Talking Water Kate Bunney

“Water is life…Not only does it give life. It is life. When we look at water as a thing, as an object, as a commodity that we can profit off of, if you control water, you control life. You control who gets to live and who does not get to live.” –Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre
Talking Water welcomes Dr. Miguel De La Torre: international scholar, documentarian, novelist, academic author, activist, and editor of “Gonna Trouble the Water - Ecojustice, Water, and Environmental Racism.”  Miguel shares a bold perspective on the life-giving powers of water in our lives and how the commodification, pollution, and withholding of water is weaponized in the U.S. on communities of color. Miguel talks about shifting our viewpoints and revivifying our relationship to water. He traces the apocalyptic Eurocentric Christian worldview as detrimental to the Earth.  Miguel shares insights from “Gonna Trouble the Water”, discussing environmental racism in the U.S. where the vast majority of water pollution occurs in communities of color. He shares personal reflections of walking the southern U.S. border, leaving water for migrants making the deadly journey north through the desert, and seeing border agents dumping out those life-saving waters. Miguel challenges the perspectives that fuel these oppressions. He asks the question of how American culture can widen its worldview to come back into relationship with water and the Earth as healing, life-giving, and accessible to all. 


Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre – international scholar, documentarian, novelist, academic author, scholar activist and editor of 'Gonna Trouble the Water - Ecojustice, Water, and Environmental Racism.'
The focus of Dr. De La Torre’s academic pursuit is social ethics within contemporary U.S. thought, specifically how religion affects race, class, and gender oppression. Since obtaining his doctoral in 1999, he has authored over a hundred articles and published forty-five books (six of which won national awards). He presently serves as Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. A Fulbright scholar, he has taught in Australia, Columbia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa; and lectured in Britain, Costa Rica, Cuba, Palestine, Thailand, Taiwan. Within his guild he served as the 2012 President of the Society of Christian Ethics. He is the recipient of the 2020 AAR Excellence in Teaching Award and the 2021 Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award. Within the academy, he served as a past-director to the American Academy of Religion, and served on the editorial board of JAAR. Additionally, he was the co-founder and executive director (2013-2017) of the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion and the founding editor of the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. Dr. De La Torre has written numerous articles in popular media and has served on several civic organizations. Recently, he wrote the screenplay to a documentary – Trails of Hope and Terror - on immigration which has screened in over eighteen film festivals winning over seven awards. Additionally, he has written an autofiction magical realism novel titled Miguelito’s Confessions.
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/

