Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Film Series presents:
Thinking Like Water : Film Club & Live Conversation Series
June 9 – July 14, 2026
Weekly on Tuesdays
A five-part documentary and series of live conversations with the filmmaker, expert guest speakers and Bio4Climate facilitator.
The Thinking Like Water docuseries reframes the climate conversation by putting water back at the center of climate action, ecological repair and community life. Follow ecological restoration pioneer Bill Zeedyk and collaborators as they assess landscapes, observe how water flows on the land, and then implement simple yet innovative strategies to “slow the flow.” This contributes to rehydrating the land, restoring dry river beds and degraded watersheds, and reviving habitats, while significantly reducing the incidence of drought, flooding, wildfires and extreme heat on the land and in the bioregion.
Hosted by Bio4Climate facilitator Dr. Katie Ross, the second iteration of this interactive online series pairs each episode of this film with a live conversation featuring filmmaker Renea Roberts (see her work at Thinking Like Water), special guest speakers, and resident permaculture mentor Calin Radulescu.
As a special bonus for this course, Calin has been brought in as a water and permaculture mentor for course participants so that you can translate inspiration and what you learn into practical action that’s customized to your local landscape.
What You’ll Learn in This Series:
- Simple, effective land and water restoration methods you can apply locally
- What “working with water” looks like in real-world restoration
- How healthy watersheds help prevent flooding, drought, wildfires and extreme heat
- Useful insights from the facilitator, filmmaker, permaculture mentor and restoration leaders
- How local watersheds connect to larger water systems
- Practical next steps for becoming a water steward
- There will also be opportunities to have more in-depth offline conversations about specific case studies including your local landscape.
TWO WAYS TO PARTICIPATE:
Option 1 (Recommended)
Watch each episode on your own prior to Tuesday, then join the live discussion.
You’ll receive a private viewing link for each episode during the week prior to the conversation, along with the Zoom link for the live discussion.
Option 2
Attend the online film screening on Zoom, followed by the live discussion
If you’re unable to watch ahead of time, plan to join the Zoom screening at 6:00 PM ET, followed by the live discussion at 7:30 PM ET.
Reserve Your Spot Now!
Schedule
June 9 – July 14, 2026
Weekly on Tuesdays
- 6:00 PM ET — Optional live group screening of the film on Zoom
- 7:30 PM ET — Live discussion with the host, filmmaker, special guest speakers and permaculture mentor
Note: We encourage you to watch the film on your own before the live discussions at 7:30 pm since film playback quality on Zoom may vary based on Wi-Fi connection and group size.
Special Guest Speakers
- Jeffrey Boland-Prom – June 16
- Cameron Weber – June 23
- Brad Lancaster – June 30
- Bill Zeedyk – July 7
- Shantini Ramakrishnan – July 7
See pictures and bios of our guest speakers further down below.
Episodes
- June 9 — Episode 1: “Willing to Try Things”
- June 16 — Episode 2: “All about A Bird: 1,000 Acts of Restoration”
- June 23 — Episode 3: “Fire and Flood”
- June 30 — Episode 4: “Country Roads, City Roads”
- July 7 — Episode 5: “Watershed Wide: Putting it All Together”
- July 14 — Wrap Up: Applying What You’ve Learned to Your Local Landscape
Pricing
We offer a sliding scale and partial or full scholarships to ensure that everyone has access to this program.
- Early Bird – $125 – ends May 31
- Bring a Friend – $100/person
- Seniors (65+) – $99
- Partial Scholarship – $75
- Artisans, Students – $50
- Full Price – $175 – starts June 1
- We recognize that opportunities and resources are not equally distributed across the world and people are able to contribute at different levels or in different ways.
- For full scholarships or non-monetary contributions, please email us at films@bio4climate.org with the details of your request.
- Group rates are also available. Please email us at films@bio4climate.org to share details about your group and your request.
Meet the Filmmaker
Renea Roberts — Filmmaker, Thinking Like Water
Renea Roberts is a documentary storyteller working at the intersection of practical and philosophical meaning—exploring cultural and physical landscapes, civic relationships, and empowerment. Her work observes complex social issues and elevates community knowledge through an emotive, accessible style. Read more about Renea in this interview by Jessica Rath in Abiquiu News – Who Produced Thinking Like Water ?
