Dear Relatives,

It seems like we were just entering the summer after a fairly brutal winter and a tumultuous spring. In the blink of an eye, we're entering the fall harvest days and for many of our northern relatives, making plans to winterize our homes. This past summer was especially challenging for most of us on Turtle Island. Wildfires, tornadoes, flooding, and heat that broke records. And unlike the natural cycles of our Mother Earth, we're experiencing the rapid and devastating changes to the balance that has allowed us to thrive for thousands of years.

August also marked 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf states. And since then there seems to be nowhere that the predictability of the seasons can be counted on where, beside the "once in a hundred year" floods or droughts, we've lived and thrived for generations. Changes over the generations were, in modern history, gradual and Indigenous Peoples adapted, migrated, and evolved in our knowledge and relationship with our homelands and relatives.

Along with our work to sound the alarms on the rapidly expanding exploitation of natural resources and the lack of accountability for the waste streams that they are responsible for we continue to ground ourselves and our communities in the Indigenous Principles of Just Transition and Climate Justice.

We will find common ground and the paths that lead us toward ending the reign of the "Fat Takers" --the corporate raiders who continue, in what seems like a few years, taken us backward. Rights and protections eliminated with the stroke of a sharpie that were fought for and won with the blood and treasure of those who have come before.

The reality is that we're not just facing the changing of the rules but a complete game change. Regardless, we will not give up no matter how cruel, ridiculous, and inhumane they become because we will find the ways to resist and overcome as we ground ourselves in our original instructions.

Stay tuned to our social media streams, and our website. In the coming months, you may also receive more direct communication in your email inbox from us. There will be opportunities once planned and announced, to gather, engage, and work together to find the solutions that are right for our communities to prosper. There will be ways to communicate the reality of failed policy and stories from the front lines.

We hope you enjoy this installment of our monthly updates.




Communications & Media

EN Communications Digital & Social Media Coordinator, Eddie Saunsoci (Omaha) (right) and Communications Logistical Technician, Govinda Dalton (left) traveled to Cherokee, NC to help setup and train members of the Eastern Cherokee Organization in podcasting. Mary Crowe (center) and Lisa Montelongo (not pictured) had about 15-30 people funnel in to receive training for a podcast streaming/recording. The value to the community will grow as everyone realizes how radio can serve the community in many ways. One example is incorporating programming that will facilitate the teaching of their language and the history of their traditional ways, to include local announcements and news. Read more about this work below in Campaign Updates / Indigenous Just Transition

Gitigaan - IEN Teaching Garden

As August comes to a close in our gitigaan, we can feel the seasonal shift—the mornings heavy with dew and the evenings cooling quickly. This year brought both abundance and challenge. Though the June storm brought hardship and loss, the land continues to provide: chokecherry bushes bend under the weight of ripe berries, and our gete okosomin squash grow full and plentiful. The care and dedication of our garden staff is reflected in this reciprocity between land and community.

On August 20th, we hosted Waabigwan Impressions in partnership with the Watermark Art Center. Community members gathered in the garden to explore plant-based art practices. Artist Liseli Polivka shared Taki zomi, a flower-printing technique that uses pressing and pounding to alter fabric, while Nokomis Piaz guided participants through Cyanotype, a sun-reactive process that imprints natural images onto cloth. To continue the learning, participants are invited to the Watermark Art Center on August 27–28, where Waabinoo LittleWolf and Liseli Polivka will lead sewing workshops to transform their fabrics into traditional bandolier bags.



Climate Justice / Indigenous Just Transition

Utopian Seed Project

On August 2, 2025 IJT organizer Mary Crowe was invited to speak at the Utopian Seed Project in Barnardsville, NC. Principles of an Indigenous Just Transition Brochures and Hoodwinked in the Hothouse Booklets were distributed to those in attendance.

Another Community Radio Station in Support of Community Wellbeing

On August 3-7, Govinda Dalton and Eddie Saunsoci, IEN Communications staff members, arrived in Cherokee, NC, and delivered radio, podcast equipment, and a sustainable power supply trailer equipped with a solar power system, complete with solar panels, to the Eastern Cherokee Organization and the Qualla Boundary, Home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This was all made possible through the support from IEN, along with the Footprint Project, in response to disaster relief and mutual aid efforts during the recovery after Hurricane Helene last September, when electricity and communications were unavailable for weeks.

