Paul Salopek, his walking partners, and other collaborators have collected many stories related to human interaction with water along the Out of Eden Walk. The following stories reveal some of the various impacts of water on daily life that they have encountered along the journey.

The articles, regular dispatches written by Paul throughout his journey, are available at three reading levels. There are also multimedia resources from the walk: “milestones” are snapshots Paul records every 100 miles on the trek. These contain videos, panoramic photographs, and brief interviews with the first person he encounters at each location. Walking tours include interactive maps with photos and narration that guide readers through key locations along the route. Consider assigning different articles to groups of students in your class for analysis and discussion. Students can locate the regions Paul and his walking partners visit using National Geographic Mapmaker. Other cooperative learning activities such as stations and jigsaw would also work well for exploring these resources (more specific activities and tools are included in the next section).

• Red Sea: (milestone) Paul journeys from Africa toward the Middle East on a ship packed with farm animals. He interviews a young seaman and shares images and video of the voyage.
• Shorelines: (article) When Paul visits a university on the shores of the Red Sea, he speaks to a scientist studying underwater salt pools and reflects on how life changes at shorelines.
• Uniting Heaven & Earth: Saving the Kidron-Nar Basin: (article) Israelis and Palestinians work together to restore the heavily polluted Kidron-Nar Creek.
• These Waters Carry the Ghosts of Ancient Empires: (article) In Uzbekistan Paul walks along the historic Amu Darya river and records stories of the people who must share its slowly drying waters.
• Heart Like a Wheel: (article) An Afghan man and his son work as waterwheel millers. They use the waterwheel to crush grain into flour.
• Greenness: (milestone) Clean groundwater is in short supply in India causing moisture loss and decreasingly fertile ground. Consequently, farmers have made changes in the crops that they grow.
• New Map: River Roads of India: (article; includes hyperlink to interactive story map) In India, Paul describes a water crisis where nearly half of India’s population is facing a critical shortage of drinking water or polluted water. Areas with high population, such as the Ganges Watershed, face severe water scarcity.
• Growing Up in Yunnan: In this chapter from the Out of Eden Walk podcast, walking partner Zhang Mei shares memories of growing up near a high mountain lake in Yunnan province, China.
• Indus River Dolphins: In this podcast chapter, walking partner Arati Kumar-Rao remembers her walk along the Indus River and an unexpected encounter with rare dolphins.

As your students explore the Out of Eden Walk, use the Learning Tools below to look more closely at what these stories can reveal about water.

• Use the See, Think, Wonder Learning Tool with the Red Sea or Greenness Milestone, or a striking image from the interactive story map linked to the article, “New Map: River Roads of India”. You may want to assign different images to different student groups, then have groups share. Collect student questions and categorize them to identify topics for more exploration.
• Break students into small groups, assigning each group an article to read - or a podcast to listen to - and discuss. Have students use the Save the Last Word for Me discussion protocol to examine the source closely. As they read or listen, ask them to choose their passage based on what it shows about how humans interact with water and/or are impacted by water related issues in their communities.
• Conduct a structured group discussion with your students to analyze the links between stories. Use the Socratic Seminar format from the Conducting Powerful Conversations Learning Tool to help students think critically about and make connections between the varied stories of water from the Out of Eden Walk and other resources you may be using in your classroom. Use the guiding questions below to begin the discussion. Encourage students to speak to each other and use examples from the texts:
  • What was the most surprising thing you learned from these stories? Why did that surprise you?
  • What are some of the similarities between the stories of water we have seen? What are some of the differences?
  • What are the effects of polluted water and water scarcity on communities? How do people change their daily living habits to adapt to these issues?
  • How have the stories of water in the Out of Eden Walk changed the way you think about water in our community? Why has this changed?

You may want to “fishbowl” your classroom discussions to allow smaller groups to discuss while the larger group observes. See the Learning Tool for more details on this practice.