Last night while walking my dog I was thinking about seasonality. The solstice is almost here and, no lie, finding stillness is not my strength. But as change looms, I’ve been trying to find my calm in small moments even if it’s when I catch myself holding my breath or noticing cool air on my skin when I’m outside.
The state of play in the policy world is challenging us to return to the basics of values-based messaging, as my colleagues, Briana and Sarah, chatted about in our last Water Cooler chat. We know access to clean water speaks to health and home. As seen in the recent election, voters showed up for water and climate at the state level in both red and blue states.
The path ahead is going to challenge us all to be resilient and united in our vision for the human right to water and climate justice for all — no matter where you were born, where you live, or how much money you make.
Looking for how to direct your passion in this work? Check out Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Climate Venn Diagram for inspiration.
Celebrate the Safe Drinking Water Act’s 50th anniversary!
Share community advocate voices fighting for stronger public health standards to keep toxic forever chemicals and lead out of taps!
Check out first-person clean water stories in the social media toolkit and help spread the word. To learn more, visit River Network’s website and add your own links, images, and resources to the #SDWA50 map!
Current-ly
Structural racism is interwoven with water and sanitation access — from MI, to NY, MS, and beyond. Our collaboration with creator and urban historian, Ariel Viera (@urbanistlive), explores this and calls for more investments in water infrastructure.
Now streaming
Trailer alert 🚨 Get a sneak peek of a documentary short coming in 2025 that we’re working on featuring an Appalachian community coming together to fix a broken water system that’s left residents without safe, affordable water for decades.
Water we reading
Looking for your next read? Yale Climate Connections released a holiday book list. We’re bookmarking Grist’s new climate fiction anthology, Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future 👀 Respond to this email to share what you’re reading!
Making waves
Our friends at We the People of Detroit launched their Water for Everybody affordability campaign this Human Rights Day. Visit the website to take the pledge and watch this video from the iconic Tawana Petty to get inspired!