As She Rises aims to personalize the elusive magnitude of climate change and brings together local poets and activists from throughout North America to depict the effects of climate change on their home and their people. In the latest season of As She Rises, we're traversing the Colorado River Basin downstream, understanding water through a new lens and centering stories of resilience in the face of the drought.

We’re starting our journey just south of Lake Powell, in the Navajo Nation. Over the years, the U.S. government has signed a number of treaties with the Navajo Nation, promising certain amounts of water, and water infrastructure. But, as they struggle to reallocate water in the face of drought, the government still tends to leave indigenous communities out of the conversation.

Poet Kinsale Drake reads her poem, “after Sacred Water,” about how the U.S. government drowned an ecosystem to create a dam that is now shrinking fast. Emma Robbins, director of the Navajo Water Project, explains how her organization ensures households have running water, and that the Navajo Nation has a seat at the table.

As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network production. Follow Wonder Media Network on Instagram and Twitter.

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