A Reverence for Rivers: Luna Leopold’s Call for a Water Ethic

THE LECTURE

Join water author and journalist Cynthia Barnett for the 2025 Leopold Lecture as we explore the ideas of river hydrologist Luna Leopold, who articulated a “water ethic” for the United States, just as his father gave us the land ethic.

Born in New Mexico in 1915 while Aldo Leopold was working for the forest service, Luna Leopold would grow up to become the father of modern hydrology. His ideas about our relationship with water form the philosophical underpinning for much of today’s restorative water management.

But the only way to truly change our water fortunes, he believed, would be a “reverence for rivers.” He described such reverence as an “ethos for water,” a set of guiding beliefs among government, large water users and citizens to help us live with water today in ways that don’t jeopardize fresh, clean water for future generations and nature.

A half century after Luna Leopold’s prescient warnings about future water shortages and ultimate solutions, can New Mexico help lead the country to a new water ethic?

CYNTHIA BARNETT is an environmental journalist and the author of four books including Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, and The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans, both named among the best books of the year by NPR’s Science Friday.

She wrote about Luna Leopold and the water ethic in her book Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis. Her new book underway, The Sea Beneath Us, explores the secret history and hidden crisis of groundwater. Cynthia also serves as the director of Climate and Environment Reporting Initiatives at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications.