La Carreta News
The Water Monitoring Federation of the Río Grande~Río Bravo
The Beginning of an Idea - the long version
by
Sylvia Ernestina Vergara
September 2007
This idea began in an orchard in the Embudo Valley located in Northern New Mexico, USA. I had invited Sheri Kotowski for a picnic lunch. The conversation was about Los Alamos and the nuclear waste that was going into the aquifer and river. I spoke to her about past poetry symposiums that I had been invited to in Mexico. We were conscious of the border and the issues that were creating a huge barrier with the idea of "the wall".
I had seen a wonderful documentary by Basia Irland called A Gathering of Waters: The Rio Grande, Source to Sea created around 1999. Persons from the top of the Río Grande relayed a bit of the water to a group further down the river until water samples had been gathered all the way to the mouth of the Río Bravo which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. I was inspired by that movie and realized that the river belongs to no one. The river has a life of its own that impacts all the people that are near it. Also, it was reinforced that the river is sacred. Water is a human right and no entity singularly "owns" the river. The river is there to nurture all including the animals and vegetation. The Río Grande~Río Bravo has entered a new era. Not only is there a consciousness about the river to those who live close to it, but it also impacts our cosmic consciousness. It is now possible to be conscious of all the rivers of the world. We now are able to see that what is good for one river, could be good for many rivers everywhere.
It became apparent through our conversations that the pollution occurring at Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Pajarito Plateau is impacting the Río Grande and has greater ramifications than just local impact.
Cited in a press release March 29, 2007 by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety:
"Numerous studies by community groups, the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED), and LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) itself show that New Mexico’s future water supply is threatened by highly toxic pollutants, including PCBs at more than 25,000 times the New Mexico Water Quality Standard protective of human health. Other toxins of critical concern include 1,4-dioxane, hexavalent chromium, nitrates, fluoride, perchlorate, high explosives, selenium, and numerous radioactive elements, such as americium, cesium, cobalt, plutonium, strontium and tritium that have been detected in the regional aquifer."
Contaminants from the Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Pajarito Plateau in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico are threatening future drinking waters of the Río Grande and are contaminating surface water, groundwater and the regional aquifer.
These contaminants could be carried to Albuquerque, El Paso, and further into Mexico. It is possible that these contaminants could even enter into the ocean and affect the water, coral reefs and marine life. These pollutants from Los Alamos could also be carried into the atmosphere when the water is drawn up into the air to make clouds and rain. There is a concept of impact occurring always downstream because of water flowing in one direction, but in reality what happens down stream affects fish that travel up stream to spawn. It is possible that contamination happening down stream can also affect those who live upstream.
Sheri and I felt it was very important to begin a process of informing all the people who live near the river of the nuclear contaminants that are impacting the regional aquifer, watersheds and Río Grande River.
What began to happen is a new realization of the identity of the river. It no longer was the Río Grande, but the Río Grande~Río Bravo. When I look at the river, I now see the origins of the river high in the Southern Colorado Mountains. As it meanders down, it sometimes is narrow and sometimes wide.
In northern, middle and southern parts of New Mexico, it is graced by beautiful cottonwood trees that I thought were part of its natural habitat. I found out later The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy had planted them. Passing through large and small cities such as Española, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, it becomes the Río Bravo as it enters Mexico at Ciudad Juárez. The Río Bravo ribbons along the border between the United States and Mexico. It passes through other cities and towns until it stretches across and empties into the Gulf of Mexico*. Millions of people are impacted by this Río Grande~Río Bravo who don’t know of the serious level of contamination that threatens it. This contamination could harm millions of people and the ecosystem. Some might say that’s a small possibility, but some conclude that such a danger is possible.
After seeing Mac Gillivray Freeman’s award winning documentary, The Coral Reef Adventure featuring marine biologists (Howard and Michelle Hall, Jean Michel Cousteau, and deep reef scientist Richard Pyle and Fijian diver Rusi Vulakoro), I was very impressed with the timely effort they had made to save a coral reef in the Fiji Islands. This attempt led them to explore the state of coral reefs and marine life associated with them around the world. As a part of their work they also included the impact of rivers that emptied into the ocean and found that river pollutants were in part endangering the reefs.
The documentary describes how this small team went on to document the state of the coral reefs, what specifically was impacting them. They were able to make an international plea for help and create within a very short time a citizens watch of the reefs of about 8,000 persons (It is possible that the world wide reef citizen's watch has increased since the documentary was made in 2003.) In addition to global warming, they were able to show that industrial wastes, chemicals and timber sludge from tree cutting industries were specific ongoing practices that were damaging and killing the coral reefs. By alerting countries, local citizens and authorities, they were able to convince people of this plight and get governments to create new laws that would change the practices of polluting the rivers that contributed to the killing of the reefs. Various governments responded and began to regulate the industries that were contaminating the rivers. I could see how a citizen monitoring federation for the Río Grande~Río Bravo could create greater awareness about the health of the river.
