Orion Grassroots Network | Colorado River Convergence

The Colorado River Convergence


Gary Paul Nabhan leads a group discussion

Activists across the continent are working toward a good future for the people and the creatures of their home regions. However, on a deeper level, these activists are up against great odds, and often feel isolated and frustrated by the hard-won ground that’s been lost in recent years – regionally, nationally, and even globally. These truths echo in every corner of North America and beyond where activists are hard at work.


	Acasia Berry of Sky Island Alliance, Mike Painter of Californians for Western Wilderness, and Simmons Buntin of Terrain.org

In response, the Orion Grassroots Network has begun convening activists with writers in their home places to find common ground and to share ideas that can increase their impact. Activists come to learn how to communicate their missions more effectively, hear ideas on how to blend activism with the arts, and to connect with others outside their immediate environs and issue areas. One result is that they increasingly see their work as part of a big picture, a broad effort for positive change. Meaningful synergies between organizations that usually work solely for conservation, for example, or those whose focus is on social or evironmental justice, are increasingly necessary and powerful.

In the American Southwest, activists are facing very complex issues that have deep, far reaching effects. A prolonged drought comes at the same time that the region’s cities are expanding at unsustainable rates, straining resources and impacting biodiversity. Meanwhile, the burgeoning population is increasingly in need of connection and a clear vision for a sustaining future.


Authors Steve Trimble, Joni Adamson and Alison Deming

To address these challenges, the Orion Grassroots Network held the Colorado River Convergence at the Professor Valley Field Camp of the Canyonlands Field Institute in Moab, Utah, on the last weekend of September 2006. It was conceived as a forum for staking out how far activism has come in this place, and where it can go from here.

Orion magazine writers Alison Hawthorne Deming and Gary Paul Nabhan, both residents of Arizona, joined the staff of the Orion Grassroots Network to lead discussions on reaching new audiences, sharing strategies for successful collaborations, and imagining the region’s future. Activists from 5 states came to regroup and recharge, and the opportunity to hike the gorgeous canyon country and raft a section of the Colorado River allowed the group to connect with each other and with the landscape that's at stake.


	Charlyn Canada of the High Country Speaker Series, Dave Van Manen of Mountain Park Env. Center, and Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of Western Env. Law Center

One participant said afterward, “Right now I feel like we’re just struggling to keep our collective heads above water, doing “damage control” and very little healing of our world. This Convergence was most supportive and nurturing of those ‘doing the work.’” Everyone left with an expanded sense of community and purpose plus a new appreciation for ways the various arms of the grassroots community can work together.

As another activist put it, “I felt blessed to be in the presence of so many good people, all working in their various capacities and roles to advance the interconnected goals of the social and environmental justice movement. I picked up SO many good ideas that I’m bringing back...”

The Orion Grassroots Network is planning more gatherings like this one and the recent Berkshire Grassroots Summit in New Lebanon, NY. Please contact us to find out about what regions we'll be traveling to next.

The following is a list of organizations that sent staff, volunteers, and board members to the Colorado River Convergence gathering in Utah:

Amigos Bravos, Taos, NM
The Bioneers, Lamy, NM
Californians for Western Wilderness, San Francisco, CA
Canyonlands Field Institute, Moab, UT
Center for Sustainable Environments, Flagstaff, AZ
Desert Protective Council, San Diego, CA
Eagle Valley Library System/High Country Speaker Series, Vail, CO
Ecological Restoration Institute, Flagstaff, AZ
Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers, Bluff, UT
Forest Guardians, Santa Fe, NM
Fort Lewis College Environmental Center, Durango, CO
Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Flagstaff, AZ
Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Durango, CO
Mountain Park Environmental Center, Beulah, CO
Rivers and Birds, Arroyo Seco, NM
Sky Island Alliance, Tucson, AZ
Soldier Hollow Charter School, Midway, UT
Sopris Foundation, Aspen, CO
Terrain.org, Tucson, AZ
Western Environmental Law Center, Taos, NM

Orion Grassroots Network
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