Cassie Langstraat

Reviving Rivers California - March 30th in San Rafael
With Dr. Rajendra Singh - the Waterman of India

In the driest part of India, Dr. Rajendra Singh has helped bring water back to 250,000 wells, revived 13 rivers, increased the number of harvests possible in a year, and decreased the temperature in the region by 2 degrees. Over 35 years Rajendra, through his organization Tarun Bharat Sangh, has brought water back to thousands of villages throughout Rajasthan. This was done through the process of Community Driven, Decentralized Water Management. Through simple techniques of creating earthen water bodies called Johads and check dams, rivers in the driest part of India were revived.

If there has ever been a time for this approach to spread, it is now - and if there has ever been a place that needs it, it’s California. Our first events with Rajendra sold out in just a few days. So due to popular demand we’ve added another evening talk on March 30th as part of the Reviving Rivers California Tour!
Thursday, March 30th, 2023



Doors open at 6:30pm, Event starts at 7pm
in San Rafael, California at the Angelico Concert Hall

This evening will include a screening of the award winning film Reviving Rivers, followed by a presentation from Rajendra. Then there will be a brief panel discussion with Rajendra and regional experts, followed by questions from the audience.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Choose action and come join us at the Angelico Concert Hall in San Rafael to learn how to revitalize and heal landscapes through community-driven decentralized water retention.

Webpage for the event
https://www.waterstories.com/reviving-rivers-california

Trailer for the film


Ticket page to buy tickets
https://buytickets.at/waterstories/877931

And here is the Revived Water Cycle!



Humans can also be a creative, constructive force within Earth’s ecosystems. By creating decentralized water retention landscapes we act as keystone species, reviving the health of our land and water.  Join the Water Stories community to learn how, and for the original unwatermarked versions and tons of other water restoration related content.

Join the Community - https://community.waterstories.com/
Visit our Homepage - https://www.waterstories.com/

Humans as Keystone Species
This shift takes place by transforming the water-sheds that have been created, back into water-catchments. Community driven, decentralized water retention projects rehydrate landscapes and restore the health and vitality of ecosystems and communities. When we act for water, it creates positive ripple effects through the web of life.

How Do We Do It?
It starts with a newfound respect for water and nature - changing our relationship from one of control, to one of cooperation and symbiosis. Reforesting, revegetating, terracing landscapes, and creating water bodies, all helps the land receive the seasonal rains. Decentralized Water Retention Landscapes help distribute and balance the availability of this vital resource.  Reconnecting waterways with their floodplains, and providing space for water to gather and infiltrate during flood events, further increases the seasonal recharge. Treating the catchment area by reestablishing forests, diverse vegetation and consistent groundcover improves the health of the soil, and the infiltration and retention of rains.  

What Are the Results?
Storing the seasonal rains within the earth-body ensures abundant and healthy water supplies throughout the year, and into the future. Rehydrating the landscape gives ecosystems the change to rebound to a state of health. Fresh water from the oceans is recharged back into the earth, replenishing groundwater and aquifers. Springs come back to life, and the streams and rivers become full of fish and wildlife once again. With abundant water, vegetation photosynthesizes for longer throughout the year, cooling the air and regulating the temperature - the heat dissipates. Hygroscopic microorganisms growing within the forests drift into the atmosphere, again seeding water vapor into clouds and then rain. The forests trap heat as they convert water from a liquid to a gas, for that heat to then be released higher in the atmosphere when the gas re-condenses back into a liquid. The low pressure systems created by this process draw in more humidity from the coast. This forms a feedback loop. In this way The Full Water Cycle can be restored, and with it a balanced and productive climate.

How long does it take?
When working with water, people see the results of their efforts after the first rainy season. Year after year the landscape stays green for longer and is more productive. As the ecosystem develops interconnectedness and complexity, productivity continues to increase. These actions make sense for a human time scale as they provide us feedback with each passing rain. Huge transformations are possible within a decade, and people clearly see the results of their actions quickly, empowering them to gain confidence and community to expand their work.  

Want to learn more?
Participate here! Join the discussions, watch our videos, and share with your friends, family, and community. Without people around the world implementing these solutions, the potential impact cannot be realized. This revolution is by the people, and for the people and  planet.

Watch Reviving Rivers, A Renatured Life, or Desert or Rainforest to see real life examples. Join the Core Course to learn how to do this for yourself and to become a Water Restoration Practitioner.

Together we can restore the health of our planet!