Through The Embudo Environmental Monitoring Group and others monitoring the river for chemical and nuclear contaminants, it became clear that the Río Grande was at risk. The development of plutonium pits by Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Pajarito Plateau in the Jemez Mountains is presently leaking historic amounts of contamination into the aquifers and water of the Río Grande.
Small groups of concerned citizens have come together to create a lawsuit to get LANL to clean up the contamination. These groups include Amigos Bravos, Tewa Women United, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, the New Mexico Acequia Association, Don Gabino Andrade Community Acequia, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, Rio Grande Restoration, and the SouthWest Organizing Project. .
Many questions arise. Why are these sacred mountains that are honored by the Pueblo peoples and those of other cultures being contaminated and destroyed? When I go to work in Española, I look at them. I see these majestic Jemez Mountains. They are so beautiful, some of the most beautiful mountains in New Mexico and now when I look at them, I imagine scientists making more nuclear bombs and weapons. The Department of Energy is proposing to dramatically increase the production of plutonium "pits" (the trigger of a nuclear weapon), I envision these horrible pits like open wounds in the 45-mile Pajarito Plateau in these mountains. "Pajarito" in Spanish means "little bird". The plutonium pits don’t have names. They are called numbers. Mountains and nature are stripped of their poetry and delicate, majestic essence.
In my mind I hear the words of Kathy Sanchez of Tewa Women United:
"Our future drinking water supply is threatened. There are more than 1400 documented contaminated sites at LANL, and every time it rains or snows, these contaminants move through our canyons and springs to the Río Grande."
I imagine the contamination leaching through the soil, polluting the aquifers and seeping into the Río Grande. I look at the Río Grande as I drive along, I feel ill when I imagine this beautiful Río Grande River that we have depended on for thousands of years, could become irreversibly polluted.
Psychic Numbing
There is a psychic numbing, a denial of the severity of the impact of these nuclear pollutants on the native nations below the mountain and also on the lives of the residents, scientists and employees of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I feel it is further exacerbated by money profits in arms production coupled with a veneer of messianic catastrophic vision, which is not to save the world, but to be the ones on top to end it.
I do believe that miracles can happen and that the direction of LANL can dramatically change. I have always imagined that most profound change happens when persons in a state of psychic numbing actually wake up from this devastating state. People can make profound changes. I imagine many of these scientists greatly changing their direction to sustainable energies simply for the good of the planet. The messianic vision of death (which is like a deadly poison to the mind) lifts miraculously away. I can feel the emergence of an important message in simple but profound words. A young man, Jesus Christ summed it up: "Love God with your whole heart, mind, and spirit, and love your neighbor as yourself." This great shift gives new vision to the concept of "neighborliness," and in this sense, the Río Grande cannot be just "ours". We develop a consciousness of how our actions impact others and how their actions impact us. There are neighbors up and down the river both human, animal, flora and fauna.
This river also has neighbors that migrate. At Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, we have thousands of birds that stop temporarily and then go on their way in their migratory journeys around the world. If the river is contaminated, these pollutants contaminate the flying wildlife that goes around and up and down the globe.
The concept of neighbor is very important. This is the great gift of all rivers. By their nature they carry the potential for greater communication between those that partake of it. When we regard as a cultural attribute that which is sacred, it enhances a respect for the concept of community. That is why as the river flows it impacts not just ourselves but all our neighbors up and down the river. This includes our neighbors in Mexico.
Beyond Isolation
I was very inspired by the work of Sheri Kotowski and The Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group who are measuring the level of contaminants in the air as well as the water. I see a parallel. Like the citizens watch of the coral reefs (a citizens' monitoring group that helps to maintain a conscious level of the health of ocean reefs), a development of monitoring groups from the headwaters of the Río Grande to the mouth of the Río Bravo could be further developed and expanded. These groups could monitor the health of the river, not only for its contaminants of plutonium, pcbs and other chemical pollutions that are devastating, but also for its nutrients and positive elements that are good for us.
Sheri and I felt it was important to extend an awareness of what is happening to the Río Grande to our "neighbors" along the Río Bravo in Mexico. Perhaps they would want to develop monitoring groups all the way to the mouth of the Río Bravo. Perhaps even the marine biologists could monitor the impact of the Río Bravo in the Gulf of Mexico and nearby coral reefs. I imagine these monitoring groups forming a federation, an intercommunicating body of citizens both United States citizens and Mexican citizens that are in constant communication about the health of the river.
In June of 2007, at the Segunda Encuentro de Poesia Internacional in Delicias, Chihuahua (a literary symposium of approximately 80 journalists, scholars and poets) in Mexico, I read my poetry and shared papers about the contamination of the Río Grande that was occurring at historic levels created by plutonium and other chemical pollutants. I spoke of the various groups that were uniting to create a lawsuit against Los Alamos National Laboratory and their actions for continuing to pollute the aquifers and the river with plutonium and other chemical and nuclear pollutants. The lawsuit requires that LANL clean up the contaminated areas up and around the Los Alamos Laboratory that are permanently destructive to the river.
