Equity In Every Drop: Series Four, Episode Four

In this episode of ‘Equity in Every Drop,’ host Thomas Hynes sits down with Dr. Rosalia Arteaga, a leading environmental advocate and education leader. The discussion covers Dr. Arteaga’s distinguished career, including her roles as the former President and Vice President of Ecuador, and her involvement with Waterkeeper Alliance. Dr. Arteaga shares her early influences, her passion for integrating environmental stewardship with education, and her efforts in promoting conservation practices. They also discuss the importance of youth involvement, the potential of science and technology in environmental conservation, and the upcoming global Waterkeeper meeting in Quito, Ecuador. Dr. Arteaga also introduces her project to establish an Eco museum and library in Quito. This in-depth conversation offers valuable insights into the interconnectedness of education, government, and environmental work.

Stay tuned! New monthly episodes will be posted here and anywhere you get your podcasts. Click “Subscribe” in the episode widget above to access links to popular podcast apps.

Thank you for listening, sharing, and supporting our mission to ensure everyone’s right to clean water. Together, we demand equity in every drop.

---

Transcript – Series 4, Episode 4: Championing Environmental Integrity

[00:00:00] Thomas Hynes: Our guest today is Dr. Rosalia Arteaga. Dr. Arteaga is a leading environmental advocate and education leader. She served as the former president and constitutional vice president of the Republic of Ecuador. Former Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty organization and former Vice Minister of Culture and Minister of Education, and here at Waterkeeper Alliance, we are very lucky to count her as one of our global ambassadors, Dr. Artiega, it is a thrill to have you. Thank you so much for being with us today. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Thank you very much, Tom. I am very happy to be here with you today and to talk a little bit about the things that are relevant, like environment, like education. Happy to be here. 

Thomas Hynes: And we were speaking a little bit earlier. You joined on as a Waterkeeper Alliance Global Ambassador in January.

I was actually out on paternity leave and was thrilled when I heard about it. And you have spent some time recently with a few of my colleagues in Oaxaca, Mexico, and we’ll talk about more about that later, [00:01:00] but just everyone who spends time with you just has the most wonderful things to say about you.

So we’re, again, we’re just so lucky to have you as part of this organization, and we’re so lucky to have you as a guest here today. So thanks again. I would love to just hear a little bit about your very distinguished career and all these very interesting things that you’ve done. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Well, I think since the beginning of my life I was really moved by environmental issues.

And it is probably because my grandfather’s grandparents in the side of my mom and the side of my father they live in country houses. Then it was for me, natural to be close to a river. I was born in Cuenca. A city with four rivers and I was close to the nature every minute of my life.

Then growing up I was motivated by my mom that she was cultivating a lot of plants. And also I remember that I wrote a book about the trees of Cuenca, long time ago. More than 30, 40 [00:02:00] years ago probably. And now we are going to read it, , that book with the municipality of my own city.

 Then uh, it, it was, very close to my interests to be engaged with culture, education, and also environmental issues. When I developed to be the Vice Minister of culture, it was unbelievable. But at that time we create a program to take the students of the high schools at the end of the high school period to plant trees all around the the country in different lands, sometimes private land , or sometimes public places where the army wanted us to plant trees. Then I moved myself with groups of students all around the country and it was quite interesting. And in parallel. I was developing a career in education. I used to be a teacher since I was 17 years old, I started to teach in my own house, high school.

I maintaining myself over 20 [00:03:00] years being a teacher. And when then it comes the Minister of Education and other positions.

Thomas Hynes: That’s so interesting and one of the things that really jumps out at me, and I, I hear this from a lot of people and just in, in studying different people, it’s that childhood experience that really leads to your adult vocation and passions. And it’s that exposure to nature and children is so important because they can grow up to be someone like you if they have the right experiences and exposures as a kid.

When I look at your career I see government work, I see educational work, and I see environmental work. How do you see those three disciplines as related? How are they different? What is the common thread for you in those three, you know, somewhat different, uh, realms. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: I’m totally convinced that education is a key issue in everything to develop the people and to develop the countries. And if you want to have really good policies about how to preserve the nature, how to take care of, our [00:04:00] planet because we know that there is no planet B, that we have only this planet. The only way is through education because you can put laws on uh, situations that carried out by governments.

At the COP meetings, et cetera, but the main issue is how you feel in your inner how you feel in your behaviors. And that is only going through education. Then environmental issues and education comes together and it’s not something that you must be teaching all the time

environmental issues because when you teach mathematics and you teach science or you teach history, you can talk about environment and how you practice or have good practices in your everyday life. Then it must go, or very close and cultural efforts also I am a writer and now I write, books for kids, maybe because I have seven grandkids. And [00:05:00] well one of my books is uh, about uh, uh, it seems to be El duende de Itabaca and other stories, and it’s one located in Galapagos Island. It’s a fantastic environment, this a natural laboratory and Ecuador is taking care of this. And one story is in the coast of Ecuador and another one in the highlands in the mountains and then mountains and the other one in the Amazon jungle.

