DR. NEERAJA HAVALIGI

This poem was inspired by students and people I met while teaching the Model United Nations Camp through Saturday Academy in Summer 2017. The experience left me with hope for our collective future, on the many avenues we have to understand and use water as a limited resource. Here is the poem.

Water Diplomacy
On the Willamette 
bouncing stones
bonding over food 
and talks 
of summer, storms
smart fund sites
pollution
recreation
and conservation.

At Bull Run
the grand Old Growth forests,
'natures infrastructures'
in their silent majesty,
taught us
of ecosystem payments
we don't account,
in busy bustling lives,
Of water use efficiency
energy from dams,
of salmons and salmon runs.
it is never zero impact.

We learnt of
of intergovernmental networking
bringing water to communities
to you and to me,
of compromises made
of shared responsibilities
to have 
fresh cool water
at the opening of a tap.

We are 'privileged
by what people before us have done'
Briggy said,
a gentle reminder
for future stewards at the
Bull Run.

Another visit, another day
Waste not, we learned
through the stench 
and near barfs
our students held, 
appreciating
the work 
that keeps rivers turning
into waste,
instead,
turing waste
as fuel of the future.

We travelled 
by bus in Portland,
and on maps and minds 
to parts of US and Canada,
to countries in Asia, Europe, Africa
South America
understanding
water is without boundaries
but is,
contained in treaties
agreements
and understandings
between people
communities
counties
countries
and regions.

We learnt water is more than 70% 
us humans,
it is our culture
our language
our food
our music
our dance
our economy
our ways of lives.
It contains
and nurtures all,
this colorless
odorless
usually tasteless
three atom gift of nature.

We learnt of dams
and control,
of biodiversity loss
loss of many lifetimes
of knowledge,
Of shaken
threatened
thriving economies,
Of corporate social responsibility
of political
geographical interests
conflicts and 
compromises.

Students I believe
are great teachers,
for their
enthusiastic
open minds
to learn,
their debates
a reflection of
bright minds,
of their negotiating skills
their diplomacy,
their passion for nature
nurture and sense of fairness,
for sustainable economies
sustaining cultures 
and communities,
with mindful growth.

I could not ask more
from our MUNers,
only for more time
for our learning journey
together.​

Why are you here?  
people ask me
why did you leave
your birth land
and adopt another.


I heard, I tell them,
about America to be a place 
where hard work
discipline
sincerity
creativity
passion
to explore possibilities,
only those things
mattered for success.


Why would America 
be titled a 'land of possibilities’?


I worked hard
for the vision I had
for a verdant
blue watered
world that
nurtured all.


On the way, I learnt 
of brutal history and inequalities,
I also learnt of
a culture
of volunteering,
of rooting for your community,
of sticking out and speaking up
for equality,
and justice.


In time
some lessons got harder
the pain got deeper
the news got darker,
peaking with rallying cry
to ‘make America great again’


Venting outlet for some,
bewildering for many
America was already great 
they said,
for here evolved
Emancipation Proclamation
and more,
proof of leadership
standing up for justice
equality
and equal rights for all.


And yet, 
we just walked out
of a climate deal
like we belong 
in another planet,
we walked out of a partnership
with195 countries
striving
to reach global goals
of responsible living
with justice,
equality for all.


We just said 
we don’t care for you
your climate
your raising water
your energy woes
your crops
your farmers
your people,
as if
our climate
our raising waters
our energy woes
our crops
our people 
were on another planet.


Hope still lives
and thrives in this vast land,
in formal and informal leaders
private, public and non-profits
taking reins of leadership
working harder
on a steeper climb,
for people here and everywhere,
because  climate my friend
is without boarders,
Pittsburg or Paris
it pervades all.

Climate knows 
only one Earth, its many species,
treats all the same,
with water, air and land,
with high winds, high waters
droughts, fires, 
floods, power outages and more..


Strife, war and famine
are no hoax, climate reminds,
in realtime 
we are in this together.


All pervading climate
is a leader by example,
calling on human
ingenuity, curiosity
and leadership
that holds hands
lifts up and moves together.

​
Leadership, like Climate,
is a collective force,
calling for collective good,
so we can 
thrive together.

-By Neeraja, June 01, 2017. Portland.

Driving up on the coast from California toward Oregon earlier this year, I was awarded with some stunning visuals of the Oregon coast and blown away with the numerous possibilities for learning here. The landscape has it all. Coastal redwoods, rocky volcanic formations jutting out into the beaches, curved into arched rocks, haystacks, sea stacks and whatever else we can name them. This coastline is a photographers dreamscape and a biologists playstation all the way with opportunities to watch intriguing intertidal species and others such as the seals, whales, surfers, whipped up trees and more.

Cannon Beach is known for its Haystack rock, a 235 foot monolith, home to intertidal species such as limpets, sea slugs, chitons, crabs , sea anemone, starfish and teeming other species, reflecting biodiversity. This intertidal area is designated as a Marine garden - there are 7 in Oregon. 

Here are some resources that will help you plan ahead for your exploration. Check Haystack Rock Awareness Program for details on programs you can be part of throughout the year. There is a ample information on summer opportunities for children of all ages, for teachers planning field trips, to know schedule of beach programs, tide timings and more. HRAP beach programs have trained staff and volunteers working as shore interpreters and educators. The beach program also has bird stations with spotting scopes, educational brochures that open the mind to infinite life possibilities in nooks and corners, wide open oceans and jutting rocks that mark this beach. Bird watching can be rewarding from Spring through Summer. Enthusiasts spot Western Gulls, Tufted Puffins, Pelagic Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, Black Oystercatchers, Surf Scoter, Bald eagle and more. In the midst of being in a place with 'water, water everywhere', is also a place to learn about its watersheds and how we can play our part in this watershed to support its health and well-being.

Haystack Rock, the unique monolith with its sisters have more stories to tell of their origins (like why do we see more of these interesting rock features along the Oregon coastline and not in California's coastline), of their historical connections with native Americans (of the Tillamook tribe) and later with explorers from different parts of the world that came to live here, making this scenic part of the west their home.  Explore, ask questions (why the does the sea end here by the monolith, and not else where?, why don't we see those starfish in numbers as in the past, and more) and while doing all that, learn to be still to watch the streaming biodiversity in those intertidal pools and beyond, reaffirm life's processes.

Cities are primarily seen as spaces where human population is congregated. But amidst all the human life and chaos that comes to city life, cities are known to harbor biological diversity and hence offer opportunities to learn from human interactions within ecosystems. Cities are home to lessons in resilience of species, both human and other. These lessons define human needs and wants, and show by example human capacity to redefine, recalibrate, reinvent both the needs and the wants.

In the blog titled "Funding cities for conservation and climate change' posted on Conservation Finance Alliance, my effort is to make a case to channelize biodiversity and climate change funding to cities to conserve biodiversity and engage communities for climate resilience. If blog link does not work, check the pdf here.