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Dear Relatives,
October witnessed, in the ancient homelands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians where IEN just held its 2024 Protecting Mother Earth (PME) gathering, catastrophic loss and destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. As the region struggles with ongoing recovery, hundreds of people dead or missing, and untold property damage, IEN staff reaffirms our dedication to supporting frontline communities and calling out extractive industries forcing climate catastrophe upon Mother Earth and all of life.
While she still had electricity and cell phone service, IEN Indigenous Just Transition Organizer Mary Crow (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) shared unbelievable photos of the now rapidly swelling and raging Oconaluftee River. The usually relatively peaceful Oconaluftee gracefully meanders through Cherokee, North Carolina, where more than 1400 families, groups, and Indigenous Nations from throughout the world had just camped and swam only a couple months earlier, during the PME.
Once Helene dissipated enough for Mary to emerge from her home where she sheltered with family, she began to take stock of extended family and community members’ whereabouts. While her immediate family members were all accounted for, some lost power, internet, and landline telephone service. Other relatives were trapped by fallen and windblown debris. Others were without drinking water until municipal, county, and reservation roads were finally cleared of debris and EBCI Tribe, FEMA, NC state, or county emergency staff could reach them. In all that, she learned a nephew and his wife lost two vehicles and some outbuildings to a mudslide higher in the mountainous region. With the loss of electric power and subsequent loss of internet, the only grocery store in Cherokee was forced to close.
While Helene was still offshore gaining power in the Atlantic Ocean, IEN contractor and 2024 IEN PME gathering organizer Lisa Montelongo (EBCI) had visited family in California. When Helene hit her home community on the Qualla Boundary, closing roads throughout Western NC and wiping out major sections of East- and Westbound Interstate-40, Lisa found herself stuck in Atlanta. As she made her way home on the few open southern routes to Cherokee, she stopped to buy water and basic foods to take home to her immediate family and also for relatives.
As they are known to do in such times, Mary and Lisa went into action. As leaders of the Eastern Cherokee Organization (ECO), which partnered with IEN for the 2024 PME, they applied for and received emergency funding through IEN and IEN’s longtime partner organization Climate Justice Alliance. With that, ECO was able to help local EBCI member-owned mobile food preparers, including Tyson Sampson (EBCI), 2024 PME head food coordinator, to get hot food out to the community. Other individuals and organizations who had volunteered in 2024 PME food preparations and other conference areas gathered supplies and food for the post-Helene relief endeavors. The emergency funding also helped ECO to purchase supplies for cleanup and recovery efforts throughout October. IEN Communications provided information to its monthly Newswire readers about how to donate and otherwise assist in relief efforts.
Originally scheduled to hold a session with ECO on Inherent Relationships Jurisprudence (IRJ) in Cherokee, NC, the first week of October, widespread destruction and road closures forced IEN Sovereignty Advocate Michael Lane (Menominee) to take the IRJ session to the desert. Longtime Indigenous sovereignty and human rights organizational partner Tonatierra Nauhuacalli, Phoenix, AZ, welcomed Michael for a workshop held on October 7 and 9, 2024. The Tonatierra community is a partner in the IRJ project and will work toward internal implementation of the concept. The work session focused on background issues and strategic planning.
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Staff Spotlight: Mona Pollaca
The positive role and the wisdom of grandmothers is revered among Indigenous Peoples. IEN Indigenous Water Ethics Organizer Mona Pollaca is a Havasupai, Hopi, and Tewa member of the Colorado River Indian Tribes from Arizona is an example of the kind of grandmother who is held in high esteem, even beyond her community and tribal nation. She is an activist, educator, author, and spiritual leader who, along with other Indigenous women elders, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. In 2004, out of concern for the future of Mother Earth and in response to visions, a grandmother sent invitations to other grandmothers to gather and talk about their concerns. Click here to read more.
IEN continues to support the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the White Mesa Concerned Community organization in their efforts to close the White Mesa Uranium Mill located in southeastern Utah on the ancestral homelands of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. It is the last operating conventional uranium mill in the U.S. IEN Keep It In The Ground (KIITG) Co-lead and Mining Organizer Talia Boyd has been busy working with the community, helping to organize a rally held Oct. 4, 2024, at the Utah State Capitol. On October 12, 2024, IEN Board Adviser Dr. Manny Pino, staff members Michael Lane and Mona Pollaca joined Talia, members of the White Mesa Concerned Community and the White Mountain Ute Tribe at the White Mesa Community Center for the annual White Mesa Spiritual Walk and Protest from the community center to the White Mesa Uranium mill. They were joined in solidarity by members of the Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice including longtime activists and allies Bradley Angel and Teri Johnson. Click here to read more,
From October 14 to 15, IEN sent a youth delegation of Cheyenne River and Standing Rock youth to the MniKi Wakan Summit, which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the Dakota Territory. The youth delegation was led by Morgan BringsPlenty, IEN Digital Organizing Fellow, and participated in discussions about water justice, water monitoring and data collection, and various strategies Indigenous communities are deploying to protect their waters. Read more about Morgan’s experience at the Summit here.
Meanwhile, in the Arctic North, IEN Carbon Pricing Educator Thomas Joseph Tsewenaldin (Hupa, Karuk, Paiute-Shoshone) and new IEN Geoengineering Outreach Organizer Aakaluk Blatchford traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland, for the October 17-19, 2024 Arctic Circle Assembly. The Assembly is also attended by heads of state, members of parliament, business and industry promoters, academics, and others from countries of the Circumpolar North, as well as the U.S. and Japan. The groups meet annually to strategize plans for their interests in the Arctic. Tsewenaldin and Aakulak on the other hand, met with local community organizers, potential allies and Indigenous communities to challenge the narratives of the more high-profile participants pushing false solutions. Meeting with Indigenous organizations and communities, sharing their expertise and experience with false solutions to climate mitigation, like geoengineering and carbon markets. IEN Geoengineering Organizer Panganga Pungowiyi (Sivuqaq Yupik) also played a key role in assisting the team with organizing meetings and events during their time in the far north.
 On the heels of the Arctic Assembly, IEN Executive Director Tom Goldtooth led a delegation of Indigenous Peoples to Cali, Colombia, for the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (UNCBD COP16). Industry, politicians, and other segments of humanity send our planet’s environment to the brink of collapse, endangering our ecosystems, our climate, our cultures, and our economies at risk. The IEN delegation raised their collective voices to preserve the biodiversity of the natural world while others sought to commodify every lifeform on Mother Earth. Members of the delegation included Thomas Joseph Tsewenaldin and Aakaluk Blatchford, joining straight from the Arctic Assembly, IEN Climate Justice Program Coordinator Tamra Gilbertson, joined by Chief Ninawa, and members of the Acre, Brazil, Huni Kui Indigenous community. Sunny Ahkivgak, of Native Movement-AK and Ojibway elder and spiritual adviser Grandmother Mary Lyons. The UNCBD under the theme, “Peace With Nature,” opened on October 21, 2024, with speeches from world elected leaders with later remarks from constituency observer groups and Indigenous Peoples. The meeting continues through Nov. 1, 2024. Image: Sonny Ahkivgak (Inupiaq) with Native Movement-Alaska. Here with us at the UNCBD COP16, Cali, Colombia
In the Great Lakes region, IEN Communications and Media Director, Daisee Francour (Oneida) participated in the Madison 365 Leadership Summit on Monday, October 28, where she shared her unique experiences with BIPOC youth regarding healing, decolonization, and community building through language and cultural revitalization. She examined how assimilation and colonization impact cultural identity, discussing issues like Indian Boarding Schools and other notable U.S. public policies that were designed to assimilate and eradicate Native Americans. She emphasized the different generational experiences of assimilation and emphasized the importance of young people’s role in leading movements of healing, reclamation, and community (re)building. Further, on Tuesday, October 29, Daisee participated in a roundtable discussion with other Native leaders and elected Tribal officials in Wisconsin, bringing forth a grassroots perspective regarding the social, racial, and environmental justice issues Tribal communities face in Northeast Wisconsin.
IEN KIITG Co-Lead Coordinator Brenna Two Bears, IEN Policy Analyst Jordan Harmon (Muscogee(Creek)Nation), IEN Sovereignty Advocate Michael Lane (Menominee), and IEN Communications Special Projects Coordinator JoKay Dowell joined representatives and leadership of Indigenous Nations from across the country in the ancestral homelands of the Northern and Western Paiute, Western Shoshone, Washoe and Mojave Peoples in Las Vegas, NV for the 81st Annual National Congress of American Indians gathering. On Oct. 31, 2024, the IEN crew presented a workshop on, “Facing the Future: Dialogue on the Implementation of an Indigenous Just Transition Toward a Sustainable Future.”