Meet Your Permaculture Mentor
Calin Radulescu — Resident Permaculture Mentor
Agroforester, community practivist, trainer, and permaculture designer, Calin began his regenerative work by co-founding a peri-urban project in Lyon, France. This initiative combines permaculture, syntropic methods, and a “retrosuburbia” approach, and it now supports a family of eight while hosting a community garden. The site has served as a living laboratory—testing, refining, and scaling ideas that now inform his work with clients across Europe and the United States, in both rural and peri-urban contexts.
Calin’s practice centers on holistic design, with a strong focus on water restoration and harvesting. Read more about Calin.
Meet Our Special Guest Speakers
Jeffrey Boland-Prom — Beaver Habitat Specialist, Watershed Advocate, Conservation Leader
Jeff Boland-Prom is Vice President and Founding Member of Illinois Beaver Alliance. Jeff is a graduate of the Beaver Institute’s BeaverCorps training program, where he learned state-of-the-art techniques for managing beaver conflicts. He brings together his love of nature with his education in applied mathematics and previous teaching experience. His efforts on behalf of the Illinois Beaver Alliance include watershed outreach, research, regenerative agriculture, and agroforestry. He is currently working on wetland restoration with Wonderland Community Project in McHenry County. He can be reached at jeff.boland-prom@illinoisbeaveralliance.org
Learn more about Jeffrey’s work.
June 16 — 7:30 PM ET
Cameron Weber — Habitat Conservation Director, Rio Grande Return, Riverscape Restoration Practitioner, Conservation Planner
Cameron Weber is the Habitat Conservation Program Director for Rio Grande Return, where she leads conservation planning, agriculture-to-nature land use transitions, native plant and seed development, and riverscape and ecosystem restoration in the arid Southwest using low-tech, process-based methods. She holds a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico. Cameron brings over 18 years of experience in ecological farming and habitat restoration, and serves on the boards of the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation and the Southwest Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration. Learn more about Cameron’s work.
June 23 — 7:30 PM ET
Brad Lancaster — Rainwater Harvester, Permaculture Instructor, Author
Brad Lancaster is an expert in rainwater harvesting, passive solar design, permaculture, and community-driven native food forestry. His books on Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond and his bold, innovative strategies help communities restore ecosystems, grow food, and manage water in dry regions using practical, low-cost, nature-based solutions. Learn more about Brad’s work.
June 30 — 7:30 PM ET
Bill Zeedyk — Ecological Restoration Pioneer, Biologist, Author, Let the Water Do the Work, Featured Expert in Thinking Like Water, a Five-part Documentary Series
Bill Zeedyk is a living legend. After 34 years as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, he launched a second career restoring degraded streams, wetlands, and floodplains using low-tech, low-cost, and low-risk methods that work with nature. Over seven decades, Bill has helped heal hundreds of miles of waterways in the desert southwest and beyond, mentored thousands of practitioners and volunteers, and taught people across the world to read the land, slow water, and trust natural processes. He is the author of Let the Water Do the Work and the featured expert throughout the Thinking Like Water five-part docuseries. Learn more about Bill’s work.
July 7 — 7:30 PM ET
Shantini Ramakrishnan — Conservation Scientist, Educator, Community Restoration Leader
Shantini Ramakrishnan builds capacity for local leadership in landscape conservation through the Conservation Science Center at Highlands University, based at the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. An educator and practitioner, she develops place-based outdoor learning programs that create pathways into STEM disciplines. Her work focuses on habitat restoration, water and soil capture, and community-led restoration in northern New Mexico, including post-fire landscapes following the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. Learn more about Shantini’s work.
July 7 — 7:30 PM ET
Meet Your Host
Dr. Katie Ross — Bio4Climate Facilitator
Katie Ross is an independent writer and researcher with a background spanning ecology, renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, transdisciplinary research, and transformative sustainability learning. Her work connects restoration, water cycles, biodiversity, and climate resilience through story and practice. Read more about Katie.
