Program: Friday, May 31, 2024

5:30  PM EDT

Nancy Price
Welcome

Nancy Price, as a student at Columbia University in the late 1960s was active on campus in anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. Later. living in Davis, CA, in the1980s she was chair of her county's Nuclear Freeze Campaign. Joining WILPF in 2003, she first gathered with the Save the Water campaign and is now co-chair of the Earth Democracy Committee and served on the National Board. Over years, she has used many opportunities in writing, speaking and organizing to advocate for the human right to water and health, to support the Earth Democracy www.militarypoisons.org project, say no to militarism and increased military budgets, and yes for climate justice, women, and peace. 
 

5:30  PM EDT

Dace Zeps
Land Acknowledgement

Prior to retiring and moving to SW Rural Michigan at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Dace A. Zeps (Dotsa) was an active member of WILPF-Madison. She retired with emeritus status from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked as the administrator of the Center for Research on Gender and Women and the UW Systemwide Women's and Gender Studies Consortium. Having to work two jobs most of her career to make ends meet, she was also staff for a time at Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice as well as Progressive Dane. Dace focuses her activism energy on supporting political and collaborative educational efforts on the Rights of Nature particularly as it relates to water and woods.

6:00  PM EDT

The Impact of US-Imposed Sanctions on the Human Right to Water

Program Summary
Robin Lloyd will chair a panel on the impact of Unilateral Coercive Measures (“sanctions”) on the human right to water. Jill Clark-Gollub will give an overview of how US government-imposed sanctions are hindering achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Safe Drinking Water for All. She will also talk about why sanctions are imposed and what we can do about it. Cynthia will present a case study of Cuba—one of the most severely sanctioned countries in the world. Robin will then mention how the United States’ overuse of economic sanctions is pushing non-Western countries to reject them. This will be followed by a discussion.
 

Robin Lloyd

Long time peace and anti-nuclear activist and filmmaker; coordinator of the Burlington VT branch of WILPF US. Former publisher of Toward Freedom. My film website is Green Valley Media with films on WILPF and Haiti, and beyond. Also: grandmother.

Jill Clark-Gollub

Jill Clark-Gollub led the Friends of Latin America (Maryland) team that launched the Americas Without Sanctions campaign in 2023, seeking to end unilateral coercive measures in the countries of the Americas. Raised in the United States in a US/Nicaraguan family, Jill is very active in the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition and organizes study delegations to Nicaragua. She represents the Nica Coalition in the Zone of Peace Regional Planning Committee, which seeks to unite grassroots movements throughout the hemisphere to resist US aggression, including sanctions. Jill joined WILPF in January of 2023 and participates in branches in the two cities where she lives—Washington, DC and Burlington, VT. She has published articles in Counterpunch, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Popular Resistance, and other outlets.

Cynthia Ann Roberts

Cynthia Ann Roberts has been a WILPF member for 29 years and serves on the Cuba & Bolivarian Alliance issues committee. She is a charter member of the Cubamistad (Bloomington, Indiana-Santa Clara, Cuba sister city) and retired letter carrier and member of NALC 828. Cynthia is a founder of Hoosier Raging Grannies and EcoReport anchor for WFHB community radio. She is also a textile artist, grandmother, and avid scrabble player.
 

6:45  PM EDT

Chris Jones
This is Their Land

Chris Jones is retired from IIHR-Hydrosocience & Engineering at the University of Iowa, where he worked as a research engineer focusing on water quality in agricultural landscapes. Prior to that, he worked for the Des Moines Water Works, Iowa Soybean Association and as a consultant for water and wastewater utilities. He has a BA in Chemistry and Biology from Simpson College and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Montana State University. Dr. Jones has authored 55 articles in scientific journals, several book chapters, and is the author of The Swine Republic, Struggles with Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality. His writing has appeared in the Des Moines Register and Cedar Rapids Gazette and in the on-line periodical, Civil Eats. He's a frequent guest on Iowa Public Radio and was a guest on NPR's On Point. He also writes a Substack column that can be found at riverraccoon.substack.com. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa. 

Program Summary
This program will highlight water quality in Iowa and the US Corn Belt within the context of historical agricultural production systems. Focus will be on both ground and surface water and the ecological and human health consequences. Links between drinking water nitrate and illness including cancer, asthma, and birth defects will be examined in the existing scientific literature. Finally, ideas for improving the overall condition of Cornbelt streams, lakes and aquifers going forward will be presented. 
 

7:30 PM EDT
Corporate Violence Through Privatization, Water Act & Blue Planet Project:  Building Trans-Local Solidarity for Global Water Justice
 

Program Summary
Water is necessary for living a life with dignity and peace, but privatization and austerity threaten access to safe and affordable water for millions in the United States. Water affordability is a national crisis, after decades of cuts to federal water funding, corporate and military contamination of our water, and the myriad of threats from climate change.  Now, water bills are unaffordable for at least one in ten U.S. households. Households who are unable to afford their water bills face violent and punitive collection practices, including water shutoffs and tax sale foreclosures. Water privatization exacerbates the harms, sacrificing local control and driving up water prices. The United States must protect water as a public trust resource, hold corporate and military polluters accountable, and fully fund our public water infrastructure at the level that is needed to ensure safe and clean water for all.
 

Mary Grant

Mary Grant is the Public Water for All Campaign Director at Food & Water Watch, a national environmental organization. Since 2015, she has overseen campaigns to support universal access to safe water in the United States by promoting responsible and affordable public provision of water and sewer service. Prior to becoming campaign director, Mary was a senior researcher on water issues for Food & Water Watch for 8 years. She is a policy analyst on U.S. water utility privatization.

Marcela Olivera

Marcela Olivera is Director of the Blue Planet Project and a water commons organizer based in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  After graduating from the Catholic University in Cochabamba, Bolivia, Marcela worked for four years in Cochabamba as the key international liaison for the Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life, the organization that fought and defeated water privatization in Bolivia.  Since 2004 she was the Blue Planet Project's Regional Coordinator for Latin America for Water Justice, REDVIDA. She sits on the coordinating committee of the Platform for Public and Community Partnerships of the Americas (PAPC). 

The Blue Planet Project works internationally with local organizations and activists in both the South and the North to support grassroot struggles to protect democratic, public and community control and management of water services and resources, and to build a movement to realize the human right to water and sanitation.  The Blue Planet Project centers the work of women, Indigenous and other marginalized water defenders and frontline communities. 
 

8:30  PM EDT

Lois A.Herman
Introduction to Sara Thomsen (Concert)

Lois A. Herman is Founder and Managing Director of WUNRN, Women’s UN Report Network. WUNRN addresses the human rights, oppression, and empowerment of women and girls all over the world. She has been a WILPF woman for many years and is a serious advocate for PEACE. Lois has 4 children, is a widow, and lived in Italy for 10 years. She carries UN credentials and presents regularly at the UN in Geneva, NYC (CSW and General Assembly), and FAO (Rome). She lives in Minneapolis, and her professional training is in Food Marketing and International Affairs. She received the Spirit of the UN Award. Her special cat is Karma!

8:30  PM EDT

Sara Thomsen
Concert

“Thomsen’s soulful voice, poetic lyrics and unforgettable melodies cut through to the heart and the soul of human experience,” proclaims the Minnesota Women’s Press. Dubbed in her local press as “one of Northern Minnesota’s best kept secrets,” singer-songwriter Sara Thomsen’s home base is in the Lake Superior region of Duluth/Superior. “The Twin Ports folk singer picks up the torch carried by the balladeers of decades past: Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Holly Near, Ronnie Gilbert, and Peter, Paul, and Mary” writes the Duluth Reader Weekly. “She could make Conan the Barbarian drop his sword and collapse blubbering.”

Increasing wonder and awareness, deepening spiritual connection, and widening social engagement through song is at the heart of her work. Sara's ability to get people singing magically transforms gatherings into communities empowered with possibility. Thomsen is a recipient of the Duluth Community Peacemaker Award for her use of music towards building a more just world. Her music starts locally and expands globally. With a voice rich as the best Midwest soil, Sara's songs carry you inward and outward—in, to the particulars of your own life, and out—into the shared humanity of us all. While at home, Thomsen and her spouse Paula Pedersen love spending time gardening and enjoying the outdoors alongside Athena the dog, Eva the cat, a dozen chickens and two beehives.

More about Sara on her website: www.sarathomsen.com