Zach Weiss – Decolonizing Water

Protégé of revolutionary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer, Zach is the first person to earn Holzer Practitioner certification directly from Sepp – through a rigorous two-year apprenticeship. Blending a unique combination of systems thinking, empathy, and awareness, Zach created Elemental Ecosystems to provide an action-oriented process to improve clients’ relationship with their landscape.

Elemental Ecosystems is an ecological development contracting and consulting firm specializing in watershed restoration and ecosystem regeneration. The firm’s work includes Aquaculture, Agroforestry, Water Retention Landscapes, Terrace Systems, Spring Development, Natural Building, and more.

Harvesting time and the productivity of natural systems is the guiding principle – resulting in abundant oases with the potential to last till the next ice age. Elemental Ecosystems currently has worked in 19 countries, on 5 continents, spanning a wide range of climates, contexts, landforms, and ecosystems. Learn more at www.ElementalEcosystems.com

PO Box 1182
Bozeman, MT
United States

Website: http://www.elementalecosystems.com/

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Workshop(s)

Workshop 1: Decolonizing Water (Successfully occured at GERC2019)

Desert or paradise? It sounds too simple to be true, but on planet earth, planet water, it really is as simple as that.

Earth’s waters are being severely disturbed by humans – over the last 10,000 years humans have desertified 1/3 of earth’s land. The hydrological cycle is out of balance resulting in the climate extremes we’re seeing, every day more present and closer to home.

This has forced millions of people to live more vulnerable to drought, flood, fire, drinking water scarcity, and disease. Famine, war, refugees, most of these catastrophes are the results of the stress on earth’s water cycles. Today we call these “natural” disasters but there’s nothing natural about them — these disturbances are the direct result of short-sighted management.

But this is only the beginning of the story. These feedback loops are not only preventable but reversible if we begin to reconnect with nature and appropriately steward our resources – the most elemental of which is water.

How do we restore our water cycle for the abundance of all? How do we bring back the rivers, creeks, and rains? Can we re-stabilize the climate and provide a future of health and abundance for the coming generations?

Yes, by creating decentralized water retention landscapes. This returns the water to the earth and provides a proven and effective method for enhancing the cycling of water in the landscape. It reverses desertification, stabilizes climate change, and improves water availability and quality – all while increasing productivity and vitality for both humans and their ecosystems.

Humans can act as keystone species in the restoration of earth’s water cycles, re-greening deserts, re-balancing the climate, and creating a healthy, vital, and productive earth for all. However, it requires action, not just talk.

This workshop leads participants through the practical application of decentralized water retention landscape creation. What can the common person do to restore their local watershed and create positive change? This is the fundamental question this workshop aims to answer.