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There's been an enormous amount of activity around the Exloco and Carpe Diem office lately. We couldn't even get Kimery to slow
down long enough to approve a newsletter topic last month. It's clear that things are changing and accelerating, so this month
Confluence editor Mary Jean Haley sat down with Kimery to talk about new developments and plans for the future.
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A CONVERSATION WITH KIMERY WILTSHIRE
Carpe Diem 2.0
"It's amazing and heartening that so many people with such different views have come
together to work on this shared problem."
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Q: A lot seems to be happening at both Exloco and Carpe Diem. What's the latest?
KW: Carpe Diem is moving forward on several fronts, and we're hoping to add some
staff later this year to help us keep up. We're calling this next stage Carpe Diem 2.0 because we really are moving
out of the phase we've been in for the past two years to a new level. We're starting up the Healthy Headwaters
Initiative, and there's also a group thinking about the 2007 Colorado River Accord. Right now I'm excited about this
week's release of our water, energy and climate change policy brief "Peak Water, Peak Energy, Climate Crisis: The
Collision Ahead."
The subject is so complex, and the findings even at this point are so far reaching. Water and energy require an
integrated approach and that's just not reflected in the way we manage these resources or in policy. Just one of
the few points from the report I could highlight is that in the Pacific
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Northwest, most models suggest that hydropower peak demand is likely to shift from winter to summer,
but that is when all the electrons are already heading
south to meet demand in other, warmer parts of the West. And that is also when the models show that stream flows are
going to be dropping because runoff is occurring earlier than it has historically, which will cut hydropower right
when it's needed.
A second point the brief makes is that we don't even know yet what the water costs of bringing all these new renewable
energy sources online are going to be. Read more.
Kimery Wiltshire is CEO & President of Exloco and Director of the Carpe Diem - Western
Water & Climate Change Project. For over 20 years, Kimery has been recognized for her expertise and skill
in developing new strategies and approaches to western environmental challenges and leading diverse,
solution-focused partnerships. A bred, born and raised daughter of the American West, Kimery has to be reminded that
occasionally important things do happen east of the 100th meridian.
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