We have elected to suspend our regular CalifornaWaterBlog.com posts for this week. 

Institutional racism is urgent and real, and should divert us from topics of California water at this time. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others are horrific, and the effects of a pandemic are disproportionately affecting communities of color. At the Center for Watershed Sciences, we acknowledge that while we strive for equity and inclusion in our science in line with our Principles of Community, we have a long way to go to address racism and unconscious bias. 

We admire all who have flooded our social media and news this week with demonstrations of the great power of diversity in our nation and our scientific fields. We support and encourage everyone to have the hard conversations and do the hard work to learn more about how to better support all people in our communities. It is moments like this that remind us that bearing witness to racism and injustice is critical and must be a core part of our mission.

These are difficult and challenging times, where current thinking and actions have been inadequate. We have provided a list of resources courtesy of the Graduate Group in Ecology’s Diversity Committee to advance our work of creating a community that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive. We ask you to join us in advocating for and creating safe and equitable environments for living, working, and practicing science.

Signed,

Executive Committee, Center for Watershed Sciences: Andrew L. Rypel, Jay Lund, Sarah Yarnell, Ryan Peek, Cathryn Lawrence, Thomas Harter

Principal Investigators, Students, Postdocs, and Researchers, Center for Watershed Sciences: Ann Willis, Carson Jeffres, John Durand, Anna Sturrock, Robert Lusardi, Rusty Holleman, Peter Moyle, Josue Medellin-Azuara, Katrina Jessoe, Caroline Newell, Amber Lukk, Scout Carlson, Ryan Hitchings, Francine DeCastro, Kimberly Luke, Elsie Platzer, Dylan Stompe, Brian Williamson, Aaron Sturtevant, Malte Willmes, Avery Kruger, Meghan Holst, Mollie Ogaz, Kelly Neal, Nick Corline, Priscilla Vasquez-Housley, Adriana Alarcon, Eric Holmes, Madeline Frey, Sage Lee, Miranda Tilcock, Marisa Levinson, Alexandra Chu, Christine Parisek, Rachelle Tallman, Gabriel Singer, Colby Hause, Emily Jacinto, David Ayers, Chris Jasper, Mattea Berglund, Parsa Saffarinia

Further Reading

Teaching and higher education:

Haynes, C., & Bazner, K. J. (2019). A message for faculty from the present-day movement for black lives. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32(9), 1146-1161.

Aggie Brickyard Spring: Vol VIII 2019 ‘What’s On Your Mind?’: Everyday Actions to Up Your Inclusivity Game, by the GGE Diversity Committee: https://aggiebrickyard.github.io/posts/SpringVol-VIII/

Teaching in times of crisis: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/crisis/

Ways white people can take action for racial justice:

5 ways white people can take action in response to white and state-sanctioned violence: https://medium.com/@surj_action/5-ways-white-people-can-take-action-in-response-to-white-and-state-sanctioned-violence-2bb907ba5277

75 things white people can do for racial justice: https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234

Guide to allyship: https://guidetoallyship.com/

Anti-racism resources for white people: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic