Panelist Story

Why this Indigenous rights activist does not take clean water for granted

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 19:52:39 +0000

Why this Indigenous rights activist does not take clean water for granted Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/17/2022 - 13:52

Kelsey Simpkins

“We continue to advocate for clean water because it's not just for our communities. It's for everyone, and it's for everything.”

—Tia Kennedy

Across Canada, millions of people don’t think twice when turning on the tap. But Indigenous activist Tia Kennedy never takes a glass of water for granted.

As a member of both the Oneida Nation of the Thames and Walpole Island First Nation, located in southwestern Ontario next to the Great Lakes, her connection to water is ancient. Her advocacy for clean water, however, is the result of more recent injustices.

In 2022, the Oneida Nation of the Thames remains on a boil water advisory because of underfunded water treatment and distribution systems. And Walpole Island First Nation is still grappling with the consequences of water contamination perpetrated two generations ago.

“While my grandmother was growing up, they were dumping chemicals and strong pollutants into the waterways,” Kennedy said. “This is what eventually took the lives of my grandmother and her two sisters. They passed away from cancer. It was quite traumatic for different people in my family to lose three women so close together at such young ages.”

Meanwhile, a mere 14 miles away, another city in Ontario can safely fill up a cup straight from the faucet.

“It's not fair that we're the ones constantly fighting and putting ourselves on the frontline advocating for this water, and yet we're the only ones in Canada that don't have access to it,” Kennedy said.

Fossil fuel extraction methods, such as hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), chemical spills, and unsafe disposal of industrial pollutants by private corporations and the Canadian government, have severely affected water quality and supply in First Nation communities for the past 30 years.

More than two decades into the 21st century, at least 30 First Nations still lack access to clean drinking water, and some have no running water at all. The Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario has not had safe tap water since 1995. Delays in funding mean these issues may not be addressed again until 2026.

In 2021, Kennedy received a Future Rising Fellowship from Girl Rising as part of its first fellowship cohort in her quest to make change and raise awareness of the need for clean water. This life-changing experience helped her develop many creative talents and skills while working with professionals to produce a short documentary film about these injustices. The film is scheduled to be released this year.

“My film not only highlights the devastating impacts of the water crisis, but it also highlights the beauty and the resiliency of Indigenous peoples. We're not only survivors of the past, but we're integral pieces of the future of this planet,” said Kennedy, who is also considering law school as a way to create a healthier future for her communities.

Founder of Kiinew Kwe Consulting, Kennedy is already a youth activist, speaker and consultant who works with governments, corporations and communities to address discrimination and promote meaningful and effective interactions with Indigenous peoples. Her fight for clean water will only become more important as the planet’s climate changes, threatening access to clean water for millions or even billions of people around the world.

“We continue to advocate for clean water because it's not just for our communities. It's for everyone, and it's for everything,” Kennedy said.

Across Canada, millions of people don’t think twice when turning on the tap. But Indigenous activist Tia Kennedy never takes a glass of water for granted.

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Climate change hits disabled and Indigenous communities hard. Kera Sherwood-O’Regan wants their voices heard.

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:11:45 +0000

Climate change hits disabled and Indigenous communities hard. Kera Sherwood-O’Regan wants their voices heard. Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/17/2022 - 12:11 Lisa Marshall

Kera Sherwood-O’Regan poses at Lake Takapō, New Zealand, during a June celebration of the Māori New Year. Image credit: Jason Boberg

“Children have a lot of their future ahead of them. They have to know about climate change so they can stand up, speak up and fight for their future.”

—Kera Sherwood-O’Regan

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When Kera Sherwood-O’Regan was young, her parents gathered the pito (umbilical cord) that had nurtured her in the womb, and, per tradition, buried it on sacred coastal grounds in Te Waipounamu, the South Island of New Zealand, alongside the remains of her ancestors.

