“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/

“Owens Lake was the largest emitter of dust from one place in the United States…It [Owens Lake] disappeared in the mid-1920s. The water didn’t come on for the dust project until 2001. For nearly eighty years, the people up here–families, everyone, the wildlife–they were choking on dust.” –Mike Prather, environmentalist and conservationist in the Owens Valley/Payahuunadü

Join us for this special edition of Talking Water, featuring our guest Mike Prather. Mike is an environmental activist and conservationist who has advocated for returning water to Owens Lake/Patsiata and the Lower Owens River. He shares his personal story about fighting for the things you love. For Mike, his love has been the unique and majestic natural beauty of Owens Valley/Payahuunadü where he has lived for nearly 45 years.

Mike was instrumental in forming the Owens Valley Committee which was heavily involved in rectifying damages done by Los Angeles to the valley’s water supply and ecosystem. Mike recalls a time when the once massive Owens Lake/Patsiata was completely dry and a health hazard for residents because of alkaline dust. Mike remembers the first moments of water being added to the lake again as a dust control measure. He shares the awe of seeing thousands of shorebirds return to the lake as the waters return. Mike offers listeners a vantage point into a life of defending the sacred–the inspiration, the successes, and the trials.

Mike Prather
Mike has lived in Inyo County since 1972, starting in Death Valley National Park (then Death Valley National Monument) in the 1970s, and later in Lone Pine in 1980. “My focus has been on the desert, as well as the Sierra, with particular interests in water and wildlife issues. For many years, I worked on passage of the California Desert Protection Act and the Inyo/Los Angeles Water Agreement with its Lower Owens River Project. Currently much of my energy is directed toward the massive wildlife return associated with the Los Angeles Owens Lake Dust Project, and also possible increased protection of the Alabama Hills through a federal designation within the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System. My interests within Friends of the Inyo are seeking sustainability, increasing diversity and spreading FOI’s good works into the southern Owens Valley.”

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/

“What does your water come from? If we know the answer to that, that’s the first step towards conservation…Then we start to connect with that source. We are water. It’s running through us. No one can own the water. We have it for a time..” –David Baker, Executive Director and founder the Watershed Association

The Watershed Association invites Talking Water listeners into a wholehearted conversation about heeding the call to water advocacy through the guests' reflections on founding the Watershed Association and their continued service decades later. David Baker, Executive Director and founder, and Ellen Evans, Director of Operations, share seminal experiences which guided them to vocations to protect Jacob’s Well, a natural artesian spring and second longest submerged cave which is located in the Hill Country of South-Central Texas. Since 1996, the Watershed Association has worked to conserve the lands and waterways that surround the spring, advocated for state-wide public policies, engaged in legal battles to curb over pumping, formed local and regional partnerships, and developed mentorship initiatives for youth. Ellen and David’s stories are fortifying for those who draw strength from sacred places in nature as well as uplifting for those acting to protect what they love for future generations.

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/

“Agencies like MWD and DWP are really working on our transparency and trying to bring in different voices into our processes… I think it’s important as we need to build trust in what we’re doing and the investments we need to make locally. I do think holding us accountable and demanding transparency is going to help us move forward.” –Liz Crosson, Sustainability, Resilience and Innovation Officer, Metropolitan Water District

Welcome to the year-long Water Learning Series: Los Angeles. Throughout 2024, we are hosting 11 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 Seven by two of the most significant and powerful institutions in Los Angeles’s water story: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). Our guests, David Pettijohn, Director of Water Resources at LADWP and Liz Crosson, Sustainability, Resilience and Innovation Officer at MWD, offer a comprehensive and historical look at how these agencies became foundational in the growth and development of Southern California and remain central in the importation of LA’s water from hundreds of miles away. They share background about the LADWP constructing the Los Angeles Aqueduct at the turn of the 20th century to import water from Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü and the formation of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in 1940 to further supplement water sources through constructing the Colorado River Aqueduct and the California State Water Project which imports water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The guests also discuss forward-looking initiatives responding to climate change. Both LADWP and MWD are diversifying their water supplies to decrease dependency on the aqueduct system which is being severely impacted by droughts and other climate-related conditions. David, from LADWP, talks about long-range programs in the City of Los Angeles to develop local water sources through groundwater clean-up and recharge, stormwater capture, conservation, recycling water, and water efficiency programs that incentivize homeowners to install water saving devices. Liz, from MWD, discusses the necessities of building trust, accountability, and collaboration with the communities in the 26 municipalities that MWD serves as a way of investing in the future. The conversation also includes a discussion about Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü. Adam Perez, the LADWP Deputy Manager of the Aqueduct for the Water Operations Division, joins the conversation talking about LADWP’s commitments to working with the tribes in Owens Valley, environmental restoration projects, and ensuring that residents in Owen’s Valley/Payahuunadü have their needs met before the water is exported to 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/

