This fall, at the Water Hub team retreat, José read aloud a beautiful article from Carlos Saavedra about seasons of leadership. It opened up a discussion about the Water Hub’s growth and evolution, our individual career paths, and the maturity of the water and climate movements.
January, it will be five years since the Water Hub’s official launch. During that time, we have grown from a team of three to seven, and expanded from working in California and the Colorado River Basin to supporting groups across the country.
Water Hub’s media, education, and content evolution
We have provided messaging and materials for policy pushes, brought media attention to neighborhoods reeling from climate-driven disasters, uplifted historically marginalized voices and community-driven solutions, and delivered research, tools, and training to build the capacity of water champions. We have also stretched to cover new communications channels and evolve our content mix, co-producing a podcast, partnering with artists, athletes, and influencers, playing with GIFs and memes, filming short documentaries, helping to manage publicity and booking rising talent for a music festival… even sponsoring an eco-rap song that rhymes “swales” with “trails” and “whales.”
Looking ahead into water’s policy and narrative future
Now, after a year in which we transitioned to a new organizational home, launched our most ambitious campaign to date, joined colleagues across the movement in trying to make sense of November’s election results, and contemplated what resilience means to us personally and how we can best communicate the concept to resonate across geographic and political divides, we have been reflecting on what’s working and where we have room to grow, and considering how to adapt to the new political reality our country will face come inauguration day.
The winter solstice is right around the corner, and Saavedra notes that, while fall is time for harvest and composting, winters are for rest and re-evaluation. We know how hard water and climate advocates have worked over recent months and years, because part of our job is to celebrate your successes and elevate the solutions you are championing in communities across the U.S. The work won’t stop as the seasons change. In fact, the incoming administration will doubtless keep us all busy managing disinformation, defending against the rollback of vital health and environmental safeguards, and triaging preventable disasters.
But, even as we prepare for tough times ahead, we have to take the time to reflect on what we’ve learned, feel our feelings, reconnect with purpose, and care for ourselves and our loved ones. I hope you can enjoy some nourishing food and nature over the holidays and take advantage of the long nights to catch up on sleep.
We’re looking forward to working with you in the new year to continue envisioning and building towards better futures. Because that work is unifying and life-giving at a time when the opposition would divide us and drain our energy and creativity. It may be winter now, but spring awaits.
If, like me, you could use a dose of hope and inspiration right now, I’ll leave you with this joyful conversation between adrienne maree brown and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on loving, corrections, getting it right, and a future of more sweetness and cacophonous springs.
(Thank you to Brenda Herrera Moreno for sharing the Carlos Saavedra article with José, and Maggie Rwakazina for flagging that wonderful recording of adrienne and Ayana’s conversation.)