The direction of Los Alamos as a weapons developer is questioned. Is it even possible to clean up the contamination they have created? Doesn't it put at risk all those persons who are cleaning up the nuclear contamination? Where does it go? What happens to it? Doesn't removing contamination mean just moving and contaminating another site? It's important to clean up the contamination, but we must go further. Let's just stop making it!
When I look at how beautiful the Jemez Mountains are, the mystical and ancient feeling these beautiful mountains emit inspires me. At the same time I feel great pain when I look at them and realize that within the very womb of these mountains death and destruction is created. I imagine workers at LANL exposed to contamination, young children born with birth defects, mental retardation and emergence of radiation related cancers. Surrounding villages are experiencing the impact of this contamination. Even the scientists seem to be in a state of denial about how it is affecting their own health. I see the opposite of "the walk in beauty." In my imagination, I see the millions of people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima one day creating their beautiful gardens and the next day dead—killed by the terrible nuclear bombs that were created in these mountains. I see a world in madness trying to replicate and reproduce nuclear arms and not being able to contain the contamination. We are producing a model of death that the rest of the world is trying to copy.
As I continue to look at the Jemez Mountains, I go further back in time -- to a time before military interests had produced Los Alamos Laboratory. I look back to a time of Spanish homesteaders and farmers and even earlier of native tribes living in the mountains. I ask myself -- what were their stories about these mystical mountains? What were the legends and myths that came from the sacred womb of these mountains? Today, more than ever, those ancient myths and legends hold the knowledge of the future of these mountains and its peoples. It holds also the knowledge about the river (the Río Grande) that is the Jemez Mountain's ever-constant companion.
How do we get beyond isolation concerning the health of the Río Grande~Río Bravo? I have found that dialogue and developing friendships is a most powerful action. I experienced this after attending various symposiums in Mexico. I found the Mexicans very inspiring. They dialogue intensely about every subject. There's a wonderful sense of comradery and esprit de corps. They were shocked and at the same time happy to hear that groups were forming in northern New Mexico to raise consciousness about the health of the river. They also appreciated that they were recognized as being a part of this long river. I told them I was sorry that we had a wall to separate us. I said that the river could give us a way to all work together for a common good. I suggested that Sheri Kotowski and others give some lectures in Mexico about the nuclear contamination that is happening in Northern New Mexico. The idea of the lectures would be to inform the Mexicans about the kind and amount of contaminants that are entering into the aquifer and river since these contaminants could be carried into Mexico by the river. The second idea is to begin inspiring the Mexicans to form monitoring groups along the Río Bravo all the way to the mouth of the river. Also, if Mexico were to be more directly involved in what is happening to the Río Grande~Río Bravo, it would bring the contamination crisis to an international level. Not only does this contamination affect American citizens and Native American Nations; it also impacts Mexican citizens. It is not a small number of people and places, it is millions of people and the impact could be permanent.
Realization of the Worst Scenario
In November of 2006 I had the honor of meeting Natalia Mironova, a renowned Russian scientist and nuclear expert, one of Russia's most prominent environmental activists. She came with Tatiana Volkova, her translator and her host groups, the Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group, and The Government Accountability Project to interview me and others. I was very honored and looked forward to the visit. Before her visit I was wondering why she was coming to New Mexico and why I was chosen for this interview. At the time I knew very little about nuclear contamination in general. Little by little, I began to find out more explicit details about this terrible and horrifying local and world threatening situation. Sheri told me that for thirteen years Natalia had helped to evacuate Russian residents from villages in these beautiful forested areas in the Ural Mountains near Chelyabinsk, Russia, because the areas had become contaminated with nuclear pollutants. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were contaminated. A dangerous and severe nuclear accident at the Mayak plutonium production facility resulted in contamination of the Techa River and surrounding areas. Operations continue to contaminate the surrounding area.
I wrote a poem for Natalia and the Russian people she continues to help. I felt it would be important for her to take back poetic images -- a sign of hope for making the earth a safer and healthier place.
During the interview I told her about the book of poetry I was writing, called Isis Dream, inspired by Egyptian creation myths and stories of Isis and Osiris. I was relating to her the most important part of the myth of Isis and Osiris -- the part where Isis is reassembling Osiris' body. The last part that is missing is his phallus that was thrown into the Nile River and was eaten by a fish. In my book Isis recreates his phallus and unites his creative power with his being and thus restores his wholeness as a god and human being. She restores his creative powers -- his ability to create life. She draws from the present, all the beauty of nature to recreate his phallus. Only she could give him back knowledge that he had about himself, but he could not give it to himself alone. Only Isis, which represents the feminine side of the cosmic consciousness can completely restore his destiny and enlighten him about his true nature, which is the balance of the male and female energies within himself.
