Water Activism: Detroit, Flint, and the Great Lakes

Columbia University Year of Water Event | Open to the Public | Registration Required | Seating First Come, First Served

Featuring

JIM OLSEN, ESQ
Founder and President, FLOW (For Love of Water)
Traverse City, Michigan

In conversation with

NADIA GABER
Medical anthropologist and activist

Moderated by

CATHERINE FENNELL, PHD
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

Cosponsored by

• Columbia School of Social Work, Office of DEI
• Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
• Mailman School of Public Health
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
• Columbia University School of the Arts

About the Event

Environmental lawyer Jim Olson (bio), founding president of the Traverse City-based FLOW (For Love of Water), argued and won the case Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v Nestlé Waters North America Inc. This case curbed the mining and pumping of local spring waters for bottled-water usage. At this event, part of Columbia’s Year of Water series, he will address water activism in Detroit, Flint, and the Great Lakes region of Michigan. Joining him in conversation will be medical anthropologist Nadia Gaber (bio), a member of We The People of Detroit Community Research Collective, and an advocate for access to clean water as a human right. The conversation will be moderated by Catherine Fennell (bio), an urban anthropologist with a joint appointment in Columbia’s Department of Anthropology and its Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.