[act-ma] 6/22 DamNation: Dispatches from the Water Underground (Th)

[Alexander]

CLEO WOELFLE-ERSKINE AND OSKAR COLE, OF THE GREYWATER GUERRILLAS,
PRESENT THE BOSTON DEBUT OF 

*DAM NATION: DISPATCHES FROM THE WATER UNDERGROUND*

AT THE LUCY PARSONS CENTER. THE EVENT FEATURES READINGS, A PHOTOGRAPHIC
TOUR OF THE WATER GRID, ECOLOGICAL SANITATION PROJECTS, AND A DISCUSSION OF LOCAL
WATER ISSUES. THE EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTOR SCOTT KELLOGG WILL ATTEND.

June 22, 7 pm

Lucy Parsons Center
549 Columbus Ave


*"The politics of water—as this brilliant anthology makes clear—are
the politics of human survival. Read this, and believe me, you'll never flush
with the same equanimity again."

—Mike Davis, author of *City of Quartz* and *Planet of Slums*

* "A manifesto for the movement. . . .[the Greywater Guerrillas' systems]
represent a pinnacle of greywater design."

—Gregory Dicom, *New York Times*

* "An accessible and energizing resource for the next generation of
activists and radical plumbers."

—Art Ludwig, author of *Create an Oasis with Greywater*

* "These committed activists tell us how biotechnics can make the
water we
have killed live again. If you love your children and the world that
sustains as it delights them, listen to these voices, then act."

—Gray Brechin, author of *Farewell, Promised Land: Waking from the
California Dream*


Turning on the kitchen tap doesn't mean safe water—or even any water—for
some millions of people across the United States. Crumbling waterworks,
privatization, and persistent pollution are taking their toll. As the
Water Wars loom closer, the nation seems stalled and residents bewildered
and the complexity and expense of large-scale fixes. The Greywater Guerrillas
bring a fresh approach to our water dilemmas and present sustainable
household and municipal solutions.


*Dam Nation* is a people's history of water—and the water grid; a
detailed accounting of the fallout from a century of Manifest Destiny's attacks on
wild rivers. The book traces how—across five continents—beleaguered
commoners block the neoliberal makeover of the world and endeavor to
restore balance between humans and watersheds. These strategists and
innovators blowopen the scarcity myth to show how local democratic
control coupled with watershed restoration can provide water for everyone.


The Greywater Guerrillas, founded in 1999 by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and
Laura Allen, designed the first small-scale urban greywater systems to
incorporate greywater diversion, biological sewage treatment via wetlands, wildlife
habitat creation, and backyard food forests. Their amateur plumbing and
ecological design collective published the* Guerrilla Greywater Girls'
Guide to Water*, a DIY introduction to water politics. Their projects have been
featured in the *New York Times*, the *San Francisco Chronicle*, and
*Home Power*.

_________________________

The Water Underground 2007 tour features

* An unconventional slideshow in which a water nymph and robber baron
face off across the poker table in a dramatic confrontation between Dam Nation
and the Water Underground
* A discussion of local water struggles and restoration work
* A  showing of Demise of Dam Nation, a compilation of cinematic dam
failures and catastrophes

 From Boliva to South Africa, local single-issue water fights have
exploded into demands for new water commons. The Water Underground Tour
2007 presents a water philosophy roadshow and resistance forum that
will kindle this spirit in North America. A grassroots network of
strategic and material exchange, which recognizes watersheds as social
and ecological responsibility units, can decolonialize the concept of
appropriate technology and demonstrate the potential of an
international water culture.


More Info on Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground


The Greywater Guerrillas began in 1999 as an amateur plumbing and
ecological design collective, founded by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Laura
Allen. Dozens of low-tech water-recycling installations, and years of
designing and touring, yielded the Guerrilla Greywater Girls' Guide to
Water, an 80 page DIY zine and introduction to water politics. The
Guerrillas designed the first small-scale urban greywater systems to
incorporate greywater diversion, biological sewage treatment via
wetlands, wildlife habitat creation, and backyard food forests. The Guerrillas
expanded their vision of radical water activism as they met and talked
with river restoration, ecological sanitation, anti-privatization, and
anti-dam movements around the globe. It was time for another book: one
that synthesized a radical history of water with DIY sustainable
technologies.


Dam Nation is a people's history of water—and the water grid. Tracing
the rise of mega-dams and their spread across five continents, the book also
chronicles the inevitable popular opposition to this philosophy of
appropriation and control. Blocking the neoliberal makeover of our
world, beleaguered commoners  fight to reclaim the earth's arteries, lakes, and
seas. Their struggles, strategies, and successes  form the backbone of
Dam Nation. The authors weave together a detailed accounting of  the
fallout from a century of river blockages and diversions with
mulitlayered analysis of water movements around the world.. Dam Nation blows open the
scarcity myth to show how democratic management and local control of
water resources can provide water for everyone and make the rivers we've
killed live again.

Both radical history of water and DIY guide to sustainable technologies,
Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground combines an analysis
of water's history with the active fight for its future. Bringing together
hundreds of national and international projects, organizations, and
strategies, Dam Nation investigates political economy an d environmental
impact of water consumption. It also gives readers easy, cheap, and
thought-provoking ways to join the 'water underground' themselves. The
book illustrates:

     * How corrupt water policy led to bloody battles during the
settlement of the American West
     * How a Michigan town being drained by the Nestle Corporation is
fighting to block water privatization nationwide
     * How to reuse household water to create lush gardens
     * How to build a composting toilet and a pedal-powered washing
machine
     * How to cultivate a pond filled with edible plants and
mosquito-eating fish
     * How residents jump started municipal eco-projects in such diverse
locales as Tijuana, Mexico City, Zimbabwe and Arcata, California
     * How a 'protest village' in Thailand and a neighborhood association
in Louisiana both beat back dam and canal expansion with grassroots
organizing
     * How a coalition of Native American tribes organized cross
culturally, leading Scottish shareholders to stand up for tribal
salmon rights
     * And much more

*DAM NATION: DISPATCHES FROM THE WATER UNDERGROUND*

Edited by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, Laura Allen, and July Oskar Cole;
illustrated by Annie Danger

Soft Skull Press, New York. 2007

contact: cleo at greywaterguerrillas.com

--
The Lucy Parsons Center
549 Columbus Ave. | Boston, MA 02118 | 617-267-6272
http://lucyparsons.org/

"A long period of education must precede any great fundamental change
in society." - Lucy Parsons

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