I feel that we are at a point in history where women must restore an important balance. Nuclear weapons and all weapons of war and violence are the result of a male dominated world that is about to end itself. The guns and bombs are symbols of men's phallus. But, physically, phalluses are to create, not destroy. The male phallus is an extension of himself through which he can participate in nature's ritual of divine pleasure, give of himself emotionally, spiritually and physically, express love and also ensure the regenerative legacy of the human race. Although Natalia probably was not prepared to hear about the subject of my book, I think that we were in agreement about the crisis we are now in, in our world.
It occurred to me during our visit that I could no longer imagine that my little farm, community and valley were safe. What if these beautiful villages at the foot of the mountains of Northern New Mexico were contaminated with nuclear pollutants and we had to be moved? It never crossed my mind that that could ever be a possibility. How could Los Alamos National Laboratory impact our northern communities? As I begin to hear more information about the proposed dramatic increase of plutonium pits that are being produced and the number of nuclear contamination violations (more than 1400 violations for polluting the surface water), I realize that Northern New Mexico and perhaps New Mexico at large is an area of risk for nuclear contamination. Small thoughts creep into my mind like—what about my land values? Who would ever want to move to such a place of great risk, and yet, people do because they are largely ignorant of these formidable issues. Then I said, What is the value of land? And I realized that it truly has no monetary value. The value of the earth and all its nature is not ours to own. The greatest value is how its beauty can transform us.
Realization of the Best Scenario
(A Future Dream)
I see myself traveling through an incredibly fertile valley. There is a strong emphasis on local agriculture everywhere: many small family farms. It is the Río Grande Valley. I walk to the Río Grande and I get down on my knees on the shore of its bank. I cup my hands and the river water is so pure and full of nutrients that it is safe to drink. I feel that 70% percent of me is water and that when I look and drink from the river, I am a part of this river and the river is a part of me. It is my drinking water, and also the water with which I irrigate my crops that feed me and my community and extended communities. By this time all rivers around the world are also safe to drink from. There is a new balance achieved by this high consciousness about the safety and well being of the river. After I quench my thirst, I look across this beautiful river and see the mountains of the Jemez. The light and clouds mystically gather around these majestic mountains. There are no longer bombs or any other weapons of destruction being produced there. In this new time, these mountains are a place for a world consciousness of peace. Los Alamos is a small city dedicated to sustainable energy. Leading ideas and research are occurring there that help to create peace and well being around the world. In the center of the city in Ashley pond is a small monument that is dedicated to peace. The monument states:
The human race no longer fears itself. It has come to look at itself and see beauty, love and peace.
The Liberation of Science
People talk of nuclear scientists changing directions -- of stopping their work in the nuclear industry and becoming scientists of sustainable energies that no longer include the development of nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. Why isn't it happening and why isn't it happening now when it appears obvious that the hazards far outweigh the benefits in terms of making the world a healthier, safer place to live. Why aren't scientists switching and using their talents in the development of solar energy for example? Why aren’t they doing it just to save the planet and create an environment that is contamination free?
I feel these scientists are a very isolated group. Is it possible that when you know too much that the military, CIA, FBI and government make it impossible for a scientist to leave their work -- quit the job so to speak? Contracts are signed. What happens to a scientist when he or she breaks their contract? Are they sued? Are there even more threatening repercussions? Are their lives and families threatened if they leave? Can they ever live a normal life outside of the nuclear industry and community? I suggest that there be special sanctuary internationally appropriated to scientists who decide to leave the nuclear arms and energy industry if they choose to do so. I can imagine that there is fear of not getting other work. For example, if a scientist who has worked in arms is applying for work in a peace industry and has to show a resume that is predominantly about the development of arms -- that scientist might feel that he might not get a job in a peace industry. The arms scientist might feel that his or her potential colleagues would never accept him or her or their families. Also, there might be a fear of not being able to qualify through experience in a peace industry for a job. There is always the fear that there is no real peace industry and that what jobs are out there are not competitive salary wise. If a nuclear scientist is earning a high salary that can provide a wealthy/upper middle class/middle class living, is there a comparable job in the peace industry?
If a nuclear scientist went to look for what was available in other fields (look for another job) without quitting his primary job first, would he be reprimanded if his employers found out -- especially if he is working in the arms industry looking for a job in the peace industry?
There are other obstacles. What if the father of the arms scientist was also a dedicated employee of the arms industry? Legacy can even go further back several generations. This legacy of having families brought up in the arms industry creates layers of loyalties that would be challenged by the scientist who seeks a job in the peace industry. One must overcome legacy, family, community, colleagues and employers and even religion if his or her church endorses the arms industry.
