A watershed is a geographical term describing the area from which water sources drain into a single river or a ridge, like that formed by a chain of mountains, which sends water to two different rivers on either side.
From that, watershed came to mean a turning point or dividing line in life.
A watershed moment is “an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend.”
Some of us may have had our own watershed moment, or been beholden to anothers. Or, captivated by a national or global moment in time that is marked within ourselves, or in public dialogue, as a watershed moment.
We try to create watershed moments when we participate in a movement. An event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend.
This might be providing moments for others to see an ecology, ideaology, philosophy or theory or fact that shifts their perceptions, to see, so that they can not unsee, to relate it to their being human and our planet being alive.
For me regenerative sport is providing, with others, spaces where we contextualise our sport within the moment in time we are in now, which (in the words of philosopher Rosi Braidotti from Post Human Knowledge) is “a juncture, a convergence of accelerated systemic capitalism and greater acceleration of climate change” where we see a trade off in values “between embracing the fourth industrial revolution and acknowledging and seeing the 6th mass extinction through predominantly colonial and western knowledge and values.”
To accept this convergence can help us lean into what we have now and what will be in the future.
So to speak, at this moment, using both the geographical and human meanings of watershed seems quite apt.
Let's start with geography.
Australia is the driest inhabited continent with scarce water resources. The demands of a rapidly growing population and economy, including agriculture, exceed supply, with significant environmental and human health consequences for present and future generations. (The Hon. Justice Brian J Preston)
Watersheds, or catchments as we usually call them in Australia, cover our nation. Each and every one of us lives in a catchment, we even have catchment management authorities (CMA). You can find a map of CMAs in Victoria here.
How we treat our land, our climate, our waterways, how we create food and move from place to palace, what we buy and where we put our waste all happens in a catchment. Our actions can have negative or postive impacts on the waterways and water in a catchment area, the water and waterways that we rely on to be safe, healthy, clean and accessible for life and, for sport.
When catchment and waterway health declines we see declines in access to and quality of water, we see increases in water conflict, stress and scarcity. We see further declines in access to culture and significant places for traditional owners. We see decline in access to sport and physical activity which has health impacts on indivudals and communities.
Sport is played within all of these catchments.
We move across these spaces, we consume within these spaces, we flush toilets, we clear land, we curate parkland and pitches, we run canteens and purchase equipment and uniforms forplay, we irrigate sporting grounds. How we conduct our activity of playing sport (any sport not just those on, in and near to water) therefore matters to the health of these catchments.
Wholistically we want to minimize the negative impacts and grow our positive impacts including greater shared management with traditional owners of these landscapes. We want groundswell action and political will.
The millennium drought serves as a reminder of the loss to sport that comes with mismanaged water that is exacerbated by climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
From the Climate Council:
During the millenium drought more than half of the community sporting leagues in rural Victoria delayed or cut short their 2007 season because of the conditions. Drought water scarcity and delines in water quality, affected the ability to play, increasing the number of injuries, and damage or making it difficult to maintain playing grounds and facilities (SMH 2004; The Climate Institute 2015; Auty and Roy 2019, Dingle and Mallen 2020). Infrastructure impacts ranged from increased water and energy use, to higher insurance premiums to cover the increased likelihood of injury due to harder grounds (The Climate Institute 2015).
Chair and CEO of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews, way back in 2010
“‘we have known for years that water reform in Australia was important, pressing and difficult. Now that climate change is with us, important becomes vital, pressing becomes urgent, and difficult becomes downright tough’.”
Imagine if we use the power of sport for the reformation of water management - to mitigate, adapt and build resilience - where we value and act for water in an accelerated way. Our reach into public, business and political spheres is a conductor for change.
If we took to task Rosi Bradottis juncture, and we use our accelerated systemic capitalism, embracing the fourth industrial revolution ( where technology has never moved so fast and it will never move so slow as it is moving now, where capitalism could be coaxed into a well being economy to save it from falling) and use the power it provides us with to slow the acceleration of climate change avoid the 6th mass extinction and embrace non colonial knowledge and values.
If we took a regenerative approach, a life centric approach to finding solutions that secure the capacity of our planet to provide the very life-support systems we need like clean air, clean water to ensure that these are fairly distributed so that the adaptive capacities of human societies and nature are not overburdened, endangered or in competition creating conflict.
What would this look like?
In a human sense, it will look like a series of watershed moments.
It will take alliances, partnerships, vision, passion and action.
It will take standing on the rock alone, sometimes. And at others we will be together swimming foward.
It will take radical shifts in capital flow and public policy.
It will take being somewhat Ted Lassoesc. I challenge you to channel Dani Rojas, “Football is life” and repeat after me “ Water Is Life”
When you connect to this concept, water is life, when you can't unsee it, when you know the value of water, it just might be a watershed moment.
And if not, then maybe this will be...
Has a kid (yours or someone elses) told you the awesome fact that we are all drinking dinosaur wee? (google it)
I grew up on the drier side of Australia. I clearly remember the droughts and flooding rains of my childhood. Of soil blown and stacked to the top of a fence line. Boating on water over the fence line. Now where I live the water flows ALOT and it never ceases to deliver the wow factor when I see it. I can often be heard saying - look at all the water! It feels like the drought is breaking all over again. So I am a little obsessed with water. Weird, but well childhood memories can do that to you.
If you want to find out more about water and sport some along to Sport + Waterways + A Ripple Effect. is an event collaboration between Green Planet Sport and Regen Melbourne.
We will explore the:
· impacts of declining waterway health on sports who play & participate, celebrate & compete on, in and around rivers and lakes.
· negative impacts sport has on these landscapes.
· opportunities to form intersectoral alliances and partnerships that inspire more people, more often and in more places to value and act for waterways, protecting these precious resources and landscapes of play.
We want individuals and organisations to leave empowered AND it will be the start of a ‘coalition of the willing’. Regen Melbourne and Green Planet Sport will be providing ongoing support to this group to enable them to build ideas together and to assist with connection into regenerative networks.
Speakers include:
Dr. Madeliene Orr : World leading sport and climate change researcher, founder of the Sport Ecology Group, alumni of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Sport Leaders list and author of Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport. Maddy will be speaking about her book as we launch it to Australian audiences. (recorded interview)
Charity Mosienyane : Lead Convenor, Swimmable Birrarung, Regen Melbourne will be speaking to the local context of a healthy Birrarung and Regen Melbourne’s alliance of over 200 organizations working together on a host of bold projects for a regenerative Melbourne.
Annabel Sides: Regenerative Sport Practitioner, Green Planet Sport will contextualize protecting and restoring waterways in Australia and around the world from policy, landscape and place-based perspectives.
AND all those who attend and take part in facilitated conversations, thinking (and fun) with other future makers from sports, clubs, teams, schools, events, councils, environmental agencies, water retailers, catchment management authorities, technology and science innovators and businesses + those with a passion for sport, aquatic landscapes and nature.
Date: September 10th
Time: 10.00am - 12.30pm
Location: The Greenline Project Hub, Federation Square.
We are nearly sold out - you can register and find out more details here: https://events.humanitix.com/sport-water-ways-a-ripple-effect
Hope to see you there,
Annabel
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