An infrequent blog consisting of project dispatches, reflections, and stories from the borderlands
Our Climate Future Depends on a Nature-Based Economy, not Extractive Development
Nature-Based Solutions Invest in Sustainable Alternatives to Resource Extractive Economic Development through a Growing Green Industry Cluster For decades, the City of Tucson and Pima County have been two of the nation’s most innovative and successful leaders in environmental health, water, and conservation. Both governments have made astounding advances in their efforts to manage water, recharge…
Reconciliation as Ritual
How a river in Tucson became a “casa de cultura” for lessons in community and transformation Story and Photographs by Angelantonio Enriquez Breault The following excerpt is from a piece initially published in Border Lore a publication that focuses on the heritage and culture of the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico borderlands. “Reconcilation as Ritual”…
Rerooting “Opportunity” in Resiliency and Reciprocity
Ocotillos leaf out at the precise time of cool weather and moisture, seasonally. Prickly Pears produce their fruits at the hottest time of year, quenching the thirst of javelina, coyotes and desert tortoise alike. You know summer is near when you hear the white-wing doves croon with anticipation for the bounty soon to be provided…
The January Mine Hermosa Project Harms the Historic Headwaters of the Santa Cruz River
The January Mine is a direct threat to the health of the historic headwaters of the Santa Cruz River. This is a unique and vulnerable part of our watershed that is crucial to the health and longevity of our border communities – both human and beyond. The land downstream from the January Mine “Hermosa Project”…
Reconciliation requires No New Pima County Jail!
As a community project built around a framework of social and ecological reconciliation and transformative justice, Reconciliación en el Río strongly opposes any expansion of the Pima County Jail. It is also directly adjacent to the outflow of the Santa Cruz river heritage project, that has been healing and currently supports endangered Gila top minnows,…
Reconciling our Relationships and Response to Invasive Species
For a while now I have avoided terms like “good” or “bad” when describing invasive species such as buffelgrass and tamarisk. Often we are quick to shift our focus to the shallow goal of exterminating the “weed” or invasive species in question, rather than the deep work of imagining a future where we prioritize innovation and…
Visioning Regenerative Futures along the Nogales Arroyo
After decades of disinvestment and hyper-militarization in our borderland communities, many citizens have been disenfranchised and excluded from development and decisions resulting in dramatic change. Participatory process and opportunities to share diverse perspectives are seemingly increasing. Voice and agency over our shared home and shared future is imperative if we hope to continue the regenerative…
Reconciliation of Open Space & Tucson’s Birthplace
Once, not long ago, Black Mountain stood over a winding river and mesquite bosque 5 miles wide with 60 ft tall trees. A forest where jaguars from the south and grizzly bears from the north could travel unnoticed between sky islands. Early western ecologists would describe the dense, biodiverse riparian corridor along Santa Cruz River…
Our Life Force and Legacy
As a kid exploring the dry river bed of the Santa Cruz, I couldn’t imagine the banks lined with anything other than scraggly palo verde and tamarisk trees. I would have rolled my eyes if you told me to listen for the sounds of trickling water and rustling rushes in the shadow of interstate-10. Back…
tierra y alma 