There needs to be an almost "coming out of the closet" of the arms/industry scientist (admitting that one no longer wants to work for the nuclear industry). I have yet to hear an interview of a nuclear scientist who has left a job at Los Alamos National Laboratory, for example, to work in the peace industry. These scientists who want to leave the arms industry need the support of the peace industry. They need to feel that they could be absorbed into the peace industry completely and fully. They need to feel that their talents could be completely absorbed by new directions of peace. Their families need to be accepted into new communities of peace and their new religious affiliations and relations with new employers, schools everything needs to be very supportive, loving and affirmative. These people need to be applauded for making such a great transition from the arms industry to the peace industry. There is great potential that they could become the greatest advocates for peace. They would be able to speak from direct experience of the arms industry of how peace in the world can be better achieved in the peace industries. They will know how to dismantle weapons and advocate in legislature the dismantlement of nuclear arms. There needs to be a formal way that scientists are allowed to make this transition. I don't think they can create it. It must be created by the peace industry and promoted by the peace industry. There must be examples of how scientists successfully leave the nuclear arms/energy industry and transition into a stable job in the peace industry. Scientists in the nuclear arms/energy industry need to be made aware of other scientists who have successfully made this transition.
There is a serious distortion. I call it a serious mental disease. It is called psychic numbing. I feel that when people have been around destruction, death and potential danger and devastation, they develop an emotional immunity. They no longer realize that they are in danger when they really are. They no longer have a rational, objective vision of what is safe and what is unsafe. Even if they are very intelligent (a scientist), they can be suffering from “psychic numbing.” Much like an alcoholic who does not admit there is a problem, a nuclear scientist might not admit that he or she has been seriously contaminated; has acquired illnesses caused by contamination, has children that are born with birth defects due to contamination. There is a denial of themselves being endangered by the arms/energy industry (industrial hazard). There is an egotism that creates an illusion that they are somehow immune to the industrial hazards of the nuclear energy/arms industry. There is not a sense of being conscious of contaminating the aquifers, creating contamination and contaminating the Río Grande, nor themselves. There is a state of denial so severe that the only way that they can maintain an appearance of the normal is through isolation: by being in a community set apart where they all are colleagues and acquaintances working in the nuclear arms/energy industry.
Geometric Multiplicity of Peace
(Reversing psychic numbing and the awakening of peace)
A Dream Scenario
I began to imagine the beauty of the Jemez Mountains*. Then I began to imagine at least 1,000 or more artists painting the beautiful Jemez Mountains and the Río Grande that can be seen flowing by especially around the Alcalde area of the Río Grande Valley. Then I began to imagine artists everywhere totally captivated by the original beauty of the Jemez Mountains. They are on the mountain, ascending the mountain, in the mountainous areas. They are painting its features, making photographs of the mountains, writing poems, about the beauty of the mountains. Musicians are composing music about the mountains. All are serenading the Jemez Mountains—telling the mountains how beautiful, sacred and full of love they are. It is a gift of beauty to all those that see them. Many places have no mountains, and yet, these most beautiful mountains grace our vision with the mystical, with its own inner power of nature that is far greater than anything we could create or destroy. We ask the mountains to speak to us intimately, individually in their own way. We ask the mountains to tell us about itself. Every answer will be different. Every story it tells about itself will be unique.
The Jemez Mountains and the Río Grande River inspire thousands of visual artworks, music, dance and literature. Artists make real the bond that they form through the intimate dialogue of art with nature. This intimate communication and bond creates miracles. When artists share their visions, they share the stories of the mountains and rivers with many people. Soon, artists from around the world are coming -- everyone is coming to see the beautiful river -- the Río Grande, the beautiful Jemez Mountains. They want to be healed emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. The dialogue with beauty is personal. There is an awakening to the beauty and power of the river and the mountains. When the mountains and river are allowed to truly speak everything changes. Beauty of nature is the only remedy for awakening from the death grip of psychic numbing.
It is possible to begin an ongoing art vigil in the Jemez Mountains. This could be done in Los Alamos. It should go 24 hours a day everyday. It should be broadcast on many stations throughout the world. It should be international. These are all the stories we never read in the paper of positive action—of peaceful actions and accomplishments throughout the world. It is about the successes of peace around the world that no one hears about. It is about saying thank you for any good, peaceful action or resolution that has occurred.
* The Jemez Mountains are a volcanic field on the west edge of the Río Grande Rift. It is considered a dormant volcano with past cycles of volcanic activity based on the long history of the Jemez volcanic field.
It is about acknowledging any peaceful invention and way to work compatibly with nature. It is about giving voice to any peaceful idea that could make the world more vibrant. It is about seeing smiles and hearing laughter. It is about tears of joy and transformation. This gives peace a voice and makes peace real. People must believe that peace is real and that it really exists in the world. Otherwise, if peace is not made visible it does not exist and is not acknowledged. By acknowledging peace is real and that it does exist, it makes it possible to reach toward it and be personally touched by it. When we feel the experience of peace in our lives and acknowledge that experience it nurtures and takes up space within us that is usually dominated by fear. Peace creates space within us that acknowledges our existence in a positive way. It creates the space for beauty and actions of grace.