Because we are a blessed country, you have all these four environments in such a small country, but we have all these beauties and blessed things of nature. Then I try to manage all these interests that I have during my life and I, I feel very comfortable with it.

Thomas Hynes: I left off your literary career as well. I’m so sorry about that. And I didn’t realize how many grandchildren you had as well. So that’s very, that’s that’s, those are important important notes to keep there. so you’ve had this incredible career. What brought you to working with Waterkeeper Alliance?

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: [00:06:00] Well, I knew Patricio Chambers. That is a very old waterkeepers, and once we talk, and I remember to him that I met , his father when he was in charge of the water resources of the municipality of Quito, at that time I was Vice Ministry of Culture. And we worked together in these efforts to put these students to be allowed to be like in contact with nature and planting trees.

Then we talk with Patricio and once he says, I want to propose your name to be global Ambassador of Waterkeeper, especially for Latin America. And I say, well, I have a very terrible agenda scheduled. I have lots of meetings and things, but I, I was hinking that I can take a space to do this in a more scalable way with waterkeepers.

And I was very happy to join. We had the meeting in Oaxaca with the Latin American Waterkeepers and also with Marc [00:07:00] Yaggi and other people of the board. And it was amazing and I sometimes write articles for the newspapers. One of the articles that I wrote after visiting Oaxaca is that for me it was amazing how the people introduces themselves like saying, I am the voice of Magdalena River.

I’m the voice of, they, they presented themselves like being that by Bamba River or Meta River on Amazon River. And it is fantastic because you think like, it’s like a kind of like being the same, the people and the rivers. And when you think about the importance of rivers or the importance of water, because without water we don’t have life, but the rivers must be clean.

That’s the big effort that waterkeepers are doing around at least Latin America, but I think in other parts of the world also. Then talking with them and feeling what they feel listening their experiences and how they are really motivated to [00:08:00] work on preserving the water, not only the rivers, but also the sea, and also the cascades and the lakes and and others

places where the water is and how they fight for the water. It is such amazing that I feel very comfortable being part of Waterkeepers.

Thomas Hynes: Yeah. And Patricio Chambers is our Guayllabamba Waterkeeper, I believe. Right. And he is been working with that since it’s a family affair. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Yes, but also he’s in charge of all Latin America coordinating and also member of the of the board recently.

Thomas Hynes: That’s right. No. And he’s he is one of our best and I had the chance to speak with him about a year or two ago for a written profile. And it’s all in his family.

I mean, the father started it. His daughter works there. Yes. Works there and it’s beautiful.

And they work with something. He introduced the concept to me. I’m not saying he introduced the concept, but of the Mingas Right. Which is the community based cleanup.

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Yes. Yeah. The Mingas is is a fantastic, because it’s [00:09:00] like an old practice from the indigenous people to be together making something something for like building a house for one of them and the next day maybe working with planting corn or things like that. And the other day is doing other things, but Minga is without payment. It’s like a voluntary work.

And Patricio was very wise to introduce this uh, sense of doing. It’s not for nothing. It’s not for money, but it has non-monetary winnings, like have a better environment and have a clean river and things like that. 

Thomas Hynes: Yeah he’s had great success with that, and it’s such a beautiful concept.

And I also just want to discuss something you mentioned the way that the Waterkeepers would introduce themselves as the voice of the water. , Why is it important that, and I think I know the answer, but why do you think it’s important that a river or different waterways has a champion or a voice?

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Because it’s the only way to maintain rivers in a good way. And [00:10:00] also our constitution in Ecuador was the first one that considered the rights of nature. And it is uh, , very new concept that gives the nature the possibility to have the rights, but nature cannot express themselves in words.

Then someone has to express the feelings, how to express the circumstances and the goals, what we want to do, what we have to do. Then giving voice to the rivers I think is a good initiative. And also the possibility to involve more people. The other thing that is very important is to maintain groups of young people.

Link it to these initiatives because young people, they are more motivated than adults because, probably because they are feeling more the situation that’s having a place in the planet with the droughts with the dry seasons with the [00:11:00] hurricanes and everything, and probably the young people feels more the weakness of our planet or the weakness of the possibility to maintain the life of the people, the, of the human beings in this planet.

And they are more considering uh, considering more the uh, be part of these initiatives like Waterkeepers then, for example, the mingas in Ecuador. A lot of students participate. There are schools involved. There are teachers that are part of the initiatives and I think it’s more sustainable on time because they are growing and they are making a good contagious

in the other students and in the families because when a kid come to you I think my grandkids come to me and say, oh, you have to turn on light. Or maybe you have to separate waste that in Ecuador it’s not a common practice to separate waste. It means [00:12:00] that that they are believing what they are hearing in initiatives they are hearing at the school

and they put in practice when they arrive home.

