In October, a documentary I wrote and produced about the crisis over water and wild salmon in the Klamath Basin began its first round of national broadcasts on PBS. Having a show uplinked to a satellite, then downlinked to TV stations that broadcast it is a strange experience, but there have been immediate results. Already I’ve heard from a friend I lost touch with many years ago; the publisher of my companion book sent her personal rave review; and many people have ordered DVDs.
While it’s gratifying to know there will be almost 750 broadcasts around the country by the end of November, what matters is to reach the public at the moment when a show like this can make a difference. After a long process of conflict resolution and consensus building, Klamath Basin stakeholders reached an agreement on the removal of the four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River as part of what may become the largest river restoration project in history.
The tribes of the Klamath Basin played a central role in accomplishing this goal. They have a world renewal ethos: pikiawish in the Karuk language, which means “fixing the world.” People fix the world on behalf of the salmon, the deer, wildfowl and other creatures, and for the land, water, and air all living things depend on. Pikiawish is our responsibility as human beings. To act accordingly requires a range of actions from clearing streams to repairing relationships with people from rival tribes so that we can work together on what concerns us all.
This is an idea whose time has come, but it has barely begun to reach people on the necessary scale. Public education is needed to build support for the elimination of environmentally harmful dams and their replacement with power from sun, wind, biofuels, and geothermal sources, all of which are abundant in the Klamath Basin: a ten-and-a-half-million-acre region that is larger than nine of the fifty states.
Working with Jennifer Thompson on Green21 puts this book & film project into a more inclusive perspective. For I’ve told one story within a global mosaic of responses to the challenge of our time. Green21, which will be available to the public via the web as well as on TV, will present many pieces of the mosaic in ways that will open minds to the big picture.
That’s a tall order. No one label like Climate Change encompasses this challenge, since the changes include the extinction of species, widespread pollution of land, fresh water, and the atmosphere, and acidification of the oceans. The fundamental relationship between civilization and nature is, I believe, undergoing a transformation, and much is at stake, including the web of life as we know it. That’s why I am so supportive of Green21 and happy to be contributing to its eventual success, awaiting the day when that series begins its satellite uplink to audiences across the country and around the world. That series will show many pieces of the mosaic, including inspiring stories of ecologically wise ventures in alternative energy, transportation, housing and other basic aspects of life, in ways that offer examples for all of us, via media that are interactive and open-ended as well as entertaining and educational.
Like River of Renewal, the title of Green21 expresses an aspiration, that this will become a green century. And each project that puts solutions rather than pollution into the world brings us closer to that goal.
“River of Renewal” is an award winning documentary that will air on PBS stations beginning October 25. Produced by Stephen Most, Jack Kohler and Steve Michelson, “River of Renewal” won Best Documentary Award at the American Indian Film Festival.
Conflict over water & wildlife in the Klamath Basin turned farmers and ranchers against American Indians and salmon fishermen in Oregon and California. But after lawsuits and winner-take-all politics brought disaster to the farms, the fish, and the fisheries, these stakeholders came together to forge a consensus for the common good. Will the future witness the extinction of salmon in what was once North America’s third greatest salmon-producing river? Or the restoration of the Klamath as a home for life?
“River of Renewal” is scheduled to air on KQED in San Francisco 11/15 at 6 pm (check PBS Air Dates for other stations and locations). Writer and producer Stephen Most is also a member of the Green21 team, and he’ll be blogging at this spot next week (Nov 10). Check back then, or subscribe to green21.org on your RSS feed reader!
The Russian River watershed, just north of San Francisco, is surely one of the more progressive and resource-conscious areas of the country. I was staying in Guerneville on the river for a few days, about midway between Santa Rosa and the coast, and I got into a conversation with a local couple about the river and related water issues. They were in their sixties. They had lived in Guerneville over 30 years, raised their kids there and remained involved in the community.
When the topic of water use came up, the man spoke with deep resentment. I’ll paraphrase:
Santa Rosa just keeps dumping on us. Literally! This has been going on for decades. They take the water out of the river for development, always more development. The more water they use, the more waste they’ll wind up flushing downstream.
Once we proposed that they put their own intake pipes downstream from their effluent, so they’d need to use the same water we do. They looked at us like we were crazy. “Why would anyone want to do that?” they asked.
I asked him if there was any solution that might work. He smiled.
Well, we had a farmer around here who once drove up to Santa Rosa City Hall and dumped a truckload of manure on the steps. I think that got their attention.
His wife added that another step, at least as effective, had been the construction of a pipeline that ships treated wastewater to the Gysers steam fields – over 10 million gallons per day – where it helps produce enough electricity to power all of San Francisco.
Since then I’ve been intrigued by the question of water use along the Russian River. One important pitfall which that conversation highlighted: the temptation to frame a resource crisis as a conflict between two opposing groups, in this case the city upstream and the town downstream. Here’s what I’ve learned so far, and some big questions that remain unanswered.
Competing Interests:
Downstream Residents: the river provides most of their water supply; sufficient water quality and flow is also needed for tourism and recreation (swimming, canoeing, fishing) which is vital to the local economy
Fish: Endangered species such as the Coho and Chinook salmon need unpolluted rivers for spawning with sufficient forest cover to provide shade and erosion control along the riverbank. However, apparently they also require LOW overall flow rates on the lower river near the estuary.
Agriculture: Sonoma county vineyards and other agriculture use the lion’s share of water. But extractive industries, including logging and gravel mining, also require water for their operations.
Urban Residents and Development: Earlier this year, water contractors representing Santa Rosa water users successfully fought a proposed 30% increase in water rates. Meanwhile, the Sonoma County Water Agency continues to try to increase the amount of water it draws from the river from 76,000 to 101,000 Acre Feet/Year (over 30 billion gallons).
Of course there are many more groups and subsets of groups at work, and agencies that represent different interests and mandates. Brenda Adelman at the Russian River Watershed Protection Committee has been reporting on these issue now for some time: see www.rrwpc.org/articles.html
Questions:
Are there any solutions on the table that would balance the needs of all the impacted groups fairly> Could pricing water use in accordance with its scarcity and high environmental impact not only curb unsustainable development in urban/suburban areas like Santa Rosa (by reducing the economic incentives for developers) but also reduce waste discharges downstream. Less water used equals less wastewater discharged.
My biggest question is this: if Guerneville and Santa Rosa can’t make peace over the Russian River, what are the chances for India and Pakistan over the Indus?
