Water, Right? - Taos Undercurrents

Few issues are more explosive in the desert Southwest than water, yet we all tend to take it for granted.  How does water get to our tap, and will it be there tomorrow?  

“Water, Right?" is a short documentary film researched, filmed and edited by middle school students at Roots and Wings Community School in partnership with Localogy, Taos Shortz and film students from Santa Fe University of Art and Design.  The May premiere drew an enthusiastic response, and later in the year we will release the full hour-long version delving deeper into the issues.

Water through a new lens- RWCS students focus on filmmaking skilz

The film taps the questions: Who owns the water in Taos? How will climate change impact our water? Should Santa Fe be allowed to take water from Taos County? Is water private property of a human right? What are the limits of growth? Should Taos County pass a Land Use Code? Who should get the water: municipalities or farmers? What is a water right? What is the history of water in our communities? Who should make decisions about our water? How expensive will water be in the future? What can we do to protect our water?

The students also published a companion volume of essays, called “The Last Drop”.  The book features content from the movie, bonus interviews and creative works.  Copies can be purchased for $5.  To get your copy of the book, or arrange a local showing of the movie, contact Daniel

Roots and Wings Now Enrolling K-8

Imagine a free public school with all of the benefits of a private school- small class sizes, highly qualified faculty, a diligent anti-bullying culture, world-class wilderness and service experiences, and instructional techniques proven to let every kind of mind thrive.  

Roots and Wings Community School, one of the first charter schools in New Mexico, has long been at the forefront of the school reform movement.  Within the Expeditionary Learning model, students learn with a purpose.  It isn't about the artificial reward of a letter grade; it's about producing something relevant, with real consequences for the larger community.

Roots and Wings students put their math, social studies, science, reading and writing skills to the test by proposing a bag fee ordinance to reduce pollution from single-use plastic bags in TaosRoots and Wings is expanding to serve Kindergarten through eighth grade.  We're excited to see the younger students out on the ranch, exercising their natural curiosity about the world.  If you know of a child in Taos County who deserves a lifelong love of learning, encourage her or him to enroll: (575) 586-2076 or info@rwcs.org.

Camp Pictures 2011

Why are there so many pictures in this album?  Because Session 1 was simply bigger and more vivid this year.  31 singing and giggling children for the month of July.  See them in the Gallery.

2.7168561 Miles Above Average

The adolescent North American Human, seen here in its native habitat (14,345 ft Mount Blanca). Few specimens survive in the wild.

Youth between the ages of 8-18 are subjected to nearly eleven hours of electronic media on average every day.  This represents a vast and unprecedented sociological experiment being conducted on an entire generation during their formative years.  You may be please to learn that these virtual teens are still capable of navigating a place called physical reality.  A few were spotted August 3rd 2011 on Mount Blanca, one of Colorado’s more rugged Fourteeners.  That day, the adolescents carried everything necessary for survival on their backs for 13 miles and eight thousand vertical feet.  This is a landscape of solid granite.  There was not so much as a “tweet”, except from some birds.  For realz!

See more images from Session 2 2011