Water Walks

I led a series of immersive water walks in New York City, inviting New Yorkers to trace the underground streams of the Gowanus on a contemplative walk designed to build a relationship with the waters we depend on for life.

Water is all around us.

It's a source of life, a point of access, and a source of power. But so many of the life-sustaining waters around us are polluted, dammed, or disappearing — or altered beyond recognition. Many of us feel alienated from the water that sustains us, while those who have a relationship with water grieve its endangerment. To heal our separateness, feel our grief, and take meaningful political action, we must come into a more embodied relationship with the land and waters that are vital to the places we live. 

Gowanus and Sunset Park

The current neighborhoods of Gowanus and Sunset Park sit on top of what used to be a thriving network of streams, ponds, and marshlands that fed into the bay — waters that indigenous communities relied on for hundreds of years as a gathering place and source of food. On our Water Walk, we'll connect with this historical landscape through a practice we call "walking to know," following the ancient course of underground streams and Native American footpaths to better imagine the area's past and fight for its future.  We'll trace these hidden waters from the Greenwood Cemetery to their outlet at Gowanus Bay, where we'll engage in contemplative writing practices that will put us into conversation with water as music thanatologist Catharine Delong accompanies us on the harp.

Recognizing an ecosystem’s right to exist

Water Walks is part of a growing movement that recognizes that an ecosystem has the right to exist, flourish, and regenerate. This movement is pushing for a paradigm shift that places nature at the center of our concern and reimagines relationships of dominance into relationships of care and collaboration. Building this relationship with the water around us is the first step in restoring the watersheds we call home — connecting waters from East to the West, from the Gowanus to the Great Salt Lake and Lake Michigan.