Hi, I am Cathe’ Fish. I am on an airliner on my way to the country of Jordan for the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence 10. We are right now flying over the unusually parched lands of the southern United States. To the south, I can see the vast fires of Texas caused by record heat and their worst drought in recorded history.

On my way to Jordan, I stopped a few days ago in the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona to do some work. While I was in Phoenix, there was an amazing monsoon thunderstorm. It rained hard, and I couldn’t help but wonder again why all our vital rainwater is allowed to rush down the gutters and out the storm drains, away.

I was told that Phoenix, too, had the hottest August on record, and that the rains from the monsoon this summer were very scarce. When we took off from Phoenix airport this morning, I could see beige desert suburbia dotted with large green expanses of 100 or more lush green golf courses. Our priorities need to change.

I am a drylands permaculture designer and director of the Practical Permaculture Research Institute. After living and working in the Arizona drylands for 25 years, I now live in Grass Valley, California in the foothills of the Sierras. These foothills have a Mediterranean climate, rain in the winters, and totally dry summers. Water harvesting is essential.

Will these desert areas, including Jordan, where I will land tomorrow afternoon, be able to survive the future with the demands of increasing populations on already depleted water tables with rainwater rushing downhill to the sea? It’s time for the world to work on re-greening the deserts by re-vegetation and water harvesting.

I am excited about seeing the water harvesting efforts of the ancients in Jordan as well as the current applications of water harvesting. As a drylands designer, I will be blogging about Plan Jordan: Water.

It’s time that we spread permaculture’s message of water harvesting and regeneration throughout the world. hope for the future: Permaculture.