Since the 1970s, ecological concerns have been central to the practice of married collaborators Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison. This work is part of Meditations and Survival Pieces, a series that functions as environmental impact reports based on the artists’ extensive research on different geological sites. This drawing was part of a 1977 public campaign, organized by Lynn Hershman’s the Floating Museum, consisting of posters, billboards, performances, newspaper advertisements, and sidewalk graffiti placed around San Francisco in an attempt to draw attention to the environmental impact of the damming of the Sacramento River and its tributaries for irrigation purposes.