The new issue of of Waterkeeper magazine very quickly has become my favorite issue for many reasons, particularly because our team recorded a group of our founders – Terry Backer, Sally Bethea, Rick Dove, Joe Payne, and Andy Willner – in a robust discussion about their early connections to water, Waterkeeper Alliance’s beginning, and how the work of the early Waterkeepers gave birth to a global movement. The issue also provides a strong, fitting farewell to Terry Backer – father, son, brother, legislator, hero, mentor, Long Island Soundkeeper – who was taken from us too soon.
Those pieces combined would have made for an issue unparalleled by any predecessor. That said, there are additional pieces throughout the magazine that drive powerful messages. A Ripples piece, “A Waterkeeper Alliance Stretches From North Carolina to West Africa,” highlights one of my favorite things about this movement – the ability to create strong, synergistic connections with like minded advocates around the world (you can find it in the PDF of the issue). The piece highlights the relationship developed between our French Broad Riverkeeper, Hartwell Carson, in North Carolina, and Yoto River Waterkeeper Kossi Koudahenou in Togo. Hartwell and Kossi met in person at the Waterkeeper conference in Boulder, Colorado in June 2015.
Kossi’s river – the Yoto – provides water to more than 130,000 people and serves as a waste disposal system in a poor country where many walk for miles to get their water. As Kossi talked with Hartwell about his plans to build wells, they forged a friendship and Hartwell agreed to start raising money for the wells and go to Togo to work with Kossi. The Waterkeeper movement is in 34 countries and growing, allowing connections like these to blossom around the world. Waterkeepers come from diverse backgrounds with different languages, different cultures, religions, politics, and legal systems. But, they are united in that they all believe everyone has a right to clean water. They join together to work toward a future where everyone has clean water.
You can support Kossi’s and Hartwell’s plan to build wells in Togo here.