Nor Any Drop to Drink

Mike McGinnis shared three potentially useful resources for wicked water challenge competitors.  We’ve posted links on the “resources” page of the site.  Mike’s pointed us towards a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California on our water crisis, to the UC Davis “Waterblog”, and to a 2007 book by renowned California activist Dorothy Green that walks you through the thicket of water regulations in the state.

This afternoon’s “Nor Any Drop To Drink” stakeholder conversation is with Norm Groot, Executive Director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, 4:30-6 pm, at the DLC.

We’ve just made it even easier to reach out to MIIS’ “Innovation Incubator” to assist you with your “Nor Any Drop To Drink” wicked water challenge ideas.  You’ll find the “Inn-Inc” logo on our competition’s web site landing page, where you can click and set up a consultation with them.

From brainstorming techniques, to design thinking approaches and tools, to providing team work spaces….and much, much more, you should feel free to reach out to Inn-Inc for support in developing your innovation idea for the Challenge.

Join us Feb. 21 @ CF434, 12:30-2 pm, for a skill-building session on community water dialogues.   Facilitating the session will be Lisa Lurie, a Conservation Program Specialist and watershed coordinator with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County.  In this role she leads voluntary, collaborative projects to address water supply and water quality issues in the lower Pajaro River Watershed (which straddles Monterey and Santa Cruz counties).

Our  intimate “Chatham House Rules” conversation with District 4′s Kristi Markey, Chief of Staff to Supervisor Jane Parker (a MIIS alum) has changed its location.  It will be held at MG102, beginning @ 4:30 pm.

You’ve heard an environmental activist’s perspective, a water/environmental planner’s perspective….now get a taste of how elected officials in the County are grappling with the conflicting interests and positions they face.

Come engage in an intimate “Chatham House Rules” conversation with District 4’s Kristi Markey, Chief of Staff to Supervisor Jane Parker (a MIIS alum).  You’ve heard an environmental activist’s perspective, a water/environmental planner’s perspective….now get a taste of how elected officials in the County are grappling with the conflicting interests and positions they face.

Come converse with Steve Shimek at the DLC, from 4:30-6, today, February 17.  The Otter Project protects watersheds and coastal oceans for the benefit of California sea otters and humans through science-based policy and advocacy.  What’s good water policy advocacy require on the Central Coast and in our County?  What’s Steve’s mental map of the stakeholder and issue terrain?  Guaranteed to be provocative and lively!

If you can’t make it, hunt around your team for a member who can!  Divide and conquer, and efficiently bring back ideas and skills into your group.

Join us Feb. 21 @ CF434, 12:30-2 pm, for a skill-building session on community water dialogues.   Facilitating the session will be Lisa Lurie, a Conservation Program Specialist and watershed coordinator with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County.  In this role she leads voluntary, collaborative projects to address water supply and water quality issues in the lower Pajaro River Watershed (which straddles Monterey and Santa Cruz counties). Prior to joining the RCD in March of this year, Lisa worked since 2007 as the Agricultural Water Quality Coordinator at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This involved working with a variety of partners on outreach, technical training, monitoring, and management practices to reduce pollution into the Sanctuary. From 2008-2012 Lisa facilitated the Farm, Food Safety & Conservation Network, supporting agricultural industry’s efforts to co-manage for food safety and conservation of natural resources. She has worked on watershed management projects with communities in the Pacific Northwest, the Ecuadorian Andes, and coastal North Carolina. Lisa has a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University with an emphasis on community-based watershed management. She also holds B.S. and B.A. degrees in Biology and Environmental Studies from the University of Washington.

We need fresh water for our homes, our fields, and our tourism.  But how we deal with fresh water for those purposes has literal downstream effects (sorry, couldn’t resist that pun).  The Otter Project protects watersheds and coastal oceans for the benefit of California sea otters and humans through science-based policy and advocacy.  On February 17th @ 4:30 pm, come dialogue with the group’s Chief Executive Steve Shimek and build your understanding of the connections between these interacting systems, the rough-and-tumble world of policy advocacy on these issues here in California, and Steve’s strong opinions on the road ahead.  LOCATION TBD.

This past weekend — with local stakeholders Tom Moore (Marina Coast Water Board), Amy White (Executive Director of Landwatch), Paul Johnson (of Johnson Vineyards), along with state water activists (and current MIIS students!) Sarah Liuba and Genevieve Dabrowski — students in a systems thinking workshop began mapping stakeholder perspectives, historical dynamics, power relations, and much, much more.  Their task is to produce collective analysis that will help all “Nor Any Drop To Drink” wicked water challenge teams.  For an early glimpse at their work, check out this photo montage