Lifeblood: Climate Change on the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande has always been the beating heart of New Mexico. In a vast mountain desert its steady flow of water brings verdant opportunity. But with New Mexico the sixth-fastest warming state in the nation, climate change is causing rising temperatures, droughts, and wild fires. People’s source for drinking water, crop irrigation, and indigenous spirituality is shrinking. The artery of the region grows less reliable, threatening the lives and livelihoods of all in its path.
“Lifeblood” is a snaking journey down the Rio Grande, meeting New Mexicans on the way: such as a farmer in Corrales who built his house with his bare hands and grows organic and sustainable crops; a lowrider couple in Española; an artist in Galisteo who uses her work to transform and heal, from the energy of the land around her; an immigrant and roadside vendor in Albuquerque; people all unique and universal, a microcosm of our country and our connection, like an umbilical cord, to the earth. They all live along the river, and their lives are changing as it does too.
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