Yes, we have a mission and a plan!

We finally sat down and hammered out the official mission for Adapting to Scarcity.  It’s been guiding us since the beginning – it just took us some time to put into words.

Our mission is to empower and connect communities adapting to water scarcity.  By providing technical infrastructure to leverage social media, we facilitate participatory, grassroots organizing within and between local communities on a global scale.

Our mission is to empower and connect communities adapting to water scarcity.  With digital and internet-based social media tools, we aim to help these communities share their knowledge and experiences.  We believe that this global grassroots information sharing will help strengthen and build movements adapting to water scarcity worldwide. [Updated 21 November, 2009]

Furthermore, we’ve laid out our objectives for the next 6-9 months in Gudalajara, Mexico:

1.  Make a documentary for IMDEC (Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario) to strengthen the local movements struggling to adapt to water scarcity.  Using 6 (or more!) FlipVideo cameras as well as a high definition video camera, the documentary will be filmed in part by participants in these local movements as well as ourselves.  Topics to be covered/goals include:

• Popular education efforts by IMDEC (eg environmental education and photography project by children)
• Efforts by IMDEC to facilitate the organizing capacity of local communities
• Raise awareness about contamination levels in the local watershed
  • Rio Santiago, which flows through the greater Guadalajara area, is one of the most polluted rivers in the world
  • All of Guadalajara’s untreated effluent (human and industrial) flows into this river.
  • Factories, under the protection of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), are dumping their waste into the river.
• Raise awareness about and share solutions and alternatives

2.  Create a web-based media library to connect local movements adapting to water scarcity around the world and to facilitate global knowledge sharing.

• The initial media for the site will be generated by those participating in filming the documentary as well as footage from our friends in GroundwaterUp project in New Delhi, India
• People from around the world will be able to easily upload, edit and share their own media clips through the site using already existing, open source software/technology
• Users and communities will be able to organize locally and globally through the site (specifics TBD)
• Ideally, media uploaded to the site will focus on strategies, solutions and failures movements worldwide.  This will help prevent communities from reinventing the wheel and allow relevant solutions to be implemented where they’re needed most.

As an organization with the intent of serving local communities, we expect these objectives to be as dynamic as the communities we’ll be working with in and around Guadalajara.  And of course, we are open to your thoughts, comments and questions!

We All Live Downstream

I am deeply impressed by the simplicity and potency of the phrase “We All Live Downstream.”  It’s also the title of a visually stunning slideshow of dams, river and people on the International Rivers website.  International Rivers is an incredible internationally networked organization that supports grassroots organizations in more than 60 countries to achieve their overall mission “to protect rivers and defend the rights of communities that depend on them.”

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Progress?

This week feels as though it has been a very long one. I reached a few milestones in my current efforts. The fundraiser is nearly all set: be prepared for a Reggae Brunch with DJ Delgado’s groovy beats and delicious plantains, black beans, and breakfast burritos. June 14th, 1 -3 pm, El Rio, SF, CA.  Click here to visit the event website. Please let me know if you have a friend or work for an organization/business that can donate to my raffle.

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