Allow Me to (Re-)Introduce Myself

I’m so grateful for each and every one of you who’s gathered on this little corner of the internet for conversations about nature, culture, beauty, and more. To those of you who’ve just arrived—Welcome! And, if you’ve been here a bit, Thank You! for being here and cheering me along. It’s lovely to find and convene with other kindred souls out there in the ether—we all need each other today more than ever.

If you’re new or unacquainted with me, let me (re-)introduce myself. I’m Wendy, and I’m trained as a Ph.D. water expert (biogeochemistry and and hydrology) and policy wonk but more importantly, I’m a world wanderer, adventurer, artist, and author, with a big smile, crazy laugh, and a “go” attitude (read “dirtbag”…umm, in the most loving sense of the word).

My relationship with water has always been an intimate affair. This passage from my book, Taking on Water: How One Water Expert Reduced Her Water Footprint (without Sacrificing a Toasty Shower) and Found Nirvana provides a glimpse into our connection:

In the Buddhist tradition, a water deva is a water spirit, connected to all liquids but felt most powerfully in association with streams, rivers, lakes, and the sea. Friends have long called me a “water goddess,” and truth be told, I’ve always felt like one. As a child, I spent untold hours perched on the granite outcrops of New England’s coastline, absorbing the nuances of the sea: the way the color of the water shifts toward gray with an oncoming storm; how flotsam gathers on eddy seams; the repetition in wave forms from the largest surges to the tiniest of ripples. I imagined myself a mermaid. The sea compelled me: my education was filled with logarithmic equations describing the arc of a beach form and first order kinetics equations explaining microbial transformations of chemicals in water. Fittingly, I was born an Aquarian, and my nature shows all the characteristics—fiercely independent, individualistic, artistically and scientifically oriented.

By profession, I have felt compelled to be a Water Keeper. I have spent nearly a decade in the Wood River Valley of Idaho campaigning against water abuses, standing up for the larger interests of the community, and speaking for the fish, the damselflies, and the thirsty elk. I’ve become a public champion of the cause. I’ve conducted studies, taught at universities, and published papers. I’m asked to participate on boards. At times this work has put me on the opposite side of the table from developers, where I’ve spoken of declining aquifers, faulty water use estimates, and ill-gotten water rights. I’ve disclosed the ways in which models and calculations, and the assumptions on which they are based, are misguided or misleading. For this work, my experience and academic credentials—including a PhD in environmental engineering from MIT—have been questioned. Regardless, I am unable to sit by silently knowing what I know about the health of our waters and their diminishing reserves.

In the dozen years since this book was published, I’ve become more acutely aware that all the time I’ve spent deep in the wilds—as a scientist, educator, and explorer running rivers, backpacking, skiing and more—has shown me something else: our reductive approach to understanding water, our focus on studying, measuring, monitoring, administering water, has missed the most important lesson of all—She is a powerful teacher and healer in ways both subtle and profound. And, as I’ve integrated this wisdom, my approach and my work has evolved. I’m more likely to sit with the question: What would happen if we just listened?

Today, while I still provide strategic water advice, I also share some of the lessons water has offered me through writings, Women’s Water Circles, workshops, and retreats focused on water as a teacher and a healer. All my offerings are designed to offer space to explore and strengthen connection to self, the natural world, and each other, and the results for participants (mostly women) is often deep and profound. I am honored to be able to offer this work.

You can learn more about me and my water work on my About page and my website.

Thank you again for being here.

xo Wendy

P.S. I’d love to offer my Water Circles to the Substack community. If this interests you, please check out my offerings and reach out (via the comments or directly). I’d love to hear from you!

For those of you who are just discovering Substack, I highly recommend downloading and using the app where you’ll find so many talented writers, long-form writing and journalism on almost any topic that might interest you, and a fuller experience.