Confluences: Water and Justice drenches campus this weekend with a flood of speakers, events
By Hannah Gray
The Confluences: Water and Justice conference is finally here.
After two years of planning, the water conference is ready with over 40 speakers and more than 15 sessions this Friday through Sunday, according to Steve Kolmes, chair of the Environmental Science Department.
"There will be everything from people talking about a Native American perspective to jobs on the Waterfront to dam removal," Kolmes said. "No matter what a student's major is, there will be a (related) session."
The conference will focus on many perspectives related to water - environmental, social justice, law, theology and history.
"The conference is important because it brings together business people and environmental people," said UP President Fr. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C. "It's going to have a broad spectrum of people involved, so you have some balance with the issue - not only one side."
UP's focus on water is symbolic of the University's work to expand beyond The Bluff to the waterfront, specifically the 35-acre parcel known as Triangle Park, which UP purchased in 2008 and plans to develop after cleaning it up.
With the University's expansion to the River Campus on the Willamette River, UP is more aware of water issues, Kolmes said.
"This is something that made sense for us to do since we're right on the river," Beauchamp said. "It will be an ongoing issue."
As highlighted in the conference, water is becoming an important resource because there is no alternative to water, Kolmes said.
"Water is going to be the most intractable, difficult, challenging issue that your generation is going to face," Kolmes said.
Kolmes noted that there are many other issues the University could have tackled, but because there is no substitute for water, it makes it that much more valuable.
"Not only is it limited, it is non-interchangeable," Kolmes said. "There is increasingly not enough of it in the world."
The conference begins tomorrow at 2 p.m. with a river cruise and lecture on the Portland Spirit, a yacht that holds 450 people.
The cruise is a narrated tour of the Willamette River and covers how the history of Portland relates to the river, according to Kolmes.
The cruise was donated to the University, and all the tickets are sold out, according to Amy Leisher, grant and support specialist for the Environmental Science Department.
"It should be really interesting," Kolmes said. "A lot of people from all over the place have signed up for it."
Following the cruise, the documentary, "The Waterfront" will show at 7:30 p.m. in Buckley Center Auditorium.
The film is about grassroots efforts to stop water privatization in a small Michigan town, where the cost of water got so high, some residents lost access to drinking water.
Saturday's program begins with introductory remarks by Congressman Earl Blumenauer at 7:45 a.m., followed by a full day of presentations and panel discussions, featuring a slate of experts in various fields.
"A lot of the sessions are group sessions," Leisher said.
One session, "Water Rights and Catholic Social Teaching Applied to Water," at 2:25 p.m. in the Buckley Center Auditorium, will cover an overview of the Catholic stance on water, according to Br. Dave Andrews, C.S.C., one of the speakers for this session.
Andrews is a senior representative for the Food and Water Watch and a senior adviser to the president of the 63rd General Assembly of the U.N. on food, water, and development.
"The basic point is the Catholic Church, internationally, has always supported the right to water," Andrews said.
Andrews will note various examples of the Catholic Church's support of an individual's right to water, and will also comment on a community's right to make decisions pertaining to the community.
"It's not just for the state and country to decide whether or not water should be sold or privatized," Andrews said. "The community itself should be consulted."
The keynote address will take place on Saturday on 7:30 p.m. in the Chiles Center.
The speaker is Maude Barlow, another senior water adviser to the president of the 63rd General Assembly of the U.N., board chair of Food and Water Watch, chair of the Council of Canadians, the executive member of the International Forum on Globalization, and the councilor of World Future Council.
"She is the foremost water rights activists in the world," Kolmes said. "She is known everywhere. We are extremely lucky to have her here."
Oregon Attorney General John Kroger will introduce Barlow.
Students are highly encouraged to pre-register for the keynote for seating purposes.
Sunday begins with a greeting ceremony performed by members of the Grand Ronde Tribe at 8 a.m. A collection of panel discussions follows, with the conference closing at 12:30 p.m.
The entire schedule can be found at https://pilots.up.edu/web/confluences.
