Sayd Randle on "The Storm Catchers: Environmental Labor and Stewardship in Los Angeles"

On Friday, April 15th, Sayd Randle visited Log Lunch to speak about Los Angeles’ water problem. Sayd graduated from Williams in 2008 and is now a PhD candidate in environmental anthropology at Yale University, where she is focusing her studies on emergent modes of water management, ecosystem valuation, and political subjectivity in Los Angeles.

 

Curb cutout parkway basin. Photo form: http://www.dailynews.com/lifestyle/20150917/curbside-gardening-aims-to-provide-more-drought-tolerant-landscape-options
Curb cutout parkway basin. Photo form: http://www.dailynews.com/lifestyle/20150917

During her talk Sayd addressed some common misconceptions about the water problem in LA, including the idea that LA is a complete desert. Although LA is not a desert, it is true that the city sources almost all of its water from other areas – mainly aqueducts in Colorado and outside LA city limits). While it makes sense the large demand for water in cities like LA can not be satisfied through stormwater capture, Sayd made it a point to emphasize that more must be done to utilize this resource. By implementing new infrastructure such as curb cut-out parkway basins or using more permeable surfaces rather than concrete LA could greatly increase the amount of rainwater that reenters the ground and replenishes its natural ground water reserves. Lastly, Sayd touched upon issues of environmental justice related to labor and stewardship. Sayd had an interesting approach to viewing the problem of environmental justice by regarding stewardship as a public service and those undertaking such labor, usually homeowners or volunteers should be justly compensated. For example, Sayd argued that the curb cutout parkway basins are analogous to larger scale water treatment plants. For homeowners to have this type of green infrastructure requires a certain level of knowledge about maintenance as well as a good amount of actual labor to upkeep these basins.

 

LA has a long way to go in addressing its water problems and climate change will likely only exacerbate these issues, but by investing in green infrastructure and having people like Sayd work to bring issues of water security and justice into the foreground of policy debates there is hope for future change.

Sayd Randle (middle) with Andy Burr (Williams '66) & Natalie Bump Vena (Williams '04)
Sayd Randle (middle) with Andy Burr (Williams ’66) & Natalie Bump Vena (Williams ’04)