#85 Mary Trudeau on water as lifeforce, story and connection
“You don’t need to be a chemist to know that that something’s bad for water. You can sense it - if it smells bad or creates clouds. We understand more than we give ourselves credit for because of our reductionist scientific training in schools. It’s from the knowing that connection, that no matter where you are on the planet, ultimately you’re connected to an ocean. Even in the middle of a city, if you can’t see a river, there are pipes underneath the streets that flow rainwater to a little creek or a stream. You could find that out, it might take a little bit of work such as looking at sewer maps, but ultimately everybody is connected to a water body that’s connected to an ocean, and that anything we do in our space has broader scale effects, in both a negative and positive sense.”
Water bears life, cleanses old wounds and carries stories of resilience and hope between generations. Water is intuitive, liquid magic that holds our hydrophilic bodies in development as children and brings familiarity to the world as adults. Yet, our reductionist scientific training strips the enchanting beauty of the element, reducing it to a “resource” that can be tested on, fragmented and controlled as a commodity.
How can we then open up the sciences to alternative ways of tending to the needs of our waters and lands that hold space for stories, re-connection, pause and appreciation of inherent beauty?
This month, we bring onto the show Mary Trudeau, a professional engineer specialising in water management and urban water infrastructure, and is the Director of an environmental consulting company. She is also the author of a children's book, A Tale of Two Planets, written to inspire awe and wonder for our amazing planet. Mary has worked in the environmental field for over 30 years and believes the first step to resolving our many challenges is to reconnect with the wonder and beauty of life on Earth, rekindling reverence and remembering, with humility, our place as planetary caretakers. Mary's diverse interests are reflected in her formal education, with degrees including a Bachelor of Applied Science (Civil Engineering), an Arts Degree (English Literature) and a PhD (Physical Geography). She is a part time professor at the University of Ottawa.
What will be covered:
Mary’s embodied memories of being in relation to water from a place of true awe and admiration as a pathway into water engineering and consultancy
Decisions on managing land all being water decisions
Mary’s journey from academic and environmental storytelling to intuitive storytelling for children
Invitation to re-enchant environmental processes in ways that come intuitively for children
Tapping into the intuitive knowing of interconnection and wholeness we had as children but was unlearned through our reductionist scientific training
Mary’s transition from academic and environmental storytelling to storytelling for children - from intellect to intuition
Not about educating children but giving permission to re-enchant nature for themselves - holding space for the rejuvenating energy on appreciating beauty in the natural and human-made
Limitations of ‘reductionist’ science which fragments environmental processes and issues into disconnected pieces which can be studied and experimented on e.g. water cycle, carbon cycle
Call for us to re-instil confidence in ourselves that we do intuitively know ecosystem processes and how to act in times of crises through practice e.g. citizen science, cleanups
Metaphor of the ocean - no matter where we are on the planet, we are connected to an ocean, our actions (positive and negative) will have implications for the entire system
The ‘science’ in social sciences water sector taking a more interdisciplinary approach by focusing on: behaviours that motivate people to sustainably manage their waters, economics of water, intersections with human health and safety e.g. sanitation
Integrated water management: integrating socioeconomic conditions, land use decisions and industrial activities (depends on what agency is doing the integration)
Recognition that water is connected to and affected by all social and economic decisions, including policy and planning decisions impacting biodiversity
Importance of biodiversity protection as connecting humans to wider world - we can adapt to different climates, we cannot live as a single species, or apart from the web of nature and life, inspiring small-scale action that has cumulative benefits e.g. removal of perched culverts for migratory fish
Making space for pause and noticing processes of water from a place of gratitude and awe, but also acceptance of grief and pain from generational loss
Resources:
Mary’s professional websites: marytrudeau.ca (Envirings Inc)
Mary’s book - A Tale of Two Planets
Connect with Mary on Instagram (@marytrudeaubooks)
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Mind Full of Everything is a podcast calling for the radical healing of the self and community to outgrow the broken dominant culture of radical individualism and disconnection from our place as interdependent beings, so that we can collectively re-envision a safer, healthier and equitable world. Each episode takes a healing-centric approach to explore the embodied ways in which we can collectively restore and transform our journeys as stewards of community and earth through conversations with writers, researchers, coaches and educators, as well as reflection episodes with the host Agrita Dandriyal on her journey navigating the world as a deeply conscious, culturally-rooted and relational being. Learn more here.
