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The Water Remembers, With Amy Bowers Cordalis

On A People's Climate: The largest dam removal in US history.

Shilpi Chhotray

October 18, 2025

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The Water Remembers with Amy Bowers Cordalis | A People’s Climate
byThe Nation Magazine

For the first time in over a century, the Klamath River flows free again—thanks to the vision, courage, and determination of the Yurok Tribe. 

In this episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray talks with Amy Bowers Cordalis, a member of the Yurok Tribe and leader in the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. 

From devastating fish kills and lost salmon runs to confronting corporations and navigating the law, Amy shares a story of environmental restoration, Indigenous sovereignty, and the power of nature-based solutions. 

This is a story of rivers, resistance, and the multi-layered fight—legal, political, and cultural—to heal the land and its people.

Learn more at apeoplesclimate.org 

Resources:

– “The Water Remembers” by Amy Bowers Cordalis (Bookshop) (Amazon)

– Yurok Tribe Celebrates 50-year Anniversary of Mattz v. Arnett

Presented by Counterstream Media and The Nation

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For the first time in over a century, the Klamath River flows free again—thanks to the vision, courage, and determination of the Yurok Tribe.

In this episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray talks with Amy Bowers Cordalis, a member of the Yurok Tribe and leader in the largest dam removal project in US history.

From devastating fish kills and lost salmon runs to confronting corporations and navigating the law, Amy shares a story of environmental restoration, Indigenous sovereignty, and the power of nature-based solutions.

This is a story of rivers, resistance, and the multilayered fight—legal, political, and cultural—to heal the land and its people.

Learn more at apeoplesclimate.org

Resources:

The Water Remembers by Amy Bowers Cordalis (Bookshop) (Amazon)

– Yurok Tribe Celebrates 50-year Anniversary of Mattz v. Arnett

Presented by Counterstream Media and The Nation

Powered by Wildseeds Fund

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Reframing Resistance (Live from NYC Climate Week) | A People’s Climate
byThe Nation Magazine

For this special season finale, recorded live during NYC Climate Week, host Shilpi Chhotray convenes a powerful storytelling event with three frontline media makers: Chantel Comardelle, Alexandra Norris, and B. Preston Lyles.

This is more than a conversation about films or campaigns — it’s an intimate window into the lived realities of climate and environmental injustice. From Indigenous land loss in Louisiana, to the ongoing fight against the petrochemical buildout in Cancer Alley, to exposing the violence of toxic prisons, this discussion centers the human stories too often sidelined in mainstream climate narratives.

Our guests speak candidly about their experiences, what sustains them in the face of systemic harm, why frontline voices must lead solutions, and how storytelling itself becomes a vital tool of resistance, survival, and collective power.

This live storytelling event was made possible in partnership with Dr. Margot Brown, Senior Vice President of Justice and Equity at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Frontline Resource Institute. Special thanks to Chess Jakobs, Counterstream Media’s Impact Producer, who produced this event.

Key Topics

  • Frontline climate and environmental justice: Stories from communities directly impacted by the climate crisis and extractive industries.
  • Indigenous displacement: The Isle de Jean Charles Choctaw Nation and climate-driven migration.
  • Sharon Lavigne’s fight against petrochemical expansion in Cancer Alley
  • Toxic prisons: The intersection of mass incarceration, environmental harm, and systemic injustice.
  • How spiritual grounding and faith sustains organizing. Using film and media to reclaim narratives and highlight underrepresented stories.
  • Narrative power: How media shapes perception, policy, and the climate movement’s priorities.

Resources

Let No One Lose Heart

Toxic Prisons Campaign

Rise St. James

Preserving Our Place

Isle de Jean Charles Choctaw Nation

Frontline Resources Institute

Environmental Defense Fund

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Shilpi ChhotrayShilpi Chhotray is the host of A People’s Climate, a new podcast from Counterstream Media and The Nation. New episodes every Saturday, starting September 27.


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