Thomas Hynes: That’s so awesome. And also, I mean, I can’t help but think back to what we said in the beginning. You’re exposing the children to this, to nature.

You’re exposing children to the work of conservation, to the work of protection. And we have no idea, in a good way, where that might lead to careers that these children may grow up to have careers in protecting the environment or coming up with new novel ways to approach this work.

 And just having that exposure and experience to young children is so beneficial. And I feel like I grew up as one of those kids telling my parents to recycle. And I think my kids will probably grow up telling me how I can behave better environmentally as well. So, the more of that the better.

That’s so great. Now, you kind of already answered this question, but how was your experience, how else was your experience meeting with Latin American Waterkeepers in Oaxaca earlier this year? 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Yeah. Well, uh, talking about what you said to [00:13:00] expose the young people the kids to nature, it is so important because you never forget what you learn when you are a child.

You never forget. You can forget the other things, and when you go and grow and get older even you remember all the time what you learned when you were a kid or the experiences you have and about Waterkeepers uh, and, and to, be with them. As I said, I admire the compromise that they have within nature.

And it’s interesting also that the compromise is specifically with a river , for example. Yeah. It is a link between the river and the person and the community. And I found in several of the Waterkeepers that it came from the family. Sometimes the waterkeeper was uh, father. And after, it continues with the kids, the young people and it continues.

Then it is so important because it demonstrates that the environment is [00:14:00] important when you grow up a family and you talk about your experiences and your things, and I touch that when I see what the Waterkeepers are doing and also how involved they are. We prepared at that time when we were in, in Oaxaca, in Mexico, we prepared a document that was sent to the COP 30 in Belem and it is also a common work, the Minga Work because everybody put their ideas and put their thoughts and the way that people is thinking about contamination of rivers and how to protect it. To materialize all these initiatives and ideas. And the other important things is to share experiences because one thing could be done in Ecuador and maybe other thing in Colombia and Peru or Bolivia or in Mexico in, in the different countries where Waterkeepers is working.

 Then I think it’s important to share the experiences, to [00:15:00] share the knowledge, and to join efforts to arrive to, to good uh, points in terms of protecting the water.

Thomas Hynes: Now this was , a proclamation that was presented to Cop 30 in Brazil from a group of Latin American Waterkeepers.

And this was highlighting the urgency of protecting water, climate and biodiversity. And I love how you described that, even that process of bringing together this proclamation, this statement was itself a community, the grassroots minga of sorts. And that’s perfect. Thinking a little bit more broadly about the current environmental conditions what worries you the most?

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Well, it is hard to answer, but I think the economic interests sometimes are not in putting together good practices and economic interests. Then it is a concern. The other concern is that the most of the governments are not aware about the real risk that we have with the [00:16:00] environment and some people is not paying attention about what scientist says because

i’m a stronger believer that science could help us to save the planet because the scientists act with the specific data what’s happening with the scientific way to, to look at the data. And to announce what could happen in the future, like a kind of prospective foresight.

Foresight, what will happens then I am concerned about the poor attention that leaders in the world are paying to that. Very small, very little. The other issue is that when it happens that we have war around the world and uh, poverty and people is talking about that, but they are not linking the situation with environment, then I think it’s, it is another risk.

The poor [00:17:00] capacity of people to look what’s coming on. Sometimes it’s like people is living life like day by day, but forgetting what will happen with the next generation. Then it’s important to talk between the different generations and to look at the concerns that the young people have because they know for sure that they are going to have troubles in the future.

Troubles because the land is poor, the water is contaminated, the air is polluted, then all these circumstances are growing inside the new generations. And it causes a lot of stress and emotional disturbance and emotional problems. Then it, it is really something that we have to look at with lot of determination, with lot of desires to, to change it. 

Thomas Hynes: And you’re so right about the younger generation also. I mean, they have to be here longer. It’s their future. It’s their years that they [00:18:00] have to to look down the barrel. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: the other thing that I want to emphasize, uh, is that next year we are going to have a global meeting of Waterkeepers in Quito in Ecuador. 

Thomas Hynes: Breaking news. That’s right, That’s right. Yes. Uh, I was gonna say earlier, Patricio was, when you were saying how he was so, adamant, in nominating you, he was equally adamant in nominating Quito as a host for our, our global conference. And

I’m very excited. I’ve never been to Ecuador, and um, very, very excited to be there with everyone next year. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Yes. It’ll be great to have a lot of Waterkeepers from all over the world in Quito. Remember that Quito is the capital of Ecuador. Ecuador is in the middle of the world. We are in the Ecuadorian line, and it’s right there in the name.