Join the Community - https://community.waterstories.com/
Reviving Rivers Trailer - https://youtu.be/2PMsiXkAmFk
Reviving Rivers Film - https://community.waterstories.com/po...
A Renatured Life - https://youtu.be/tSc_BtVh1Qc
Desert or Rainforest Trailer - https://youtu.be/mf4jwkhCk_A
Desert or Rainforest Film - https://community.waterstories.com/po...
The Water Stories Core Course - https://youtu.be/vj-74mB4S_E

Hi there, just wanted to post the next video in the series. The Watershed Death Spiral. This video details how human impact has deeply disturbed the water cycle, how that has affected our climate extremes, and where we are at now.



Human activity has disturbed the Full Water Cycle, resulting in the increasingly common and severe Flood, Drought, and Fire we are experiencing; as well as rising global temperatures and extreme climate.

Greg Martin wrote:The stream and all the associated forest and land texture surrounding it that I played in and loved as a kid is completely gone....trees trucked off and land form flattened so that a house and grass could take its place.  I asked my dad how they could do something like this to a stream like that and he said the stream dried up years ago when a larger lot was developed into elderly housing (yeah, that lot was completely destroyed too....decimation looks great in comparison).  I just can't come to terms with what our society values and what it's blind to.  Thank you so much for the work you're doing.  Maybe someone else's stream will be saved.  Maybe someday people will reverse the damage we've done to watersheds, and we'll demand that our landscapes around our homes are functioning complex ecosystems.

Hi Greg,

It's exactly stories like yours that have made us want to do something about this water cycle disturbance. We have unfortunately heard many that are similar.

We do believe that it is possible to reverse the damage done to watersheds, because we have seen that work done by others and with projects we've done as well, which is why it is ultimately our goal to teach others how to restore them so we can have this kind of decentralized watershed restoration all over the world!  

I am just bumping this because we are gearing up to have registration open for the next round of the course. I will post back on here when it is open for registration but yeah just wanted to make a note here first!

Hi lovely permies, I just wanted to share some amazing animations that our team made to explain the water cycle and all of it's iterations. The Full Water Cycle, (how the water cycle functioned before humans were involved and how it worked in a balanced and interconnected way), The Watershed Death Spiral, (the state of things now, after many many years of humans disturbing this cycle), and The Revived Water Cycle, (a way for humans to act as keystone species, reviving the health of our land and water).

SO, a while back we released them on our Water Stories Community, which you can join for free, but we decided to also release them on Youtube so that they are more shareable. However, the youtube versions do have a watermark on them so if you want the higher quality non watermarked version you can always go to our community for that. But anyway! Below is The Full Water Cycle and I will update this thread as we release the others on Youtube.

Most of us have been taught an over simplified story of the water cycle. The full water cycle is much more complicated and interconnected than what we learned in school. Here, we tell the whole story.

Registration for this course ends tomorrow (May 31st) at midnight!

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out. :)

John C Daley wrote:What a great idea, the more knowledge around the greater will be the awareness of the situation.
I wish the course concept well.

Thanks so much John!

Hi everyone, I am popping in to share that the Water Restoration Core Course that Zach Weiss and team and I have been working extremely hard on in the last few years is back OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT!

It's our Water Stories Core Course




Here's the trailer to learn a bit more:



Enroll today to secure your seat in the upcoming offering of the Core Course. We can only support 150 students in the course, spaces are limited and we expect the course to fill quickly.

Our registration period is open until December 10th or until all of the spots are filled. Once the enrollment period closes the course will not open again until our next offering in July 2023.

The training begins January 9, 2023 and will be in session for 6 months.

ENROLL NOW!

The Core Course is designed to guide you down a path of growth, towards being an effective steward of water and nature. Through a series of 12 modules you'll move through phases of Discovery, Experience, Advocation, and Practice. You'll gain new abilities in reading the landscape, understanding the water cycle, and how to take actions with long term positive impacts, while becoming an advocate for water and nature. This course will equip you with the education and tools you need to take meaningful action for the health of the earth, and for water.





Visit our Water Stories Core Course Webpage to learn more and enroll in the course!

Curious What Previous Students Have To Say?





An Example of What is Possible with the Knowledge the Course Provides

Working with Water - Incredible Land Transformation
5 Years Of Water In The Ground - These Are The Results

Over 5 years, Tabula Rasa Farms enlisted Zach Weiss to restore water supplies and ecological function across their land. So far, they’re succeeding far beyond what they imagined. This video shows what is possible when land owners, farmers, and water stewards come together to bring water back to their landscapes.



Ready to Jump In?

ENROLL NOW!