A Logo
I imagine a logo for The Water Monitoring Federation of the Río Grande~Río Bravo. It would be a person kneeling at the river's edge, with cupped hands drinking the river water. Every time one sees the logo we're reminded of our dependence on the river and reconnected to a dream of relying on it for our sustenance. It’s interesting to me that we would have to kneel to get that drink of water. Maybe that's where the act of kneeling, a sign of reverence, came from. Maybe it came from our ancestors who drank from the river. It was they who embodied the deepest feelings of sacredness about water and rivers. It was a natural act to kneel when the drink of water meant life could go on for another day. In those times songs, myths and rituals further bonded our ancestors to the river who honored the water. It's because of this initial respect for water that we are alive today. We must remember our ancestors of long ago and call forth the wisdom they learned from the rivers to our modern times. Our unfortunate Dark Age of Technology has forgotten that reverence for nature still is a part of our survival.
New Cities of Water
People worry that populations will continue to surge to uncontrollable numbers that nature can't support, but I am very optimistic and envision a future where populations stabilize their growth. This is done without genocide, wars, natural catastrophes and epidemics. I envision population balance happening when men and women realize that power does not exist. The relationship based on power play gives way to relationship based on synergy. Men and women are presently not in harmony. Population explosion is in response to this disharmony. It is a cycle where dominance switches genders and plays out the negative aspects of the need to have power over one another.
This insistence of maintaining the appearance of dominance is also evident in our architecture. Architecture will need to make a radical change. This is when cities can be viewed as more than housing for populations. Cities must be viewed as creative solutions that enhance all life. A creative solution would be to turn all roofs into catchments for water when raining and solar collectors when it is sunny. This would be a dual role for a roof surface.
It is possible for cities to harvest a great deal of water for all its needs without having to depend solely on the river water. Rainwater is very high in nutrients. Some cities have already begun this process. Presently, there is an experiment in Albuquerque to recycle water for golf courses. Also, cistern technology could be further refined and incorporated.
Architecture (sustainable, ecologic building, design and renovation) should be a required core subject in our education. From grade school and upwards, students should study innovative, nature friendly forms of architecture such as adobe and other sustainable forms. These young students should be able to renovate current structures with new, compatible environmental functional designs and also create and build their own beautiful and healthy homes by the time they graduate from high school.
Where can cities of water begin to happen? It is possible that New Orleans and other towns and cities that have been devastated by natural disaster or war are places where architects of a new way of thinking can begin to create structures of recycled and recyclable materials that would be homes that reflect a "re-entering the cycle of nature." They would be homes with important space considerations that promote healthy living, ways to recycle water, roofs that are solar collectors that also convert into water harvesting catchments and community gardens. I was very inspired by a wonderful documentary called The Global Gardener with Bill Mollison (Greening the Earth with Practical Ecology). People in it demonstrate the success of practical ecology in four major bio-regions: The Tropics, Drylands, Temperate and Urban zones. In this documentary there are wonderful examples of important trends moving toward a healthier way of life, architecture, agriculture and recycling or water.
Marine Biologists and River Monitorists Working Together
Inspired by Mac Gillivray Freeman’s documentary: Coral Reef Adventure, demonstrates how citizens monitoring groups around the world have had a beneficial effect on helping to revive and save the coral reefs from further damage. An important fact demonstrated in the movie is that rivers seriously impact coral reefs and life of the ocean in general. Besides global warming, industrial waste, chemicals and other pollutants from rivers release into oceans ruining the health and life of the oceans. The 8,000 citizen ocean reef monitoring groups plus the marine biologists were successful in raising consciousness of communities, cities and governments to regulate industrial pollution entering their rivers that release into the oceans. Through community and international pressure, governments placed stricter controls on polluting industries and as a result, various coral reefs have been saved.
Citizen monitoring groups made an important difference and this example could be applied to protecting the health and vitality of the Río Grande~Río Bravo.
I could imagine marine biologists helping in the Río Grande~Río Bravo monitoring project by creating studies of how this river is impacting the Gulf of Mexico. In working together with the Water Monitoring Federation of the Río Grande~Río Bravo, it is possible to look at the river as a complete system and have a clean flow of river water release into the ocean. In recent years of drought the river has not reached the ocean. This needs to be carefully looked at. Is drought the only reason or is the river lacking an innovative approach to water use? A healthy river that once reached the ocean historically and no longer does should reach its source of release. This to me is a healthy river demonstrating its full natural cycle.
*During the summer of 2001 a 100m wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Río Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico.
