Our sacred journey through the Colorado River Basin has brought us all the way to Hoover Dam — and soon we will arrive at the Sea of Cortez in Mexicali. Along the way, we have held meetings with many people who care deeply for the rivers that flow into the Colorado.
We passed through Cortez and met with a group of amazing regenerative practitioners who have devoted themselves to various parts of the San Juan River. It was inspiring to learn about their ecological knowledge, educational activities with children, and deep connections with local landscapes.
Every time this happens, we explore how a local time can organize around their bioregion as a whole. We set up the Design School for Regenerating Earth to help landscapes become organized. In Cortez it was visible that they could weave local educational efforts and begin to organize as a bioregional learning center. This would greatly enhance what is already working well in their local area.
At the core of this work is sacred connection to place. These are people who love the land. They care deeply for its health. It is natural for them to want to organize around the care they each feel for the place where they live.
As we travel from watershed to watershed, a tapestry of places is being formed through the relationships that we make. New friends can come together with those we already know. We are seeding the dream to #RegenerateTheColorado as a tapestry of places where people care about their local future.
It can be difficult to imagine what it would take to regenerate an entire network of rivers throughout such a large region of the North American continent. Yet people are quite open when they realize that there are other communities who want to get involved.
We are laying this groundwork for deep healing as we travel the Colorado Basin right now. Just to give you a feel for what these deep connections are like, have a look at some of the photos we have taken along the way. These landscapes are sacred. They are special. And they beckon us to stop treating them as commodities for extractive markets.
A change in mindset is needed at the deepest level if the people who live in this region are to find a new and better way forward.
We can feel the complexity of this journey. It will not be easy to regenerate the Colorado River. Yet there is sacred connection to be found in the landscapes carved out by this great sculptor and weaver. We are doing our part to help organize people in communities throughout the headwaters of the Rocky Mountains.
And today we journey into Mexicali to bring gifts from those higher up the basin who send blessings to the delta where the Colorado River no longer runs to the sea. This feels very sacred indeed.
If you feel moved to get involved (or if you’d like to donate to this effort), please join us here.
Onward, fellow humans.
Joe Brewer is co-founder of the Design School for Regenerating Earth and author of The Design Pathway for Regenerating Earth. He will be accompanied by Penny Heiple and Benji Ross on this sacred journey in service to the Colorado Basin.
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