Growing up in the Kāi Tahu tribe, she learned early on to treat Aoraki, the chiefly mountain of her people, and Waitaki, their river, with reverence. When she went fishing with her dad, he would always throw the first catch back to Takaroa, the god of the ocean, to ensure the sustainability of the fish stocks for future generations.

“From the time we are born, we see ourselves in a deep relationship with the environment, and with that relationship comes responsibility,” said Sherwood-O’Regan, who will serve as a panelist at the upcoming Right Here, Right Now Climate Summit on the CU ��«��Ƶ campus.

As climate change increasingly threatens that environment and the people who depend upon it, Sherwood-O’Regan has taken that responsibility seriously, serving as a vocal advocate not only for her fellow Māori—the Indigenous people of New Zealand—but also for people with disabilities. Having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in her 20s, she seeks to assure that Indigenous people, people with disabilities and people like her at the difficult intersection of the two have a voice at the table.

That’s critical, she said, because they are at once uniquely affected and uniquely well suited to provide solutions.

“Indigenous and disabled people have been organizing and innovating and creating novel solutions to problems for generations, because there has been no other option for us,” said Sherwood-O’Regan, co-founder of Activate, an Indigenous- and disabled-led social impact agency. “But only very recently have our views and experiences been [accepted as] part of the mainstream climate conversation.”

Citing her mentor, Rhys Jones, she described climate change as an “inequity magnifier.” Hold it, like a magnifying glass, over existing inequities/social issues and those challenges grow more intense. She noted that in New Zealand, only about 2% of homes are accessible to people with disabilities. With waters rising because of climate change, rendering some coastal homes unsafe, that housing stock is shrinking further.

Climate change-related heat waves can also exacerbate symptoms. For instance, people with spinal cord injuries may have trouble regulating their body temperature and are more likely to suffer heat-related illnesses. Higher pollen counts and extended allergy seasons can worsen respiratory issues among those with asthma, allergies and other chronic illnesses. Her own symptoms, including migraines and fatigue, flare when the temperature rises. When climate change-related disaster strikes, deaf people and people who are hard of hearing may not hear the sirens, and people with disabilities may have trouble being evacuated.

“Everyone has the right to be rescued, but in many areas around the world, civil defense planning doesn’t account for disabled people,” she said.

More than 1 billion people, or 15% of the population, have a disability, according to the United Nations, and disabilities are disproportionately high among Indigenous populations.

“There is a massive intersection between Indigenous rights and disability rights,” she said.

For her, and other Indigenous people around the world, climate change brings another more visceral threat: the loss of their cultural sites.

Already, the burial ground Sherwood-O’Regan’s parents visited after her birth has begun to erode as rising seas lap at the coast. She has visited occasionally, reinforcing her connection to her ancestors and the land of her people.

She hopes that if she has children someday, she can do the same for them.

“It makes me so emotional to think about it. I don’t ever want to have to say, ‘I’m sorry. But we lost that land.’”

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To prevent future death and destruction, Yeb Saño is confronting the human rights violations that fuel climate change

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 16:16:01 +0000

To prevent future death and destruction, Yeb Saño is confronting the human rights violations that fuel climate change Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/16/2022 - 10:16 Patricia Kaowthumrong

“How then do we fight this battle? We stand up against every kind of injustice.”

—Yeb Saño

Super Typhoon Haiyan surges across the Philippines. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response.

For Yeb Saño, the effects of climate change became tragically clearer on Nov. 8, 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Southeast Asia. The tropical cyclone—one of the strongest in recorded history—left a massive trail of destruction, particularly in the Philippines, where it claimed thousands of lives.

At the time of the disaster, Saño’s brother, AG, an environmental and peace activist, was in the family’s hometown of Tacloban and helped gather bodies of the deceased in the aftermath.

“He counted at least 73 dead bodies carried by his own hands. We lost friends, loved ones,” Saño said.