Creating More Water
Is it possible to create more water? I feel it is. If one looks at the entire system of the river from its source to where it releases into the ocean and views it as a whole, it is possible to imagine that it could produce more water. How could this be? Starting at the source of the river, its beginnings are in the mountains where there are trees, green vegetation and fertile soil. There, clouds gather over the mountain peaks and release rain or snow. It all begins in the clouds. What makes clouds? Evaporation. There must be enough evaporation occurring.
What is the nature of evaporation? When I go walking in the early morning, I see this beautiful moist dew on the vegetation. It is always a good sign. It is important not to destroy the topsoil, which always provides some form of vegetation. Leaving habitats and creating habitats is important in creating and perpetuating this morning dew that becomes evaporation. Also, vegetation acts as shade for the earth, which helps to create a continual balance of moisture exchange.
I notice where the bosques have been created there are more lush, green and fertile soil and also the river always looks healthier and more full of water. It is perhaps this balance of enough shade and sun -- enough shade so that the climate and soil doesn't become too dry, and sun, so that it is hot enough to draw up moisture into the sky to make clouds. There also needs to be a cooling that happens that allows the moisture to fall back down to the earth. It's the Ying Yang of light and shade, hot and cold that creates the rain and snow and also produces the movement that drives nature's cycle of water.
The river appears more abundant where the river edges are lush with trees and vegetation. Also, with planned irrigation systems, there are many small farms that are fertile and thriving. This is where the Middle Río Grande Conservancy District of New Mexico planted cottonwoods. It is obvious that wild habitats have been nurtured by this process and are thriving. Perhaps Mexico would be interested in this process for the Río Bravo. If cottonwood trees and a mix of compatible vegetation were planted along the Río Bravo to the ocean, new wild habitats would be encouraged. More trees such as cottonwoods could be added to the planet that would absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and help decrease global warming. These trees and habitat would help to decrease water evaporation of the river and conserve water.
Cities and towns converting water harvesting and planned conservation by using recycled harvested water for recreation, toilets, laundry and bathing and all water uses except drinking water would liberate them from dependence on the river. In this way, the river is not depleted or further contaminated by polluting industries. It would not be necessary to pump aquifers or pipe water to distant locations if water-recycling methods were perfected.
Monitoring the Water
What is a water-monitoring group of citizens? Ideas for this could be drawn from groups that are already citizen-monitoring group such as the Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group or the Coral Reef citizen monitoring group. The idea is for there to be water-monitoring groups that are at the headwaters of the Río Grande and extend to where the Río Bravo begins. Beginning with the Río Bravo Mexican citizens would have their own monitoring groups that extend to the end of the river and eventually to the ocean where it should release into the Gulf of Mexico. Marine biologists should also participate in the monitoring where the river empties into the ocean. These three groups would form the Water Monitoring Federation of the Río Grande~Río Bravo. There would be a single website established where information from all the sites could be publicly viewed. The health of the river could be monitored 24 hours a day from moment to moment. Trouble areas of pollution that violate specified health standards could be pinpointed. Local, national and international public pressure could be placed on industries and activities that endanger the health of the river. Governments could create laws that protect its citizens, the ecosystem and health of the river and regulate industries and entities that are violating the integrity of the river by polluting it.
Goals and timetables can be established. This includes the establishing of monitoring groups, guidelines and methods for monitoring, what to monitor for and a study group of what healthy rivers are left in the world that people can drink from. These river models establish a reachable, tangible goal. By increasing good conservation practices, the Río Bravo could once again release its flow of water into the ocean as it had previously done for thousands of years. Establishing non-invasive methods of river health is essential. This means not using chemicals or chlorinated methods to kill the bacteria in the river. These chemical methods also kill all the nutrients and good bacteria. If there are rivers that have good, healthy drinking water, without being manipulated by the use of chemicals, we must study what makes that river healthy. We must ask what is natural that is producing such a healthy river. We must remind ourselves continually that once long ago all rivers were healthy and the water was drinkable. We must strive to recreate those conditions in our modern times in a new way.
Water Monitoring as Education
Water monitoring should be taken out of the secretive, esoteric and poorly understood position that it is in today. Everyone should learn how to monitor their water. Since we are a large percent of water (60% to 70%), we should understand what healthy water is. We are water and we cannot live without it. Schools should have ongoing water monitoring projects. Mothers and fathers should teach their children how to monitor water. We should all know what is good water, safe water. What is the best kind of water to drink? What are the healthy nurturing elements in water? When is the quality of the water compromised? When does water become contaminated? When does water develop diseases and viruses? I believe that chlorinating water is not the best approach to improving water quality. I believe that chlorine weakens the immune system and increases allergies. It kills all bacteria good and bad in the water. We need the good bacteria for a healthy immune system. We are not getting the full benefits of our drinking water. Advanced water monitoring techniques and equipment for detecting nuclear pollutants should be made available to water monitoring groups.
