Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 14, 2022

Where does your drinking water come from? Berkeley native and self-described water warrior Nina Gordon-Kirsch wants you to know.

This month, Gordon-Kirsch, 33, is walking roughly 200 miles from her home in Oakland to the headwaters of the Mokelumne River, the source of drinking water for most of the East Bay. She aims to call attention to the knowledge gap between urban residents and their water, a resource she says is taken for granted.

Joining Gordon-Kirsch periodically to document the journey are two Bay Area filmmakers: Julia Maryanska and Marielle Olentine. Maryanska is directing and Olentine producing a short film that will be screened to students in public schools around the Bay Area.

[My goal] is to bring awareness to water in this day and age of drought and constant fires, Gordon-Kirsch said.

Gordon-Kirsch set out on June 28 and expects to arrive at Highland Lakes, the source of the Mokelumne River, on July 29. The lakes sit at an elevation of 8,600 feet close to the top of Ebbetts Pass, a corridor through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

Trekking along trails, beside highways and through undeveloped land, Gordon-Kirsch is following the waters route to the East Bay, where it is stored in reservoirs to provide drinking water to some 1.4 million residents. Im actually following the natural course that the water takes, not the human-built one, she said.

Gordon-Kirsch originally intended to backpack to Highland Lakes, but a back injury changed her plan. While she walks she is followed by a support van that carries her camping gear, food resupplies and emergency medical gear.

Having wound her way around the San Francisco Bay, on Friday Gordon-Kirsch trekked through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. She plans to visit the Pardee Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, where she will meet with rangers to discuss the role the reservoir plays in supplying water to East Bay residents. After that, she will enter what she calls wild waters, following the Mokelumne River to its end.

Gordon-Kirsch is an expert in the world of water. In 2012, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to study wastewater filtration in Israel and Palestine, eventually earning her masters degree in Hydrology and Environmental Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She has worked a variety of jobs in the water sector, monitoring water quality in reuse projects for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and installing gray water systems for Greywater Action and Backyard Permaculture Guild, an East Bay collective that designs eco-friendly backyard gardens. For the past six years, she has worked part-time at the Urban School of San Francisco teaching Cal Studies Water, a class on water resources, to 12th graders.

I dream about living in a time when people are more connected to their water sources so that they can think more holistically about California water systems and what our state should do with our water, Gordon-Kirsch said.

Maryanska and Olentines documentary aims to bring these issues to a wider audience. Gordon-Kirsch plans to use it to instruct students in public schools on water systems and get them asking questions. Maryanska, who worked as a photographer on another water walk project, wants the film to be shown at festivals and other screenings. It was Gordon-Kirschs passion that drew Maryanska to the project, she said, and she believes it will draw others as well.

These issues are relevant everywhere, Maryanska stated, I think that, rather than have a flyby or a picture of a crowd, its always these personal stories that really stick with people. I think zooming in on a personal story is a really powerful way to relay an issue.

The documentary will consist of both film diaries shot by Gordon-Kirsch on her walk and footage captured by Maryanska and Olentine. The filmmakers check in once a week to walk with Gordon-Kirsch and offer an outside perspective.

Gordon-Kirschs trek is not a lonely one. She walks with her dog, Petey, and occasionally a companion who joins her for a stretch. A flag she carries reads Where does your water come from? and passersby often stop to ask her questions. She has reconnected with her Judaism on the trip, she said, carrying the Tefilat HaDerech, or travelers prayer, with her. When she camps on private land, she invites her hosts to hold Shabbat with her, and creates clay hamsas for them to display in their home.

I feel grateful to have my Jewish heritage to pull from to make offerings and feel safe, Gordon-Kirsch said.

Read the original:

This 'water warrior' is walking 200 miles to trace East Bay water source J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Jewish Heritage Month
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