Just a few days later, the tragedy led Saño—then chief climate negotiator for the Philippines in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—to speak on behalf of the lives lost at the hands of Super Typhoon Haiyan at the UN Climate Change Summit in Warsaw, Poland. His heart-wrenching address called for action and was met with a standing ovation. He also fasted for 14 days in solidarity with the victims and all people confronting the impacts of climate change.

“What is heartbreaking is that the people who suffer the most are the ones who contribute the least to the root of the problem: The poor, marginalized and vulnerable groups bearing the brunt of the impacts from the climate emergency contribute the least to the world’s carbon emissions,” he said. “Climate change is one of the biggest injustices in human history.”

Saño’s advocacy for climate justice as chief negotiator for the Philippines captured global attention. In 2016, he was appointed executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, where he continues to strive for social and environmental justice.

To prevent future devastation, Saño said the world must hold those responsible for climate change truly accountable and make them stop the harms they’re inflicting. But action requires immense economic and political transformation—including a transition of energy, transport, and food systems. That means abandoning fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and gas; developing renewable energy systems that support sustainable economic development; and shifting narratives promoted by the fossil fuel industry and colluding government agencies.

“[Fossil fuel industries] have robbed humanity of decades to act on climate change by creating a smokescreen around the truth and reality of the crisis,” he said. “They have also cunningly shaped the wrong notion that the responsibility for the climate crisis rests on the shoulders of individuals rather than on their own questionable business practices.”

To unravel what Saño called the root causes of the climate crisis—greed, arrogance and apathy—Saño said we must implement the same solutions that make the world a better place, from empowering the marginalized to combating consumerism.

“How then do we fight this battle?” he said. “We stand up against every kind of injustice.”

Destruction and damage by Typhoon Haiyan November 23, 2013 in Tacloban, Philippines.

For Yeb Saño, the effects of climate change became tragically clearer on Nov. 8, 2013, when Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Southeast Asia.

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A changed landscape and lost traditions: One Nepali woman’s search for Indigenous solutions to climate change

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 18:21:28 +0000

A changed landscape and lost traditions: One Nepali woman’s search for Indigenous solutions to climate change Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/15/2022 - 12:21

Patricia Kaowthumrong

“When I was a little girl, I never heard of climate change. I never heard of floods or disasters. It was not that common.”

—Pasang Dolma Sherpa

Pasang Dolma Sherpa cherishes any time she can spend in Nepal’s mountainous region, where she grew up in a Sherpa village. Now, as an adult, she loves introducing her two young children to the beautiful natural setting and the joys of living off the land.

“That is where [my] heart is,” she said. “Everything is back to nature. . . . You have all the food on your farm.”

But the scenery Dolma Sherpa adored as a kid has changed significantly—and for the worse.

The shift in rainfall and snowfall patterns, rise of vegetation-destroying worms and insects, and other climate change-driven issues are causing severe damage to vital crops, such as potatoes, garlic, rice and barley, and making it more challenging to raise livestock. Some Sherpa communities live in fear of avalanches and landslides, which have also destroyed spiritual sites—devastating events that people sometimes blame on themselves or an evil spirit because they don’t understand climate change, she said.

“When I was a little girl, I never heard of climate change,” she said. “I never heard of floods or disasters. It was not that common.”

As a result, Sherpa people choose to migrate, leaving their homelands behind and restricting their chance to pass down spiritual, cultural and social values to younger generations.

Experiencing the changing weather’s harmful effects on Nepal’s Sherpa villages led Dolma Sherpa to become an advocate for Indigenous communities, specifically in the areas of climate change and environmental protection.

After working behind the scenes for the Center for Indigenous Peoples Research and Development (CIPRED) for several years, she became the organization’s executive director in 2016. The role enables her to lead efforts to address Indigenous peoples’ issues and concerns—including those related to climate change, biodiversity conservation and the management of natural resources—via policy advocacy, resources documentation, traditional livelihood empowerment and more.

