Lydia Poncé is an Indigenous Mayo, Quechua, Scottish, Mujer, Actionist, and Water Protector. She is a member of the American Indian Movement, the Community Engagement Director at SoCal350, and the Community Rep and Bridge Builder at 5Gyres. Listen to her interview with Red Rotkopf where they discuss her current work and some of her life stories.

Red, a member of the Metabolic Studio team, interviews Zakaria, a friend who he met at a Thursday night Metabolic Makers Space and Potluck. Listen as Zakaria shares his journey as an activist with us.

Wendy Schneider is the Executive Director of Friends of the Inyo in the Eastern Sierras of California. She shares with us the importance of protecting Long Valley against Los Angeles' imminent water grab that will leave the valley dry and barren.

Harry Williams is a Bishop Paiute Tribe elder and water activist. He brings us insight into the relationship between the Owens Valley and Los Angeles, as well as perspective on what he has coined the "Owens Drained Lake." Williams has spent the past thirty years walking and studying the ancient irrigation ditch system built by his ancestors over around a thousand years ago. He is the main expert on these ditches and has a plethora of interesting stories to share.

Kris Kwaz Hohag is a rapper, a guide, an activist, and a dreamer living at the nexus of some of the most stunning landscape on the planet. As a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, Kris has a strong relationship with the landscapes and heritages that surround him. This podcast explores the relationship between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley through water and the impacts this relationship has on life in all its forms.

Sarah Cowles is an Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at USC. Her research engages dialogue between representation and material processes in the making of landscapes at three nested scales: regional identity, disturbed sites, and the garden. Prior to her appointment at the University of Southern California, she was Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at Knowlton School at The Ohio State University, where she co-organized (with Dorothée Imbert) the 2016 international symposium “THIS IS A TEST” on the role of testing and prototyping in contemporary landscape architecture practice. She has held visiting positions at Washington University and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Tbilisi State Academy of the Arts in the Republic of Georgia. Her exhibitions include The Elusina Lazenby Experimental Forest (Knowlton School, 2016), The Salt Mountain Disturbance (Artisterium, Tbilisi, 2010) and Elegantly Wasted (MASS MoCA, 2012). In practice with Tom Leader Studio, she coordinated design of the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, and several large-scale redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cowles received her MLA from Harvard University’s GSD and her BFA from the California College of the Arts.

(source: https://arch.usc.edu/people/sarah-cowles)

Mercedes and Ryan live near the Los Angeles River and spend lots of time on the river picking up trash, admiring the wildlife, and walking their dog Penny. Learn more about their experiences and their observations on the river.

Ed Reyes is a former council-member for CD1 in Los Angeles. His lifelong commitment to social change and equality can be notably exemplified through the CASP Plan that he implemented while serving the City of Los Angeles. Having grown up in Northeast Los Angeles, Reyes focused his political career on housing, the environment, and water issues. Reyes' care for the betterment of our communities and our world is deep and infectious.

Alexander Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the USC Landscape Architecture & Urbanism program, an Affiliate of both the Spatial Sciences Institute and Wrigley Institute of Environmental Studies, and principal of the Office of Outdoor Research/LMLab in Los Angeles, California. A landscape architect, researcher, and scholar he is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and a lifelong explorer of California. His research advances the design craft, resilience, and societal value of large-scale, multifunctional infrastructures through a synthesis of historical analysis, advanced design tools, and public engagement. Subjects include Owens Lake, Los Angeles River, Salton Sea, and Tevere (Tiber) River, as well as other infrastructure/open-space hybrids. Prior to his academic appointment, Alexander worked at SWA Group, MLA-Studio, and Stoss and contributed to major regional infrastructure master plans, including the award-winning 2005 Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan that has guided the city for the last decade. His own practice, the Office of Outdoor Research won a 2018 ASLA (Southern California Chapter) Merit Award for the RebArena.

Deborah Weintraub's work over nearly two decades with the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering displays her commitment to maintaining public facilities and respecting Los Angeles' arid environment. Much of her career has been focused on issues surrounding the Los Angeles River and her participation has been critical in the development of the Los Angeles River Masterplan, the LA River ARBOR Plan, as well as in efforts to create nature focused bike paths along the river.