IEN at Neil Young Love Earth Village August 10

Neil Young’s Love Earth Village and Love Earth Concert was held at the Allianz Amphitheater in Richmond, Virginia on Sunday August 10, 2025. IEN was selected to participate and Lisa Montelongo and I set up an information booth at the Love Earth Village hours before the show to meet attendees when the doors opened at 5:30pm. We were encouraged to decorate our booth to attract attention and we had over 100 people stop by and visit and talk with us and all of our brochures and booklets were taken. A lot of folks took pictures and the event coordinator had the group picture taken at our booth. The Honor the Treaties banner was made by my daughter Lou for her Senior Project in 2017 and I kept it all this time on my wall in my studio. It was an eye catcher and brought folks to our table! The concert was a blast and ol’ Neil is still Rocking in the Real World!
Indigenous Feminisms
Indigenous Feminisms goes to Bigstone Cree Nation for Youth Climate Change Gathering
Claire Charlo, IEN Indigenous Feminisms Educator and Remi Still Smoking, Little Shell Chippewa Cree Youth were invited by Dr. Angele Alook, Professor of Gender Studies at York University and Bigstone Cree Nation member to help host a youth climate change gathering in Wabasca, Treaty 8 territory. Tally Terena, of the Terena Nation of Brazil was invited to share her global south Indigenous perspective. It was a beautiful gathering with both elders and youth from the community. We went out and learned how to make a fire in the rain, construct a shelter, and we picked wild blueberries and high mountain cranberries. It was a beautiful two days of intercultural exchange. Claire and Taily shared about their communities and the work at the United Nations. Remi talked shared about the work they do as youth divestment organizer for Youth Climate Finance Alliance while teaching how to wire wrap beaded hoop earrings.
Climate Justice / GeoEngineering

Indigenous People’s Forum on Plastics

August 5-15 Panganga Pungowiyi and Adrienne Aakaluk Blatchford attended the INC 5.2 in Geneva.

The chair introduced new text and through the negotiations process, observers were excluded from participating in amending the chairs text. This didn't stop Right- holders from making space and demanding to be included.

Panganga and Aakaluk engaged with the International Indigenous People’s Forum on Plastics to work towards a Plastics Treaty, that is a group of global representatives. They work to hold the petrochemical industry and big plastic producers accountable. They demand an equitable and just treaty that serves the world and future generations for good health, clean water and air, putting an end to plastic waste colonialism now.

While in Geneva, they collaborated with Just Transition Alliance allies, Fernando Tomas Apont�, Lara Auman and Nona Chai along with Alaska Community Action on Toxics Executive director Vi Waghiyi, the International Waste Pickers Association, Youth Plastics Action Network, the International Trade Union Association, Port Arthur Community Action Network. They hosted two press conferences to address the lack of participation with Rights holders, stake holders, and impacted communities.

Panganga and Aakaluk lso attended the INC International Peoples Day meeting with the Chair, Luis Vayas.

At the end of the two weeks of anticipation for a treaty, there was no progress and negotiations will continue. Where and when is yet to be announced.

The lack of transparency through the process has been flawed and we demand participation in the upcoming 5.3.

As the world’s decision makers are taking two steps back with having to start the negotiations with the text from Busan, we will continue to show up and hold the line. We will fight for outcomes that provide direct funding to our communities and that the treaty be inclusive of Indigenous People in the forefront to hold accountability, to phase out of plastics production, address chemicals of concern, and stop false solutions.




RAN is Hiring
Research Manager who will support the Climate & Energy (C&E) Program’s strategies to shift finance away from fossil fuels and advance a just energy transition and respect for human rights by leading impactful research and analysis on energy finance. This will include managing the annual Banking on Climate Chaos research project.

TO APPLY: For optimal consideration, please apply by September 14, 2025, using the link below to submit a resume and cover letter.
APPLICATION LINK: [link removed]. Students Taking on Oil and Petrochemicals (STOP)
Fall 2025-2026 Fellowship – Click here to learn more and apply




HOME Alliance launches a foundational resource unpacking geoengineering technologies, their risks, and the political context in which they are being advanced. It equips civil society with the tools to understand, track, and challenge these false solutions.

Read and download the toolkit: [link removed] French versions to follow!

Please take a moment to like, share and amplify this toolkit on social media

LinkedIn: [link removed] CCS Action Network for the webinar Protecting Communities and Mobilizing Against Dangerous Carbon Capture Projects Nationwide on Thursday, Sept 4th at 7pm EDT:

For those who missed it: Chase from Dakota Rural Action helped lead a powerful Q&A, gathering ideas and feedback from participants nationwide. Paul from BOLD Alliance delivered an eye-opening breakdown of where the CCS industry could pivot next, and what that means for both our local and federal fights. You can watch a recording here: 8-14-25 CCS Action Network Webinar.m4v

Now we take that momentum into action. On September 4 at 7 pm Eastern Click here to register.