Bottled Water
I remember that years ago people in the United States did not buy bottled water. The water that came out of the tap was good drinkable water. It was other countries that had to buy bottled water because the tap water was not drinkable. Today, this is no longer true. Large cities in the United States drink bottled water because the tap water is considered undrinkable. There is a huge bottled water industry in our country. It is important that we no longer have to buy our water. In this sense, people are again dependent on industries that would have a conflict of interest in developing systems that would make our tapwater healthy and drinkable. We are more than 60% water. We are the water. People must value themselves. In regards to drinking water, we must create change, raise consciousness and demand our human rights. Water must not be violated! It must be beautiful, natural, nutritious, drinkable and free of charge.
Awakening Awareness: Celebrating and Honoring the River
Inspired by the documentary, The Gathering of Waters (1999) by Basia Irland, it is time again to appeal to artists and entities that want to celebrate and honor the river. These people should be of both the United States and Mexico that live along the Río Grande~Río Bravo and depend of the river for their sustenance. I can imagine this occurring on a very grand scale. The idea is to rebond with the river at all its different points and also increase an awareness of the river as a whole. It is an important event that could also create positive intercommunication between all the peoples along the river. This event could once again begin the relay of water from the source in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, USA, all the way down to where it releases into the Gulf of Mexico.
This event could host talks about the river, storytelling, poetry, music, ceremonies, rituals, art exhibits, drama and also increase awareness of the issues that threaten the health of the river. Awakening Awareness is about re-establishing the importance of healthy water and that we are mostly water. Without it we cannot live. This is done through integrating experiences that will move us emotionally and spiritually about the Río Grande~Río Bravo. This is a very important opportunity to educate ourselves about the river. Also, it is an important springboard to become aware of water issues at a local level, national, and international level. This way, the Río Grande~Río Bravo is a violated river transforming into a healthy, exemplary river. It is a way to show the world that people through dialogue, establishing bonds and friendships can enhance mutual respect and appreciation for the river, environment and each other. We must encourage a profound relationship of communication, cooperation and friendship with the Mexican people. We are very lucky they are our neighbors. Their creativity and ingenuity will enhance this unique partnership.
To work together successfully to protect the river, we must also give hope and help to people far away such as Natalia Mironova who along with others, is searching for ways to increase an awareness of the disasters of nuclear contamination and the terrible, irreversible effects it has on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We must respond to all those along the Río Grande~Río Bravo who are suffering and experiencing the detrimental effects of multiple pollutants and contamination. It is important to not allow LANL to corrupt and destroy the acquifers, river and entire ecosystem.
Remembering Ancient Wisdom: Creating New Stories
There is so much knowledge to guide us. Let us ask the Pueblo Nations, What do you think is important in healing the river and preventing nuclear and other contamination. What is happening to you in regards to the river? Let us ask about the wisdom of the acequias of the Spanish Colonial Mestizo peoples. By living on a small farm and participating in the tradition of the acequias, I have learned the importance of sharing the water, of caring for the water and the waterways that bring it to the fields. The ancient acequias are a great model for present and future. They remind me of Buckminster Fuller’s book called Operating Manual for Space Ship Earth about energy and natural cycles. When these cycles are connected, operative and functioning, there are abundant resources and energy. When these cycles of nature are broken, all suffer.
Let us ask every one of our diverse cultures to share their knowledge. What did your ancestors do? What are your stories? Together there is a great body of knowledge, experience and stories that are waiting to be heard. Let us learn from each other and really listen. Let us take the best from the centuries past and create new stories that will encourage us, guide us and help us to instill faith once again in our humanity. Let’s do good things that mutually, synergistically benefit all peoples and nature.
We are learning a hard lesson now. We must never contaminate the aquifers, land air and river with nuclear and chemical pollutants. We must stop producing weapons of annihilation. Our survival depends on guiding our strength with goodness and love. Misguided strength leads to reckless and irresponsible murder of our planet, and humanity.
I want to extend a light of hope by sharing these experiences and ideas. From this exploration, I am encouraged in a time of crisis. I feel that with a ray of hope we can transform nurturing and healthy potential into reality. I am in a race to save my beloved planet. I pass my light of hope to you in my runner’s relay race and sing my song to you:
Ho! La! La!
How beautiful you are
Jemez Mountains!
Que lindas! Que lindas!
Ho! La! La!
Great River Río
Teach me your ancient song
Ho! La! La!
I feel a new chant
rising in my veins
It’s flowing through my heart!
Ho! La! La!
The heartbeat of the Earth
runs past my breath
and calls to me:
“Be swift, my love
Be swift!
Create!
Inspire change for a happier world
And I will meet you there
And I will meet you there”
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Sheri Kotowski for conversations regarding water issues that concern the Río Grande and for her time and suggestions concerning technical definitions and words. I am also grateful that she was able to review this paper and give important suggestions.
I would also like to thank the Embudo Valley Monitoring Group for including me as a participant in their monitoring study which included the important opportunity of meeting Natalia Mironova and her other host group, the Governmental Accountability Project.
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