“We believe that authentic community engagement is really the key to creating and cultivating sustainable projects that are going to be healthier for the residents and create conditions that are more livable…’Direct to Community Engagement’ ensures that, early on, communities are part of shaping projects.” –Jesse De La Cruz, Urbano Strategies
Welcome to the year-long Water Learning Series: Los Angeles, where we will host 11 conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from L.A. and places impacted by L.A.’s water story. 
This month’s conversation highlights the incredible work of Urbano Strategies with its founder Jesse De La Cruz. Urbano Strategies is a grassroots, community consulting firm that works to uplift working class communities of color to become engaged in taking action for sustainable development and environmental justice in their neighborhoods. Urbano Strategies plays an important role in the L.A. water story, working directly with neighborhoods affected by environmental racism and disenfranchisement from public processes on solutions for community and climate resiliency. Jesse holds a vision for leveraging collaborations between disadvantaged neighborhoods, non-profits, and public funding to ensure that Angelenos have a seat at the table for community development. 
As a resident of L.A. from birth, Jesse grew up in South Central Los Angeles and worked in youth development and outreach early in his career,  witnessing how access to parks and open spaces fostered community engagement and enhanced positive impacts in the health of neighborhoods. Urbano Strategies’s mission grew from these early moments and seeks to empower citizens to take an active role in the creation of public spaces. 
Jesse shares success stories from community-powered projects that Urban Strategies collaborates with, such as networks of urban gardens in food deserts serving hundreds of L.A. residents. He talks about the work of collaborating with public agencies and the use of water saving gardening techniques for remarkable results in water conservation and food production. Jesse illuminates how initiatives with community at the center can make a difference in L.A.’s unfolding water story.  
Jesse De La Cruz brings a wealth of experience in driving community growth and engagement across diverse neighborhoods. For over a decade, Jesse has been deeply involved in fostering community connections and advocating for environmental justice, drawing from his roots in South Los Angeles. Fueled by a passion for social justice inspired by his upbringing, Jesse pursued his Bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Irvine, in his commitment to serve and uplift his community for years to come.
His expertise spans across strategic community engagement, demographic analysis, green space design, program development, leadership cultivation, and outreach planning. Jesse excels in crafting impactful campaigns and facilitating grassroots decision-making processes.
As a seasoned community practitioner, Jesse takes proactive steps, organizing direct actions for policy reform, securing public and private funding for underserved areas, and empowering community-driven initiatives. He’s dedicated to making a difference where it matters most.
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 wisdom of earth is miraculous, unrelenting, infinite, mysterious. We’ll never know everything about how natural ecosystems evolve…When I walk into the world with one foot in wonder, looking at grasslands, forests, and watersheds, my favorite way to do that is not as a designer. The best way to walk in nature is to remind yourself that you know nothing and then allow the wisdom of the natural world to show itself.” –Erik Ohlsen
Talking Water welcomes Erik Ohlsen, internationally recognized permaculture teacher, author, regenerative designer, storyteller, and practitioner of Nordic folk traditions. Erik offers a conversation steeped in impassioned stories, experiences of the living world, and new mythologies based on sacred connection with the natural world. He reveals seminal moments of awakening to grief, wonder, and reverence for nature calling him into the circle of interconnection. Erik tells the story of his spiritual journey to his ancestral Scandinavian roots leading to a transformation in his work as an earth activist and permaculture designer. His perspectives on working with nature confer luminous perspectives. 
Erik released “The Regenerative Landscaper” in 2023. He currently runs the award-winning design and build firm Permaculture Artisans and The Permaculture Skills Center. 

Erik Ohlsen is a master of regenerative design, an internationally recognized Permaculture teacher, a landscape contractor, author, farmer, herbalist, storyteller, and practitioner of Nordic folk traditions.
Since 1999 Erik has founded numerous organizations that regenerate ecosystems including his award winning design and build firm Permaculture Artisans and The Permaculture Skills Center where thousands of students around the world learn ecological landscaping and regenerative agriculture.
Working as an internationally renowned regenerative designer, he has committed decades to repairing ecosystems and connecting people with the land throughout the globe. He has designed and implemented hundreds of regenerated landscapes ranging from small urban lots to large tracts of land.
His many years of experience observing and listening to landscape patterns while managing installation crews have led to an extensive knowledge of ecological land development and planning. He is a specialist in water harvesting systems, food forest design, community organizing, facilitation, vocational education and much more. In all of his work there is a presence of social equity, climate justice, and ecosystem restoration and his stories and achievements continue to empower people worldwide.

Learn more about Erik's work at https://www.permacultureartisans.com/ and https://permacultureskillscenter.org/.
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/

“Water is one of the biggest drivers in California of climate change…because our water comes from very far away. In LA, we import our water hundreds of miles–over mountains, over deserts, over farmland from the Colorado River, from the Owens Valley, from the Sacramento River. That treatment and conveyance of water over hundreds of miles is the number one non-utility energy use in the entire state of California.” –Kelly Shannon McNeill, Associate Director, LA Waterkeeper
Welcome to the year-long Water Learning Series: Los Angeles, where we will host 11 conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from LA and places impacted by LA’s water story.  
This month’s conversation features LA Waterkeeper, an organization that serves to partner with and also hold accountable municipalities, agencies, and decision makers implementing and investing in LA’s water infrastructure. 
The guests from LA Waterkeeper, Kelly Shannon McNeill (Associate Director) and Ben Harris (Staff Attorney), share inspiring stories about relentless advocacy for pollution prevention, healthy habitats, and systems change for the future of LA. The conversation features an in-depth discussion about how importing and treating the water in LA drives climate change in California. The guests present an urgent case for local water for a climate resilient future for LA. The guests also take a deep dive into the history and evolution of the LA River. From the river’s pre-colonial form as a year-long meandering waterway that flooded seasonally in the LA Basin, to its transformation into a concrete superhighway engineered to direct water as quickly as possible out of LA and into the Pacific Ocean, the LA River can be seen from a variety of perspectives. The guests share a vision of an ecologically restored LA River, providing intersectional and multi-use solutions for climate mitigation, equitable access to nature, and increased quality of life.

