Protecting Mother Earth Conference in Cass lake strengthens indigenous environmental movement

By Michelle Ruckdaschel
Bemidji Pioneer

CASS LAKE — From tribes across the Western Hemisphere, hundreds of people are gathering at the Veterans Memorial Powwow Grounds here to join forces in the indigenous environmental movement.

The 14th Indigenous Environmental Network Protecting Mother Earth Conference began Thursday and closes 2:30 p.m. today with a ceremony and passing on the fire.

The four-day gathering featured hands-on activities, such as wild edible plant gathering, straw bale building construction, a talent show and youth mural painting, as well as plenary sessions and workshops focusing on environmental issues that especially affect indigenous people.

“It’s been going really good,” said Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, which is headquartered in Bemidji.

One of the main topics emerging during the conference, Goldtooth said, is the protection of sacred sites and historically significant areas.

“We know what’s not working, and having our communities wait for legislative remedy just has not been successful,” Goldtooth said. “We’ve lost a lot of ground in protection of our sacred sites. And that’s why one of the successes we’ve had so far at this event is to have people caucusing here around this topic of sacred sites.”

Another major topic is the effect mining has on indigenous communities, he said.

And overlaying with mining and sacred sites, he added, are the many other issues, such as climate change and the protection of water.

Goldtooth noted that many key people on the front lines of the environmental justice movement in Indian country are attending the conference.

One of the conference’s presenters is IEN board member Manuel Pino of Acoma Pueblo, N.M., a professor of American Indian studies and sociology at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College.

“I’m here as an American Indian educator,” Pino said.

But, he added, he is also attending to learn from other presenters about how environmental, social, legal and economic issues all affect Mother Earth. Pino noted that protecting Mother Earth is first and foremost the responsibility of human beings.

“The beauty of the land here in northern Minnesota is breathtaking to me,” he added.

Shawna Larson of Chickaloon Village, Alaska, who is the environmental justice program director for Alaska Community Action on Toxins and the IEN, agreed. She noted that she attended the conference as a presenter on toxins, environmental health and environmental justice. Besides facilitating some sessions, she said she also took in other presentations.

“It’s amazing to me to see how beautiful it is here,” Larson said. But, she said, her visit is bittersweet because she fears for the health of the locals with the level of dioxin in the area.

Larson, who has worked on a global treaty called the Stockholm Convention that aims to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants, said it was particularly interesting to her to visit Cass Lake, where the St. Regis Superfund Site is located.

Nancy Hernandez, youth program coordinator for the Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth in San Francisco, said she and others presented a few workshops. One workshop focused on popular education methods of teaching and another focused on native urban youth community organizing.

Representing the Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte, Carter Camp said he wanted to spread the word about the indigenous people’s struggle to save their sacred Bear Butte mountain area in South Dakota.

“Bear Butte is sacred to 30 tribes,” Camp said.

He said the noise and parties from the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally held every summer nearby makes it impossible for members of the local tribes to pray on their mountain.

“That bike rally has surrounded our sacred mountain,” said Camp, adding that the land is being “desecrated” by the development of a 600-acre biker bar and concert venue.

Members of the local tribes are planning a protest against the rally in August and Camp invited the people attending the Protecting Mother Earth Conference to join the protest.

Also participating in the conference was Faith Gemmill of Arctic Village, Alaska, who is outreach coordinator for the REDOIL Network. She moderated an energy genocide panel Friday.

REDOIL Network consists of Alaska natives who joined in 2002 to create awareness about the “devastating impacts of oil and gas development” on their land, their sustainable resources and the health and well-being of their communities. She said the group works on issues relating to climate change, human and ecological health, and sovereignty and self-determination.

“Development doesn’t just affect us in a way that it’s polluting our environment, it affects every aspect and the very fabric of our communities,” she said.

She noted that the traditional ecological knowledge of the indigenous people needs to be weighed in issues such as the global warming debate because they are the experts of the land.

The conference, she added, provides good networking opportunities and is a good way to learn about issues affecting other indigenous communities.

“It’s a way to build solidarity on the struggles our indigenous communities are facing in regard to the environment,” Gemmill said.