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Opportunity with MASE: Environmental Justice Coordinator RFP
The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE) is seeking a qualified contractor for a 1-year Environmental Justice Coordinator position to support our work within uranium-impacted communities in the Southwest. The Coordinator will oversee program management, advocacy, and community engagement initiatives, working closely with MASE leadership and Indigenous community partners. This contract position is open for bids, allowing candidates to propose compensation based on their experience and expertise.
Proposal Deadline: December 31, 2024 For full details visit: www.swuraniumimports.org
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New CO2 Pipeline Mapping Tool!
Great Plains Action Society and FracTracker have launched a powerful new Environmental Justice map highlighting carbon capture & storage (CCS) infrastructure alongside vulnerable areas in the Great Plains. Indigenous territories, sacred sites, wildlife preserves, and schools are just a few of the areas at risk.
CO2 pipelines pose serious threats to Indigenous communities and communities of color. Local leaders and environmentalists are fighting back to protect cultural and ecological landscapes. Check out the tool here!
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Action alert from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation
You are probably familiar with the disastrous and environmentally destructive STAMP Wastewater Pipeline. Over the past 10 months, allies have taken action to halt construction on the pipeline, terminate a key right of way permit allowing construction through the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, and demand revocation of a DEC Freshwater ECL permit (keep sending those emails - the permit is *still* in effect!)
Today, we’re asking you to take action on the other half of the same pipeline. As Buffalo News reporter Mackenzie Shuman documents in a recent article, STAMP developer GCEDC seeks to build a massive pipeline - so-called “Big Water” - to transfer 6 million gallons per day of treated municipal water from the Niagara River to the STAMP site for industrial use and eventual discharge into Oak Orchard Creek and Lake Ontario. Keep reading to learn more, then use our one-click tool to stop this project from breaking ground.
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Dear Sec. Granholm; Reject loan guarantee for PA and IN for Plastic Waste Burning
In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $182 million in conditional loan guarantees from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to fund a new International Recycling Group (IRG) facility in Erie, PA. IRG’s facility would collect plastic waste from a 750-mile radius, downcycle some, and process the rest to be burned in blast furnaces at a steel plant in Indiana in place of some amount of coking coal, creating air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. We believe this proposed facility would have a significant negative impact on human health and the environment in both PA and IN, as well as on our climate.
Beyond Plastics created a petition urging Energy Secretary Granholm to reject the conditional loan guarantee which can be found at: https://bit.ly/doe-burning and we need your help to share it with more people (especially in PA and IN.)
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From Indian Country and Beyond....
Nature destruction an 'existential crisis' for humans, says UN chief -- Humanity faces an "existential crisis" caused by its rapacious destruction of life-sustaining nature, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned delegates Tuesday at a biodiversity summit in Colombia. The 16th so-called Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) must make progress on the creation of monitoring and funding mechanisms to achieve 23 goals agreed in Canada two years ago to "halt and reverse" nature destruction. Themed "Peace with Nature," the summit has been bogged down, however, in disagreement about modalities of funding. Click here to read more.
Over 630 Organizations Oppose the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA)-- With the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (EPRA), Senate Democrats are under pressure to trade the lives and health of front line, environmental justice, and Tribal communities and the fate of our wild public lands in exchange for transmission policy with questionable climate benefits. It’s a bad deal that costs way too much for way too little, and that may explain why over 630 organizations have joined together to oppose the bill. Click here to learn more.
Sign-On Letter: U.S. President Biden We Demand Action -- Not Just an Apology -- We are calling on boarding school survivors, Tribes, organizations, and individuals who believe that healing and solutions are possible to sign onto our letter and collectively demand that President Biden take these FIVE actionable steps toward accountability… Click here to learn more.
The US Interior Department signed three landmark co-stewardship agreements with Alaska Native Tribes and corporations, building on the Biden Administration’s Investing In America agenda to protect salmon in the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Norton Sound regions. Click here to learn more.
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IEN Staff & Management
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