• Stories
    • The Connecting Thread
    • From Hell To Heaven
    • The Safety Valve
    • It Takes A Texan
    • Listen
  • About
    • Resources
  • Contact
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  • Take Action
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OUR DESIRED FUTURE
  • Stories
    • The Connecting Thread
    • From Hell To Heaven
    • The Safety Valve
    • It Takes A Texan
    • Listen
  • About
    • Resources
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Take Action
  • News

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Our Desired Future is a project of the Texas Center for Policy Studies and funded in part by a generous grant from the Shield-Ayres Foundation.

THE TEAM

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Sharlene Leurig

PRODUCER, WRITER

A writer and advocate, Sharlene Leurig is Project Director of the Texas Environmental Flows Project and a consultant on sustainable water investment products. She formerly directed the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Program at Ceres, a national nonprofit working to advance the integration of sustainability into the global financial markets. 

She serves on the Board of Directors of the Hill Country Alliance and is Chair of the Austin Integrated Resource Planning Community Task Force. Leurig has appeared on APM's Marketplace and On Point with Tom Ashbrook, and has written for numerous publications, including High Country News, Texas Monthly, National Geographic Water Currents, Bloomberg BNA and the Texas A&M Journal of Real Property Law.
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Sarah Wilson

PHOTOGRAPHER

Photographer Sarah Wilson explores issues of community and culture through environmental portraiture. After nine years of studying and working in New York City, Wilson has returned to her hometown of Austin, Texas. Using Austin as home base, she works regionally as an editorial photographer for magazines such as The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Time, The Atlantic Monthly, Marie Claire, Texas Monthly, Mother Jones, and others. Work from Wilson’s personal projects has been acquired by the permanent collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the Lishui Photography Museum of China.

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Dennis Foley

AUDIO PRODUCER 

Dennis Foley has worked as a creative producer in public broadcasting for over 25 years. He has written, reported, and audio engineered for such award winning programs as The Christian Science Monitor, NPR's Morning Edition, Car Talk, This American Life, PRI's Living On Earth, APM's Marketplace, IEEE Spectrum Radio and World Vision Radio. He is currently the principal at HomeWork Productions & Sound Design an independent production facility aiding in the development of quality radio, television and film.

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Chris Perez

VIDEO PRODUCER

Chris Perez is the Founder and CEO of Left Right Media LLC - a digital design agency based in Austin, TX. Left Right Media is a full-service design agency that specializes in developing first-of-their-kind magazine apps, sales enablement apps, digital brochures, event tools, continuous publishing solutions, press kits, interactive advertisements, and guides for mobile devices. Left Right Media also manages multimedia production and has been recognized as leaders in successfully blending interactive editorial and advertising through a focused mobile-first approach. Chris is an experienced professional with 9 years of experience as a hardware engineer and technology interface for IBM. Chris has a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics and Mathematics from Austin College in Sherman, TX.
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Sareen Hairabedian

ANIMATOR

Sareen Hairabedian is a filmmaker and artist in Washington, DC. Along with freelance opportunities, Sareen works as a videographer, editor, and animator for The Brookings Institution.  Sareen's background in dance and passion for artistic movement inspires her creative work, whether with a camera, a photograph, or a piece of animation. Recently, she had the opportunity to collaborate with dance companies and performance artists to document and create visual pieces combining both physical movement and film.
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Callie McLean

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Callie is an interactive designer that crafts unique experiences for all Left Right Media LLC clients. As lead designer, she specializes in custom interactive template design and efficient workflows for integrating client assets on all mobile platforms. Callie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art with a concentration in Graphic Design from James Madison University.
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Natalie Ballew

RESEARCHER

Natalie Ballew recently finished her graduate studies in Public Policy and Energy & Earth Resources at the University of Texas at Austin. She is devoted to communicating complex scientific and socio-economic issues related to water in easily understandable ways. She spent her undergraduate days studying hydrogeology and digital photography & film in Southern California, where her interests in colliding media and science blossomed.
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Garret Nick

WEBSITE DESIGNER

As an outdoor enthusiast and unabashed water lover, Garret enjoys working on projects that address important social and environmental issues. Since 1998 he has been helping individuals, businesses and non-profits establish themselves online with consulting, marketing, seo, design and development services. 
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Jeff Mills

AUDIO HOST

Jeff Mills is an inter-disciplinary theater artist and native Texan. He produces INdustry Night, Austin's newest old school live variety show.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was made possible by donations to our Indiegogo campaign by the following individuals:
Lead Supporters

Stanley Arledge
Bob Ayres
Ken Gray 
David Honeycutt
Leonard and Karen Huber
Barbara and Louis Leurig
Robert Mendez
Christy Muse
Stefan Schuster
Steve Smaha
Wes Strickland
Ira Yates
Supporters

Francisco Albornoz
Dave Anderson
Jim Ash
Sarah Backhouse
David Benson
Jenni Bernier
Paul Bertetti
Kurt Blohm
Jim Bradbury
Sadi Brewton
Ashton Brown
Bill Bunch
Brandi Clark Burton
Regina Buono
Bill Campbell
Susana Canseco
Jason Cazes
Nishima Chudasama
Linda Christie
James Clapp
George Cofer
Jane Cohen
J. Conlon
Harper Connell
Adam Conner
Marge Fye Cook
Rebecca Cook
Ellen Evans
Monika Freyman
Mark de la Iglesia
Amna Dermish
Sarah DeWitt
Lauren Dimitry
Medha Donde
Jim Donnelly
Dixie Emmaline
John Fleck



Karen Ford
Emma Foster
Hedy Fye
Kristen Fye Boll
John Fye
Lynda Fye
Michael Fye
Tracy Gartenmann
Karen Gempel
Sam Gosling
Suzanne Gregg
Karen Guz
Bryan Hale
Chris Hale
David Hall
Malcolm Harris
Laura Harrison
Gerry Hauer
Patricia Healy
Myron Hess
Jeff Hughes
Brian Hunt
Barbara Lane
David Langford
Matt Lara
Dana Lee
Jae Rhim Lee
Margo Leurig
Lillian Lew-Hailer
Sheril Kirshenbaum
Ruby Ku
Laura Machala
Andy Mangan
Amy Martin
Niki Marineau
Thomas Mason
Catherine Merrick


Garry Merritt
Brandon Mettler
Hugh Meyer
Susan Mika
Drew Miller
Carol Neiman
Jan Neiman
Michael Nemerouf
Garret Nick
Nathan Nunn
Jeff Odefey
Megan O'Leary
Betsy Otto
Virginia Palacios
Patricia Peirolo
Wendy Petruzzi
Katherine Romans
Donna Schena
Slay Schlemeyer
Caimee Schoenbaechler
Alexis Schulman
Sarah Schlessinger
Cappy Smith
David Smith
Morgan Snyder
Timothy Terway
Deborah Trejo
Merri Lisa Trigilio
David Venhuizen
Jennifer Walker
Leah Rosa Weinberg
Joanna Wolaver
Julianne Wooten
Nick van der Kolk
Andrew Voysey
Nancy Yanofsky

Our Desired Future is dedicated to Judith Layzer, who asked her students nothing more than to write something worth reading.
Texas has 500 times more water underground than anything you see above the surface.  The question is, how much do we pump and how fast?
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