“When you know the historical legacy of systemic racism that’s still baked into housing policies, insurance policies, red-lining, things of that nature, then you have to understand that the fight we’re fighting in Detroit is connected to a global fight. It’s about fighting for national change. It’s about fighting for systemic change, and it’s about fighting for a global resource that we must all have access to.” –Monica Lewis-Patrick, President & CEO, We the People of Detroit

We the People of Detroit calls the Talking Water community into a spirited and in-depth conversation about water equity in Detroit, connecting their water warrior work to the global movement for safe, clean, and affordable water as an essential human right. Founders of We the People of Detroit, Monica Lewis-Patrick, President & CEO; Debra A. Taylor, Chief Financial Officer; and Cecily McClellan, Director of Water Work/Relief, provide a comprehensive backstory about the Water and Sewerage Department of Detroit shutting off water to nearly 150,000 households since 2014 and the health crisis that has drawn international criticism and continues to plague residents. Baked into the story of the water shut-offs is the account of the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy and the private companies that privatized essential services without voter approval to the detriment of Detroit’s historic residents. Lewis-Patrick, Taylor, and McClellan share their extensive knowledge of Detroit’s inequitable water policies that target predominantly low-income Black and Brown citizens through the research of the We the People of Detroit Community Research Collective (CRC), a collaborative of community activists, academics, researchers, and designers who created a visual map of the socio-economic implications of Detroit’s austerity policies enacted before, during, after the city’s bankruptcy.

The guests share their inspired resolve in founding We the People of Detroit in 2008 as an unwavering commitment to support the Black community when Detroit went into emergency management, the public safety net began to disappear, and the economy was in free fall. We the People of Detroit work has been a stalwart foundation, informing, educating, and empowering Detroit residents and providing opportunities for youth leaders on imperative issues surrounding civil rights, land, water, education, and the democratic process.

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/

“Redesign LA puts people at the forefront. Those projects that are being funded are not coming from the cities…These are the needs in our community.”
–Carlos Moran, Sr. Program Manager, from the Council for Watershed Health

Welcome to Session Six of the “Water Learning Series: Los Angeles.” We’re honored to be joined by Carlos Moran, Senior Program Manager from the Council for Watershed Health whose mission is to advance the health and sustainability of the Los Angeles region’s watersheds, rivers, streams and habitat - both in natural areas and urban neighborhoods. Carlos shares his intimate knowledge into the complexity of the siloed municipalities and agencies in the Los Angeles water space. Carlos talks about how the Council’s innovative work connects people and provides assistance to communities and tribes to access public funding for environmental justice and public health around water issues. Carlos shares the history and inner workings of LA County’s Safe Clean Water Program and how the Council’s initiatives, such as Redesign LA, are creating sustainable models for community organizations and tribes to voice their concerns, pose solutions, and access funding from Los Angeles County. Carlos highlights tangible results of the Council’s projects and shows that communities and tribes can have agency in the multi-layered web of LA’s water space.

Carlos Moran, Sr. Program Manager, Council for Watershed Health. With advanced degrees in social work, Carlos Moran’s experience includes designing and implementing high impact strategies that intersect mental health, public health and environmental justice. He regularly engages diverse stakeholders to advance placed based solutions that drive large scale, multi-benefit investments in LA’s most economically, environmentally and health stressed communities.

His macro social work experience includes environmental justice planning, environmental justice, community organizing, mental health, public health, program and budget design, needs assessments & evaluation, social and environmental policy, management, project development and financing.

He regularly engages local Cities, County, and State agencies and elected officials to address global climate change at the local level through policy change, policy implementation, and placed based solutions that drive large scale infrastructure investments in urban areas.

Carlos has played a role in advancing large scale multi-benefit projects throughout the LA Region. In addition to environmental justice planning he has also led teams that engaged tens of thousands of Angelenos and especially those from the most environmentally and economically stressed communities to plant thousands of trees, capture stormwater, and become stewards of their environment. Previously he led a partnership of community-based organizations that empowered children, youth and families to transform an abandoned bread factory in South Los Angeles into a multi-service social service center serving over 3,000 beneficiaries per year.

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/