Water, Place, Responsibility, and Creative Attention
SSU Copeland Creek Corridor
Tue, Apr 21, 5:30 pm
– 7:30 pm
Admission Fees: none
How can creative attention to water deepen our understanding of place and our responsibility to it? In this two-hour workshop, SSU's Center for Environmental Inquiry and the English Department's Writers at Sonoma speaker series invite you to explore this question. We will begin with a 30-minute lecture by poet, naturalist, and best-selling author of the "California Field Atlas" and "The State of Water: Understanding California's Most Precious Resource," Obi Kaufmann, at the outdoor redwood bench circle on the SSU main campus. Following Obi’s lecture, attendees venture out on a 0.5 mile nature walk along the Copeland Creek Trail to gather inspiration, before arriving and centering at the Native Plant Garden, where they'll have the opportunity to draft their own creative record of this 13 acre slice of the Russian River Watershed, while enjoying light refreshments!
This event is in collaboration with the SSU English Department through the Writers at Sonoma Reading Series. The English department offers a major in English with a choice of focus on literary studies, creative writing, or English education (in preparation for a credential program), as well as a minor in English and a minor in Critical Literacies and English Education. https://english.
Leaders
Obi Kaufmann is an award-winning author of many best-selling books on California's ecology, biodiversity, and geography. Most famously, his 2017 book The California Field Atlas, currently in its seventh printing, recontextualized popular ideas about what he calls “California’s more-than-human world.” Following his initial Field Atlas, his following books, THE STATE OF WATER; UNDERSTANDING CALIFORNIA’S MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE and THE CALIFORNIA LANDS TRILOGY: THE FORESTS OF CALIFORNIA, THE COASTS OF CALIFORNIA and THE DESERTS OF CALIFORNIA present a comprehensive survey of California’s physiography and its biogeography in terms of its evolutionary past and its unfolding future. Most recently, Obi was the 2023 artist-in-residence for the National Park Service at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and his latest book, The Deserts of California, won the 2024 Book Award for California Lifestyle from the California Independent Booksellers Association. You can catch him every month in conversation with author and tribal chairman Greg Sarris in their podcast called Place and Purpose. His latest book, 2024’s THE STATE OF FIRE; WHY CALIFORNIA BURNS, is among his most popular and timely books to date. An avid conservationist, Obi Kaufmann regularly travels around the state, presenting his work and vision of ecological defense and reciprocation from the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland Center to the Mojave Desert Land Trust. A lifelong resident of California, when he isn’t backpacking, Obi Kaufmann makes his home base in Oakland, where he is working on more Field Atlases to come. You can follow his work on Instagram at @coyotethunder
Logistics
This event is free of charge!
We will meet at the Butterfly Garden on the Sonoma State University main campus. The SSU Butterfly Garden is located within the Native Plant Garden on the northeast of campus, along the Copeland Creek Trail. We recommend purchasing a Daily Parking Permit in advance by clicking here then selecting "Sonoma State,” or you can take public transportation to the bus stop at the campus south entrance on Redwood Drive.
No previous experience or knowledge is required to participate. The maximum distance will be less than 1 mile on relatively flat, unpaved ground.
Participants must sign a waiver upon arrival. All minors must be accompanied by a legal guardian. Smoking and tobacco products are not permitted on the SSU campus. Restrooms are available on site. This is a rain or shine event, as the event will be moved inside if necessary.
Details
In his artful yet analytical work, Obi Kaufmann explores the transformation of the resource landscape of California, from its ancient origins through modern challenges to its future possibilities. Heightened with lyrical prose and backed by up-to-the-minute, well-sourced science, Obi demonstrates how we learn from the deep ecological past to uncover truths about the potential future of the California floristic province and the role that people have played and will play in the millennia to come. Obi tells the story of how the road through geographic literacy leads to a new era of democratic sustainability that we can and will usher together.
In "The State of Water," Obi Kaufmann uses full-color maps, trail paintings of animals, and incisive analysis to illuminate the tangled history of California’s water systems, revealing how a legacy of unchecked growth has pushed a finite resource to a precarious edge. Blending science, art, and ethics, the book offers hopeful, practical pathways for conserving and restoring water in ways that sustain ecosystems, communities, and collective life in the West.
Information about how you can continue using your new skills to further develop geographic literacy and protect water on your own will be provided before we wrap-up.
What to Bring
Please bring sun, light rain, and insect protection as needed, a water bottle, notebook or journal with something to write with, and footwear for walking in gardens and dirt paths. Long pants for sitting on tree stump benches and possibly the ground are recommended. Sketch paper, pencils, pens, etc for making your creative record are encouraged. Light refreshments provided, as well as a limited-edition postcard with Obi’s artwork as part of our Writers at Sonoma series.
How to Sign Up
See registration link above. Each participant should register separately.
This event is free of charge.
About the Center
Sonoma State University’s Center for Environmental Inquiry empowers university students to work with community members on the environmental challenges of the North Bay. Our mission is to create an engaged and environmentally ready society, one where all people have the skills to find solutions to the challenges facing our earth. SSU Preserves are open to everyone engaged in education or research. Reservations are required.