Kelly Shannon McNeill, Associate Director
As a Southern California native who learned to swim before she could walk and an all-around earth lover, Kelly is deeply invested in preserving our precious habitats, recreation areas and supporting LA’s path to a more sustainable future.With more than 10 years of experience building partnerships that put people and our planet on the path towards success, Kelly was a fellow of the Moving Worlds Institute in 2017, where she learned to apply Human Centered Design in a global development context while working in East Africa. She has since worked as a philanthropy consultant to corporations and high-profile individuals, helped build multi-stakeholder initiatives in collaboration with UN Habitat, and served as a strategy advisor to social entrepreneurs.Kelly holds a BA in International Relations – Economic Development from University of California – San Diego.
Ben Harris, Staff Attorney
From an early age, Ben knew he wanted to dedicate his career toward protecting marine habitats from environmental harm and improving access to clean water bodies for all California residents.Prior to joining LA Waterkeeper, Ben spent two years as a fellow at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA School of Law, where he represented clients in their pursuit of environmental advocacy and co-taught the environmental law clinic. After law school, he worked as a litigator in private practice but left to clerk for the Honorable Stephen V. Wilson in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.Ben received his undergraduate degree in Marine Biology from UCLA. He returned to obtain a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he served as the Executive Editor for the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy.
Hosted by: Kate Bunney
Produced & Edited by: Anne Carol M

“One of the greatest learnings through the Walking Water pilgrimage was that we had in between time–between the three parts over three years to incorporate the dialogues, the learning circles, the new relationships, and to give time for those to grow between year one and two and between year two and three. That’s what I’m being moved with today, moved through the honoring of taking time to be with each other, to learn from each other, and continue to build the courage of meeting our outer actions with our inner prayers.” 
–Krystyna Jurzykowski (Walking Water Stellar)
What does it mean for Walking Water to be guided by water in the ways we organize, in the ways we partner, and in the ways we come together?
In a reflective conversation, the Walking Water community goes on a deep exploration to review what has been, be with what is, and envision what will be…
Walking Water team members Kate Bunney (Co-founder, Team Coordinator & Stellar), Krystyna Jurzykowski (Stellar), Justine Epstein (Stellar), and Gigi Coyle (Co-founder & Guardian) share how water has shaped them, moves through their lives, informs their relationship-building, and inspires the work they feel called to do. During the course of the conversation the circle widens to include reflections from other community members. 
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.
For more info go to Walking Water website 

“I’m telling these stories, because change is within our power. It’s within our reach.”
–Andy Lipkis
Welcome to the year-long Water Learning Series: Los Angeles, where we will host 11 conversations with organizations, community projects, tribal organizations, activists, organizers, and leaders from L.A. and places impacted by L.A.’s water story.  
We welcome Andy Lipkis to session two of the series. Andy is a visionary and pioneer in urban and community forestry and watershed restoration in Los Angeles, as well as the founder and project executive of Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA). In this conversation, Andy shares his understanding and vision for how Los Angeles could be water sufficient and why it is not. Through his decades of experience working for climate resiliency, he discusses how the legacy of pollution, the removal of LA’s living infrastructure, and the illiteracy and bureaucracy surrounding the potentials for water harvesting and waste water reclamation have led to L.A. importing nearly all its water. Andy tells hopeful stories from other cities in L.A. county and mega cities in Australia and offers solutions for shifting L.A.'s water story to one of healing and abundance through community action, adequate funding, and education.
The conversation shifts to a visual presentation about a community engagement and collaborative planning tool to support living infrastructure projects in L.A. called Living Infrastructure Field Kit, developed in collaboration with ARLA, municipalities, community-based organizations, regional engineering firms, and Spherical, a strategic design and integrative research studio. David McConville, Co-Creative Director of Spherical, visually demonstrates the Field Kit, which shows what’s possible when adopting a living systems approach to healing the water and land in L.A. through free resources and an open source,map-based software platform for collaborative project design.  


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.
For more info go to Walking Water website