Part of Dolma Sherpa’s work includes bringing the voices of Indigenous community members to relevant local, national and global government agencies and other bilateral groups to raise awareness about their contributions to the resilience and adaptation of biodiversity. Even though Indigenous peoples only make up about 6.2% of the world’s population, they protect more than 80% of the world’s biodiversity and have ancestral expertise on how to adapt and reduce climate change and disaster risks.

Dolma Sherpa said the preservation of Indigenous peoples’ cultural values and skills, such as farming native fruits and creating various handcrafts, is also important. That allows them to pass that knowledge along to young people—who can learn to value their roots and be inspired to fight the effects of climate change in the future.

“We need to balance science knowledge and the Indigenous knowledge so that our future generation will have an option in life,” she said. “When you know cultural values, that gives you the option to bring the science knowledge [you learn in the city] and also support your community on the ground.”

Khumjung Village in Solukhumbu District. Credit: Aris Gionis via Flickr

Pasang Dolma Sherpa cherishes any time she can spend in Nepal’s mountainous region, where she grew up in a Sherpa village.

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Her family lost their farm in Uganda to climate change. Now she’s standing up for the future.

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 16:30:59 +0000

Her family lost their farm in Uganda to climate change. Now she’s standing up for the future. Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/12/2022 - 10:30 Daniel Strain

Hilda Flavia Nakabuye poses with newly planted trees in Kampala, Uganda on Earth Day, 2021

“Children have a lot of their future ahead of them. They have to know about climate change so they can stand up, speak up and fight for their future.”

—Hilda Flavia Nakabuye

Climate activist Hilda Flavia Nakabuye first experienced the impacts of climate change before she even knew what the term meant.

When she was growing up in Uganda, Nakabuye’s family owned a small plantation in a village called Masaka not far from the wide expanse of Lake Victoria. They grew bananas, cassava, Irish potatoes and other crops. Then, in the 2000s, long periods of drought interrupted by fierce storms destroyed most of her family’s chief source of food and income.

“Crops were withered, and heavy rains stripped away most of the plants,” Nakabuye said.

Her parents moved the family to the capital city of Kampala to find work. It wasn’t until 2017 when Nakabuye enrolled as a student at Kampala University that she learned what had caused the devastation to her family farm: rapidly rising temperatures driven by humanity’s out-of-control greenhouse gas emissions.

Now 25, Nakabuye has dedicated the years since to mobilizing young people across Uganda and beyond to combat what she calls “the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced.”

By 2050, more than 200 million people may be forced to move within their own nation’s borders because of climate change, according to a 2021 report from the World Bank. In parts of East Africa, that mass migration has already begun. In the Horn of Africa, huge numbers of people are moving to escape a record-setting drought. The United Nations estimates that 1.7 million children in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are in urgent need of treatment for malnutrition because of the drought.

“The countries of the Global South are the least prepared to cope with the effects of climate change,” Nabakuye said. “They are also the countries that have contributed the least to causing climate change.”

Yet Nakabuye believes that young people, and especially young women, in nations like Uganda are in the best position to help the world solve its climate crisis.

She founded Fridays for Future Uganda, which organizes regular “climate strikes” to raise awareness of climate change in the nation. More recently, she participated in a campaign to protest the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, a planned project that would carry oil across Uganda and through Tanzania to the Indian Ocean.

Nakabuye has also led efforts to clean up the shores of Lake Victoria. Once a point of pride for Uganda and neighboring countries, the lake has become overrun with pollution and invasive plants and fish.

One of the most important solutions to climate change is education, she said. Nakabuye hopes that children in Uganda will have opportunities she did not have to learn about climate change and the forces shaping the environments around them from a young age.

“Children have a lot of their future ahead of them,” Nakabuye said. “They have to know about climate change so they can stand up, speak up and fight for their future.”

Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, center, joins a protest.

Climate activist Hilda Flavia Nakabuye first experienced the impacts of climate change before she even knew what the term meant.

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