I’m so into uplifting indigenous youth climate activists!!! Indigenous youth are doing much more to protect our environment than white Europeans and it’s really upsetting to constantly see Thunberg and Al Gore as the faces of climate action, and to only see indigenous activists brought up in relation to Thunberg. Half the articles about indigenous youth activists are like “meet the indigenous Greta Thunberg” “Greta Thunberg and (random indigenous activist) are leading the fight” like. No.
Thunberg is great but the fact is Indigenous Water Protectors (yes that’s a thing, and yes you should support your local water protectors) have been around for a long time, and indigenous people are the most impacted by the climate. We saw that at Standing Rock, we saw that at the Amazon burning, and we saw that a hundred years ago when white colonizers intentionally tried to hunt Buffalo to extinction to take away natives’ food supply.
POC and low income people are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, not just because they cant afford things like air conditioning and the proper infrastructure to protect from natural disasters (something politicians dont have to worry about since not only is 50% of congress millionaires, but they all live in public housing meaning they can reroute the infrastructure budget to make sure the state houses and capitols stand tall while the cities around them collapse) but because politicians and corporations are way more willing to create a toxic ecosystem in black and brown neighborhoods.
I live in Providence, RI, and our governor is Gina Raimondo. She received $500K from the fossil fuel industry recently, and then just coincidentally ended up allowing Shell to start messing around with fossil fuels in Washington Park which is one of the blackest and poorest neighborhoods in Rhode Island. Now because of that, Rhode Island is state with the 9th highest rate of asthma cases in the USA, and Providence has the highest rate of asthma cases in the state, and guess who the fuck has the highest rate of asthma cases in Providence? Washington motherfucking Park. Meanwhile in the richest neighborhoods of Providence (mostly Blackstone, anything on East Side) there are tons of eco-friendly businesses and laws.
We saw the same type of environmental racism happen to Flint, Michigan, who is btw still without clean water, as are hundreds of (mostly black) neighborhoods around the country.
Most reservations also struggle with getting clean water and clean food and clean air. The region of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, as well as the entire states southwestern corner, sees the highest concentration of oil drilling and fracking in the state, and 25% of fracking and drilling in the US happens near or on reservations.
In the spirit of giving more air time to the indigenous youth who are spending their time on this issue, here are a few indigenous youth climate activists you should know the name of:
“Xiye Bastida, 17, grew up around drought and then heavy rainfall and flooding in her hometown of San Pedro Tultepec, a town outside of Mexico City. When she and her family moved to New York City four years ago, she learned about the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.
The effects of climate change were inescapable, Bastida learned. And she’s since set out to do as much as she can to stop the damage.”
“Friday’s climate strike in New York City concluded with remarks from indigenous leaders, activists and organizers. Artemisa Xakriabá, a 19-year-old indigenous climate activist of the Xakriabá people, spoke about the increasing intensity of environmental destruction across Brazil and the interconnectedness of the fight for climate justice. “We fight for our Mother Earth because the fight for Mother Earth is the mother of all other fights,” Xakriabá said. “We are fighting for your lives. We are fighting for our lives. We are fighting for our sacred territory. But we are being persecuted, threatened, murdered, only for protecting our own territories. We cannot accept one more drop of indigenous blood spilled.””
“Earth Guardians Youth Director Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, (his first name pronounced ‘Shoe-Tez-Caht’) recently turned 18. He’s an indigenous climate activist, hip-hop artist, and powerful voice on the front lines of a global youth-led environmental movement. At the early age of six Xiuhtezcatl began speaking around the world, from the Rio+20 United Nations Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York city. He has worked locally to get pesticides out of parks, coal ash contained, and moratoriums on fracking in his state and is currently a lead plaintiff in a youth-led lawsuit against the federal government for their failure to protect the atmosphere for future generations.”
“I grew up in a small community called Sarayaku, and we have been fighting big oil since I was a little kid. I’ve seen my uncles and aunts fight against these big companies to protect our territories, and they’ve been criminalized for that. We realized that these companies are the same companies creating climate change. When I was little, my uncles used to run out in the jungle and keep the military out of our territories. Now it’s in the courthouses, and with paperwork.
I also work with indigenous women and children back in the Amazon. I post things on the internet and keep people informed of what’s happening back in the Amazon. I’m trying to be a voice for my people, what they have to say, from Ecuador.”
(This is pretty much just a video, no description)
Yall can also check out indigenous-run climate organizations like the Indigenous Environmental Network, Indigenous Climate Action, Diné CARE, or any of your local indigenous water/earth protectors.
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