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Alfonso Jaramillo is co-founder of Drought Smart, a Bay Area rainwater catchment and greywater re-use systems worker-owned cooperative. Alfonso has a diverse background that includes a B.A. in Development Studies from UC Berkeley with a focus on sustainable development and over 15 years of experience in the graphic design field, working with many foundations and grassroots non-profits as an activist and communications expert. After attending graduate school at the California College of Arts and Crafts, he traded-in his x-acto knife for a shovel and joined Dig Cooperative, where he learned the intricacies of ecological design and construction from one of the pioneers in the water conservation field.
Born in Chile in the 1970s, he was forced to leave his country as a child during the Pinochet dictatorship. His experiences as a refugee in Mexico and later as an immigrant to the United States have shaped his vision for what an environmentally just California must include. As a systems designer at Drought Smart, Alfonso works to make water conservation resources more accessible to everyday folks while helping Californians prepare for long-term drought.
