The POLIS Water Sustainability Project is turning 20 this year! We couldn’t have made it this far without the support of our colleagues, partners, advisors, funders, water leaders, and many many supporters across B.C. (and beyond!) who give their time and energy and continually champion the necessary and crucial work of water sustainability and watershed security. To celebrate some of the people who have made this milestone possible, POLIS Communications Director Laura Brandes got in touch with several “POLIS alumni” to find out what they’ve been up to since leaving POLIS, and to ask if there are lessons from their POLIS days that they still carry with them…
Elizabeth Hendriks was part of the Water Sustainability Project team from 2008 to 2011. In her role as Water Governance and Policy Coordinator, she engaged local governments in comprehensive water conservation planning and helped facilitate the Water Conservation Workshop Roadshow. She was ahead of her time with digital communications and outreach, and founded POLIS’ Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series back in 2010. We still run this series, and these webinars have reached thousands of water practitioners and thinkers in the years since Liz left POLIS.
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Laura Brandes: What is your current job and how long have you been there?
Liz: Since my time at POLIS, I have been with WWF-Canada for 12 years. I am currently the Vice-President of Restoration and Regeneration focused on a national effort to restore one million hectares and regenerate lost complex ecosystems to protect essential wildlife habitats that sequester carbon and combat the dual crisis of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Laura: What was your biggest contribution to the work at POLIS?
Liz: Founding the Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series, and hosting and producing its first season.
Laura: Now that you can look at the work of POLIS from a distance, what are your thoughts? Are we achieving what we should? Where do you think we’re having the biggest impact?
Liz: POLIS pushes at the edge of current environmental thought. It’s a hard—and often thankless—place to be, but the world needs the work of POLIS to push us all along! Thank you for all you do.
Laura: Are there any skills or lessons from your POLIS days that you still carry with you today?
Liz: Be patient. Be diligent. Be kind.
Laura: What adventures have you been on since leaving POLIS? Are there any major milestones—either personally or professionally—that you’d like to share?
Liz: I was involved in ensuring 25 wild rivers of Canada were safeguarded through the Navigable Waters Act renewal.
I also worked to ensure the management plan of the St. Lawrence River includes environmental flows—which brings a small contribution of ecological governance into the management of the largest working river in the country!
The release of the WWF-Canada Watershed Report in 2017 was another milestone. This was the first-ever comprehensive health and threats assessment of Canada’s watershed reports.
Laura: There are some big concepts that are central to our ongoing work at POLIS—like ecological governance and watershed security. What do these concepts mean to you? And, in particular, has your understanding of these ideas changed over time, based on where your career has taken you and what you’ve learned in the last 20 years?
Liz: I have spent most of my career thinking about how to practically bridge the concepts of ecological governance and watershed security with where governance structures sit today. Applying concepts to work best for people and nature is extremely complex. These days, I’m spending a lot of time thinking about how these concepts sit within western science and a colonial structure versus Indigenous knowledge systems.
Laura: Do you have any favourite POLIS memories you’d like to share?
Liz: It’s not a specific memory, but a feeling of gratitude! For a few special years, I got to bike through a beautiful old forest to a tiny cottage in the woods and wrestle with complex ideas about how to change the world on the ground with some of the best thinkers in the world!
