a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, to inspire and enable people and local governments to equitably accelerate climate resilience in Los Angeles.

Hosted by: Kate Bunney

Produced & edited by: Anne Carol Mitchell

Intro music by: Mamuse 'River Run Free' - featuring Walter Strauss

If you feel inspired by Talking Water please consider a donation - our work relies on the community. You can donate here. https://walking-water.org/donate/

For more info go to Walking Water website. https://walking-water.org/

“In my imagination, we need to decommodify everything natural…No one should have to pay for access to clean water…These are all basic human rights. We need to imagine that we can come back to that…We need to learn what reciprocity means with the Earth.” –Zacarías Bernal, Program Assistant Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore

Welcome to the Water Learning Series: Los Angeles. Throughout 2024, we have been hosting conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from LA and places impacted by LA’s water story. We’ve arrived at Session Nine. Only two sessions remain in the series.

In Session Nine, we widen the conversation about the impacts of LA’s water story, inviting youth from Owens Valley/Payahuunadü and Los Angeles County to share their stories, insights, and dreams for a water sufficient Los Angeles.

Kaytlynn Johnston (Paiute) was born and raised in Bishop in Payahuunadü and is the Co-President of UNITY, a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth. Kaytlynn shares her experiences growing up in the Paiute reservation community and her cultural identity and sense of belonging as connected to the sacred waters of Payahuunadü. Zacarías Bernal, is part of the program team at Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the North East San Fernando Valley and draws from his familial roots in the San Gabriel Valley and his xicano identity. He talks about his upbringing in the “concrete jungle,” the disconnection he experienced from knowing the source of LA’s water, and his work to connect people to “Mother Earth” through music and culture.

Katylynn and Zacarías dream in this conversation, imagining what could be if the waters were returned to Payahuunadü. They share their visions for not only their family and communities, but for a world in which the basic human right to clean water is accessible to all people.

Santeena Pugliese, youth mentor, facilitator, digital artist, and co-steward of Three Creeks Collective in Payahuunadü, and Kyndall Noah, Communication Specialist of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, join the discussion, sharing their perspectives on the importance of youth voices and leadership in influencing LA’s water story and restoring relations with water.

Zacarías Bernal (he/him) was born and raised on Tovaangar, in what is otherwise known as the San Gabriel Valley of LA County. He is a third generation xicano, photographer, lover of books, and heavily influenced by Zapatismo. He is currently a Program Assistant with Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the North East San Fernando Valley.

Kaytlynn Johnston was born and raised in Bishop California and is a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe. A former member of the Bishop Tribal Youth Council and Female Co-President of the Bishop Tribal Youth Council, she then became Pacific Region representative of all California and Hawaiian Native Youth for 2021/2022. She is currently the Co-President of UNITY, a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth.

Hosted by: Kate Bunney

Produced & Edited by: Anne Carol Mitchell

Intro music by: Mamuse 'River Run Free' - featuring Walter Strauss

If you feel inspired by Talking Water please consider a donation - our work relies on the community. You can donate here. https://walking-water.org/donate/

For more info go to Walking Water website. https://walking-water.org/

“The river is the reason why LA was able to be here in the first place. It’s the origin story of Los Angeles. It’s the mother of Los Angeles in many ways.” –Candice Dickens-Russell, President & CEO of Friends of the LA River

Welcome to the Water Learning Series: Los Angeles. Throughout 2024, we have been hosting conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from LA and places impacted by LA’s water story.

We are joined in Session Eight by two organizations that are instrumental in community advocacy around water and the protection of water in Los Angeles County. We welcome Candice Dickens-Russell, President and CEO, from Friends of the LA River (FOLAR), and Kayleigh Wade, Senior Manager of Outreach, from Heal the Bay. Candice and Kayleigh offer an uplifting conversation about advocating for clean safe water, empowering Los Angeles residents through outreach and education, and reimagining a greener and wilder LA River for a climate resilient and more equitable future.

Candice and Kayleigh share the exciting and paradigm-shifting work of Friends of the LA River and Heal the Bay. Candice talks about FOLAR’s mission which centers the River as the origin of Los Angeles, works for safe and strategic concrete removal, and the greening of river spaces. FOLAR’s public advocacy and award-winning environmental education program create equitable places for Angelinos to feel a sense of belonging and ownership of the LA River. Though Heal the Bay is most well-known for massive coastal clean-up days, Kayleigh talks about work that is even more far-reaching. They discuss Heal the Bay’s ‘watershed approach,’ which means looking at all the places in LA County that water travels on its way to the sea. Both guests share the imperative for placing environmental justice at the forefront of their missions and share solution-based approaches to a water sufficient LA, citing tangible ways to move away from water importation and developing a vision of water as a relative to be taken care of and cherished.

Hosted by: Kate Bunney
Produced & Edited by: Anne Carol Mitchell
Intro music by: Mamuse 'River Run Free' - featuring Walter Strauss

If you feel inspired by Talking Water please consider a donation - our work relies on the community. You can donate here. https://walking-water.org/donate/

For more info go to Walking Water website. https://walking-water.org/