It’s such amazing. Yeah, it’s,

and also some people could visit Galapagos Island. That is a plus that we have, and maybe the Amazon jungle. We are very enthusiastic preparing this meeting with Patricio and other [00:19:00] people and people from the staff in US to make this a, great experience about what will happen next year in Quito with this global meeting.

And I said, I make the invitation to all the people, the Waterkeepers, that, that can hear this this conversation, this talk to, to be motivated to be here in Quito. We are waiting everybody with open arms and with a lot of interesting things to see and to talk and to share that’s so important.

Thomas Hynes: I’m motivated. I’m already motivated and I’m sure others will be very good. Equally motivated. It’s gonna be very exciting.

And I recall what I wanted to say to you, ’cause you touched on something that I I actually we’re gonna discuss in a future podcast episode, so tune in, but it’s the effect of war

and conflict on water quality. We have Waterkeepers in , Israel and in Iraq and in Ukraine. And these places are in the top of our hearts and minds, obviously for the humanitarian just reasons of humanity. [00:20:00] But our Waterkeeper in Iraq especially uh, he and I had the chance to speak for, again, for a written profile last year, and it just, and it’s my own privilege and my own blindness, but of course, added to the lists of terrible things to come out of warfare

and armed conflict is the environmental degradation. And we will talk more about that in a soon to be released future episode. We were talking about what worries you most on the other side of that? What, if anything gives you hope?

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Education, quality of education, of course.

Because I have a lot of confidence in the behaviors of the new generation, if they are well educated and aware about the science of risk that we have now. And also I am confident about science contribution. For example, to clean the water in a very fast way, and to preserve the environment.

Thanks to the progress in science, [00:21:00] technology, and innovation, because we cannot avoid the issue that we are growing like humanity in terms of modifying different circumstances with science. For example artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has to provide tools

to protect the environment, then we can be confident on that. Some people could think that science is not a good thing, but science is a tool. No. We can use in a good way or in a bad way. You can use internet for doing bad things, but we can use the internet to have the stock and to provide the possibility to be linked with a lot of people and to make the things easier for people.

Then I think education in one side and science in other they can provide us some hope. And some positive things in this environmental crusade to save the waters, [00:22:00] to have clean resources, to have a better land. 

Thomas Hynes: I completely agree with you on that. What else would you want our listeners to know about your work, about your mission?

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Yes. I have to share an initiative that is started because I lead an NGO FIDAL Foundation. FIDAL is a foundation for integration and develop of Latin America. And we are creating here in Ecuador, the first Eco museum and library.

It’s an initiative that we started some years ago, but I think next year we can open this Eco museum and library. It is started because I have a lot of books. Let’s, like you can see, I can see that, yes. And for anyone who can’t 

watch this, she has a ton of books behind her. She does?

Especially my books about, about environmental issues.

About oceans, about rivers, about the nature, Amazon and that, well, that’s the start of that. But we get an old building in the center of Quito. Maybe next year when Waterkeepers come to [00:23:00] Quito, we can make something there and it’ll, it’ll be uh, a museum and a library where people can study, especially the students can study and learn more about the environment, about the care of the oceans, about the care of the Amazon Galapagos, of course, but all the environments that we have in the world, then that’s the idea and that I am giving a lot of effort to that uh, uh, building.

We take care. Of the environment. Also with the building, because we are refurbishing it, we have a edge certification. We have another certification that is 1% more for the planet, then we are being very careful with the use of the tools and the materials to have it in a proper way.

I say that’s my last baby that I am working on, and I am very enthusiastic about it. Not easy because we don’t have the money, but we are trying to get the support of some [00:24:00] private companies to involve them in donate for this big cause that for us is this Eco Museum library.

The last thing that I want to share with you, of course, I am available for any other question or initiative about these issues. 

Thomas Hynes: That sounds like such a great idea. This museum and library and you read my mind. I’m thinking if I’m gonna be there, I want to come see it and yes.

Yes. Maybe I’ll bring some, maybe I’ll bring some books to donate as well. Great. This has been so great. Speaking with you today on behalf of myself and Waterkeeper Alliance and everyone listening and everyone in the world I want to just thank you for being here, but also more importantly, I wanna thank you for all that you do. 

It’s been very inspiring speaking with you and you’ve had an amazing career and it sounds like it’s not slowing down anytime soon. So that’s very exciting to speak with you and again thank you so much. 

Dr. Rosalía Arteaga: Thank you, Tom. I am also very happy to have talking with you [00:25:00] and I’m happy to be part of Waterkeeper Alliance because I think you are doing a really great job protecting the water.

Thomas Hynes: We’re very happy to have you a part of it. Thank you so much.