Water

It should be clear by now that the SNWA water grab is a vampire project. Just when you think it is dead, it comes back again. As long as Las Vegas and southern Nevada are focused on increased growth and unsustainable development, they will need more water. The expansionist urge of the developers has no limits. Some opponents of the water grab have long advocated for desalination. In this plan, large industrial water “desal” plants would be built in southern California. These would purify seawater, making it usable for crops and drinking water. This would allow the region to stop using Colorado River Water, leaving more for Las Vegas, other southwestern cities, and industry throughout the interior. ...

by Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance Last week, I was invited to join a Sacred Water Run-Walk in Nevada by Chief Johnnie Bobb of the Western Shoshone National Council. Chief Bobb attended the Sacred Water, Sacred Forests gathering back in May, and we exchanged contact information. I decided to attend last minute after his phone call, and gathered my supplies and energies. It is a 14 hour drive from my home in Oregon to the area the walk was to take place, so I took two days to make the drive. I stopped along the way and purchased as much food and supplies as I could afford, although I didn’t know exactly what was needed. ...

Major news from Nevada. The SNWA water grab has been completely rejected — at least for now. This project has been looming over eastern Nevada for decades. Now there is some space to relax, and to gather strength for the next fight. There are many other issues plaguing this region: pinyon juniper deforestation, mining, overgrazing, energy development, and so on. The land still needs defenders. Press Release by Great Basin Water Network ...

“For thousands of years, pinion trees have provided a sustainable source of food for our ancestors, the Great Basin Shoshone. In fact, without pine nuts, our ancestors would not have survived our harsh Winters. These trees were so important they are considered “sacred.” But apparently now; they are in the way of unsustainable exploitation in the name of “development.” But the developers aren’t paying for this. We taxpayers are. Our money is being used to kill naturally growing forests in the Orwellian name of Pinion/Juniper “Restoration.” ...

**Location: near Great Basin National Park in Nevada (Shoshone/Goshute territory).**Date: May 25-28th, 2018 Save the date! More details coming soon.

Featured image by Michelle McCarron by Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance Southwest Coalition Hear the white crash of her torrents on the boulders she drags through the desert, feel the unyielding red rock she pushes through, lose your balance in the impatience of her swift streams, and you’ll know: The Colorado River needs to provide her waters and yearns for her home in the sea. I spent several hours in silence with the Colorado River last night listening to her speak of her desires while I pondered our lawsuit that seeks rights for the river. I saw the silver sparks of minnows playing under brown stones. I watched the wind shower gray pools with gold cottonwood leaves. I was washed away in the vertigo caused by the river’s speed conflicting with the primordial stillness of canyon walls. I did not hear a judge’s gavel, evidentiary proceedings, or opposing counsel’s objections. In fact, I neither saw nor heard anything human, save my hands cupped to gather water and the soft beat of blood over my eardrums. ...

On Monday, September 25, five members of Deep Green Resistance (DGR) filed a first-in-the-nation lawsuit - Colorado River v. Colorado - in the United States District Court, District of Denver seeking personhood for the Colorado River and recognition of the river’s rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and naturally evolve. The lawsuit has catalyzed a national conversation about the Rights of Nature and the New York Times recently published an article about the case. Your donation will help us advance the Rights of Nature movement. Specifically, your contribution will cover court filing fees, enable DGR members to travel to court in support of the lawsuit, facilitate DGR’s media efforts to bring awareness of the Colorado River’s needs, and help DGR to train others to carry the Rights of Nature movement forward. ...

“Contemporary public concern for protecting nature’s ecological equilibrium should lead to the conferral of standing upon environmental objects to sue for their own preservation.” Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Sierra Club v. Morton (1972) Denver, Colorado–In a first-in-the-nation lawsuit filed in federal court, the Colorado River is asking for judicial recognition of itself as a “person,” with rights of its own to exist and flourish. The lawsuit, filed against the Governor of Colorado, seeks a recognition that the State of Colorado can be held liable for violating those rights held by the River. ...

Via Center for Biological Diversity For Immediate Release, August 24, 2017 Contact: Marc Fink, (218) 464-0539, mfink@biologicaldiversity.org Court Sends Massive Nevada Groundwater Pipeline Project Back to Feds Federal Judge Requires Additional Environmental Analysis From BLM LAS VEGAS— A federal court judge today found that the Bureau of Land Management failed to show how it would compensate for significant losses to wetlands and wildlife habitat caused by the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s massive groundwater pipeline development project. ...

March 24th, 2017 — The San Diego Free Press A Note to My Readers: It has not been easy to write this essay and I am scared to see my name displayed publicly next to what follows. I am sure these ideas will win me few friends in Park City and the broader ski community. Nevertheless, what follows is the truth as it has been shown to me. My allegiance belongs, first and foremost, to life, to the land, to both the human and non-human victims of the insanity of the dominant system. I love to ski. I love to walk the aspen groves in the Wasatch Mountains above Park City. I love seeing moose cross Park Avenue almost weekly. In short, I love living here. But my desire to live here should not trump the land’s ability to survive. By Will Falk ...