Before this fall’s critical policy fights, we’ll sharpen our strategy and connect local campaigns into a coordinated national plan around:

Pipeline Safety: Expose the truth about CO2 pipelines and educate policy makers about what real, enforceable safety protections are.
Protect Local Control: Ensure lawmakers know that people don’t want them to weaken or eliminate local protections for safety and property rights, and that efforts to fast-track dangerous CCS infrastructure will put people and communities at risk.

Register now and help build the movement that can stop the CCS industry in its tracks. Together, we are stronger and together, we will win.




Comments are needed:

Oregon Gold Mine
Oregon gold mine - comment period closes Sept 8th - Click here for more info and to comment. [link removed] Remove 2009 Endangerment Finding
The EPA is considering removing the 2009 Endangerment Finding that regulates motor vehicle Green House Gas emissions. The “Reconsideration of 2009 Endangerment Finding and Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Standards” proposal was signed on July 29, 2025 and will be published separately in the Federal Register. The pre-publication version is available at [link removed] documents can be found in the docket for this rule established under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194. Click here to learn more and submit your comment before September 22, 2025. [link removed] Native American tribe that beat the Trump administration in court -- for now - The Miccosukee Tribe is lauding a judge's ruling regarding "Alligator Alcatraz." Click here to learn more. [link removed] in the Age of AI: Exploring Opportunities and Risks for Tribal Nations - Click here to read the report.

The Colorado River is one tribe’s ‘lifeblood.’ They want to give it the same legal rights as a person The move, by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first. Click here to learn more.

EPA terminates $7B solar program, cutting $500M in tribal energy funding
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to terminate a $7 billion solar energy program that supports projects in marginalized communities, including more than $500 million earmarked for tribal lands. Click here to learn more.



Letter to the Climate Justice Community from PvFF member groups Friends and Fellow Climate Justice Advocates
We write as member organizations of the People vs. Fossil Fuels (PvFF)coalition, which is a network of over 1,200 climate justice, Indigenous, Black, Latino, social justice, economic justice, progressive, environmental, youth, faith, and other organizations working collectively toward a common goal of ending the era of fossil fuels. Together, we represent and are accountable to millions of people and their communities in the United States. We stand in solidarity with global communities impacted by an accelerating and worsening climate crisis.

The Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations by Design Result in Continued Harms to Indigenous Peoples
s the INC-5.2 Global Plastics Treaty negotiations come to an end in Geneva, Switzerland, affected groups aligned for justice express strong disapproval of the treaty process and the state of the chair’s proposal text. Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, trade union workers, youth, and fenceline communities are drawing the line and are amplifying a shared message: The negotiations in Geneva made achieving an inclusive, just transition impossible, by design.

Coalition of Organizations Stand in Unity with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
A broad coalition of organizations has signed a letter of unity standing in firm solidarity with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the White Mesa Ute Community, the White Mesa Concerned Community group, and all impacted communities in rejecting the continued operation of Energy Fuels Inc.’s uranium mill near White Mesa, Utah.

2025 BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS
The 2025 Banking on Climate Chaos report is the most comprehensive analysis on fossil fuel banking produced to date.

Weaponizing the Law
We will not yield to the forces that seek to erase us or extract from our lands and waters. Rooted in the strength of our ancestors and guided by our traditional values, we will continue to resist—through action, through truth-telling, and through care for one another and our Mother Earth. Our movements are built not only on struggle, but on love, ceremony, and the enduring power of community. Even in the face of relentless attacks, we will find ways to gather, to laugh, to heal, and to dream. Because joy is also resistance, and we carry the future in our hearts.




Big Tech’s Net-Zero Goals Are Looking Shaky -- Emissions are “going through the roof” because of A.I., according to new sustainability reports. Click here to learn more.

Rural Communities, Tribes Sue EPA Over $2.8 Billion in Canceled Funding for Flood Mitigation and Resilience Projects -The sudden withholding of federal funds poses an existential threat to projects that have been in the works for years in communities across the U.S. Click here to learn more.

Foundations Commit $36.5 Million in Emergency Funding to Protect Public Media in Vulnerable Communities Click here to learn more.



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IEN Staff & Management



The Indigenous Environmental Network - PO Box 485 - Bemidji - MN - 56619

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