WALKS OF RESILIENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

How are we able to collectively bear witness to the destabilizing and vulnerable infrastructure we rely on and transform that into a restorative relationship with our surroundings?

WHY WATER

The way water has become a ‘managed’ resource is an example of a distorted and ruptured relationship to that which gives and sustains life for all beings.

We are facing a water crisis, and we are also facing a human crisis. As human beings and as members of the community of Life, we are inextricably tied to water — without it we die. Water unites us on a deep level, reminding us of our unity and interconnection. We also recognize that issues of water injustice from Payahuunadu to Flint disproportionately impact communities of color. We must attend to and undo the systemic and historic systems that have harmed waters and peoples alike.

We offer Walks of Resilience and Accountability as a contribution to the already existing global movement that asks us to again restore our relations to water, lands and peoples, and to re-center water as a sovereign living force upon which all of life depends.

WHY WALKING

The act of walking together allows us to embody the experiences of our landscape by slowing down while still moving. By walking together we also get to witness, to listen and embody other’s experiences. Each of us begins to be part of a dynamic relationship between humans and the world around us, we begin to find our place within the circle. It is one way to embody, show and hopefully inspire our deep care, love and attention to water.

The nature of Pilgrimage is simplicity, having minimal ecological impact, and a slower pace allowing us to digest what is happening around us. We walk as a political prayer. Political in the sense of re-organizing/re-forming what we hold at the center of our lives and Prayer in the sense of allowing us to be guided by something greater than ourselves.

We also acknowledge that walking is not accessible to all people, and we welcome and invite each person who is called to join these prayers for water and resilience to work with us to find a way to engage that meets their needs and abilities.

Walks of Resilience and Accountability

In collaboration with local partners, Walking Water intends to hold short (1 or 2 day) walks along both rural and urban waterways that can support and inspire community resilience and accountability. Walking with themes such as tribal sovereignty, infrastructure, water and power, gentrification, social and environmental justice, we will gather to share story and the current local situation. In circle participants  will share their own stories and experiences, bear witness to each other and explore together what it means to be resilient in these times.

We are being asked to be creative, to think out the box, to come together in community, to be flexible, to begin acting with alternatives, to challenge and celebrate what has been and ultimately become resilient. Our relationship to money is also an integral part of our collective resilience and we will co-create local fundraising campaigns to support the walks and those who need financial support.

We invite proposals, questions, ideas and collaboration for places and ways to walk and are ready to consult on those walks we cannot be physically part of.