On May 19th, we embark upon a life-changing adventure to awaken the dream to regenerate the Colorado River Basin…
The Colorado River is probably the most conflicted and challenging body of water in the world. It has a vast networks of dams to control its water flows and generate electricity or food for 30 million human inhabitants. Textbooks present this incredible river system as the standard example for how NOT to manage a river.
It was famously divided into promised volumes of water to different states during a record decade of high precipitation. This means it is over allocated and has been since the 1950’s. Water no longer drains into the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
Our route from the headwaters to the sea that ends along the Gila River in Arizona
We are going to follow the route above during an intense two-week period — giving talks and workshops where local people invite us into their towns and visiting sacred sites along the way.
Departing from Barichara on May 19th, we’ll fly into Colorado and make preparations in Boulder. Then we’ll begin the real trek on May 21st by going to the official headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park near Grandby.
After that we have invitations to give talks and workshops in Paonia (May 23rd), Carbondale (May 24th), and Grand Junction (May 25th). Then we’ll go off into the sacred landscapes of Utah and Arizona for a full week — tracking the course of the river where it is possible to do so.
Our arrival in Mexicali on June 1st begins another wave of talks and workshops in Baja California. We have been honored by the Cucopá tribe to visit their ancestral lands where the mouth of this majestic river no longer empties into the Sea of Cortez.
On June 3rd, we’ll continue on to Superior, Arizona to experience the lower basin where waters drain into the Gila River before emptying again into the Colorado. Here we will give talks and workshops once more on June 3rd and 4th.
Then on the 5th of June I will fly back to Barichara while Penny and Benji return to Colorado… all of us undoubtedly transformed by the journey.
This is going to be amazing. We are already collaborating with several members of the Design School for Regenerating Earth to make this happen — and will share ways that all of you can participate in another post that will come out in a few days. For now, I just wanted to share how the plan is taking form so you can feel a little of our excitement together with us.
Onward, fellow humans.
We are doing this work in the spirit of the gift. If you feel moved to help us cover the travel expenses for this speaking tour, please make a donation here or become a Patreon supporter to help us continue this work moving forward.
