Do you know the watershed in which you live?

Here in New Mexico, Albuquerque is located in the Middle Rio Grande Watershed. This River was named for its grandeur and size. Today the Rio Grande continues to support agriculture, recreation, culture and the health of human and all biotic life, though she is shrinking.

The Rio Grande is one of the most endangered rivers in not only North America, but globally.  Human exploitation—development, toxic industrial waste, agriculture —threaten her on every front.

This ribbon of water in a drought ridden state is critical for our food supply, health, and security.  If we continue to destroy this source of water—through the insanity of proposed fracking and the current poisonous, radioactive plumes from Los Alamos Nuclear Lab  —we will compromise all life along the once mighty Rio Grande. Her lovely flanks of habitat for pollinators, humans and all creaturely and plant life will no longer support life.

And then there is drought…the effects are seen in the burned out landscape the Rio Grande’s soothing waters cannot reach.

But still she meanders along the side of the road, lovely and blue/green, on the particular day that I was heading home from Taos, New Mexico.

Think Like A Bee has been awarded a seed grant to begin a process of creating a documentary about the Rio Grande Watershed.

The goal is to interview and collect stories of food growers and water protectors along the Rio Grande. We will be working with the Taos UNM Media Arts Lab to document stories of Land Based communities and elders whose people have been shaped by this great river and her watershed.

For centuries, many peoples have preserved this watershed for us today. New Mexico is rich in a unique and traditional food cultura. All you need to do is drive north along the Rio Grande, and you will see all the ways we depend on the river for food. From North to South, simple and sustainable growing practices have survived for many generations throughout New Mexico—from Chile peppers, the Three Sisters of squash/corn/beans to local apples and honey.

Even as climate change and drought are impacting natural systems such as migrations of wildlife and pollinator habitat, we must grow food to live.

Think Like A Bee hopes to put a spotlight on our precious river, calling us all to be watershed defenders.

Water is life.