Indigenous Women from North America Defending Biodiversity, Human Rights, and our Global Climate

During this virtual event held in parallel to the UNPFII, Indigenous women leaders

Indigenous Women from North America Defending Biodiversity, Human Rights, and our Global Climate

During this virtual event held in parallel to the UNPFII, Indigenous women leaders addressed a variety of topics, highlighting how Indigenous women are leading efforts to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including the right of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) with the aim of advocating to global governments and financial institutions that respecting Indigenous knowledge, ways of life, and FPIC, and the right to say “no” to continued extraction, is paramount to addressing the global climate and environmental crises. Speakers also presented solutions grounded in Indigenous knowledge and expertise for protecting and defending communities and Mother Earth.

To close out our advocacy efforts at Climate Week, WECAN hosted our final event, "How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," where we heard from movement leaders and

To close out our advocacy efforts at Climate Week, WECAN hosted our final event, "How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," where we heard from movement leaders and change-makers who wove together stories, worldviews, experiences and victories of restoration and justice that demonstrate the healthy and equitable world we know is possible and needed.

Speakers included: Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous Youth Climate Leader, Ecuador; Jacqui Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, USA; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN); moderation by Antonia Juhasz, Senior Researcher on Fossil Fuels, Human Rights Watch, and Investigative Journalist.

At the closing of the event, Osprey Orielle Lake also shared a preview of her forthcoming book "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," to be released in January 2024. Learn more about the book here: https://ospreyoriellelake.earth/

During COP28, WECAN hosted a series of events highlighting the powerful voices of women leaders in all of their diversity from around the world!
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Press Conference –

During COP28, WECAN hosted a series of events highlighting the powerful voices of women leaders in all of their diversity from around the world!
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Press Conference – Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions, COP28; Sunday, December 10, 2023, 3:30 - 4:00 PM

​International women leaders shared the impacts of international climate policies, and discussed the urgency for transformative strategies and solutions to address the climate crisis and advance a just transition. ​​

Speakers included:
✨ Taily Terena (Terena Nation), Indigenous rights activist, WECAN Coordinator in Brazil, member of IITC - International Indian Treaty Council and IIYFCC - International Indigenous youth forum on climate change, Brazil
✨ Zukiswa White, Coordinator, Women and Gender Constituency, South Africa
✨ Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA
✨ Brianna Fruean, Youth Climate Activist and Environmental Advocate, Samoa
✨ Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), USA

"How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis,” a fundraiser for Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and book launch for “The Story is in Our Bones.”

"How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis,” a fundraiser for Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and book launch for “The Story is in Our Bones.”

Many thanks to the amazing speakers! Speakers included:
Corrina Gould (Ohlone)— Tribal spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan and Director of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Isabella Zizi (Northern Cheyenne, Muskogee Creek and enrolled Three Affiliated Tribes)— Organizer with Idle No More SF Bay and Movement Rights
Leila Salazar-Lopez —Executive Director Amazon Watch
Osprey Orielle Lake —Founder and Executive Director Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) and author of "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis.”
Moderation: Tracey Osborne— Associate Professor in the Management of Complex Systems Department at the University of California, Merced
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We are at a choice point for humanity. As social and ecological crises escalate globally, it is clear that the dominant cultural worldview, informed by colonization, patriarchy, capitalism, and racism is displaying a relationship with Nature and each other that is devastatingly unjust and out of balance.

To live in a healthy and equitable world, we must fundamentally change how we respect and interact with the Earth and one another. To change the present and future, it is imperative to change the narrative and amplify worldviews and stories of solutions that transform the dominant worldview from an extractivist, colonial paradigm of exploit and extract to a thriving, globally-conscious one of respect and restore.

During this event, movement leaders and change-makers wove together stories, worldviews, and experiences of restoration and justice that demonstrate the world we know is possible and needed. We knew in our bones this time was coming. And now we must act in solidarity more than ever, as we continue building a powerful movement founded on principles of justice, love, and a fierce dedication to our planet and our communities.

This event was both a fundraiser for Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the launch of the book by Osprey Orielle Lake, "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis." All book proceeds at this event will be donated to Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to support the powerful work of Corrina Gould and her leadership in the urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people.

To learn more about the book: https://ospreyoriellelake.earth
To learn more about Sogorea Te’ Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/
To learn more about the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network: https://www.wecaninternational.org/

The Case of Tuvalu #COP29

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference #COP29 in Baku, Rising Nations Youth Delegate Grace Malie discusses the future of Tuvalu and other island nations

The Case of Tuvalu #COP29

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference #COP29 in Baku, Rising Nations Youth Delegate Grace Malie discusses the future of Tuvalu and other island nations in the face of climate impacts with Valerie Hickey, Global Director, Environment Department, the World Bank. #climatechange #climateaction #pacificislands 

Amelia Southern-Uribe, 21, grew up in various parts of the US South, always in communities that were at increased environmental risk, including one community hard hit by the Deepwater Horizon

Amelia Southern-Uribe, 21, grew up in various parts of the US South, always in communities that were at increased environmental risk, including one community hard hit by the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. Living in these communities helped them recognize early on that environmental justice is connected to the liberation of immigrants, people of color, queer people, and members of other marginalized communities.

In 2019, Southern-Uribe founded the first Arkansas chapter of Zero Hour, an organization dedicated to environmental justice. The chapter, in Fayetteville, AR, created a model for the growth of chapters in nearby Bentonville and Conway, putting Arkansas on the map for Southern climate activists.

However, Southern-Uribe wanted to do more to combat Arkansas’s low rankings in education (49th in the nation), knowing that racism, injustice, and environmental neglect are all exacerbated by the educational disparities faced by youth in marginalized communities. So, in 2022, they co-founded Roots magazine, which disseminates regional and generational environmental knowledge and amplifies the voices of BIPOC Southern individuals. Roots, which has since published two editions, also provides free art supplies to writers and artists to help them translate their stories into mediums such as visual art, music, essays, and recipes. Within its pilot year, Southern-Uribe raised more than $7,800 to distribute free copies of the magazine to students, changemakers, and community members across the state.

Thank you to New Yorker Magazine, BP and NOAA for select photo and video clips.

One of the Southeast U.S.’ and Gulf South's most renowned veterans of climate justice struggles as an activist, community organizer, coalition-builder, and award-winning litigating

One of the Southeast U.S.’ and Gulf South's most renowned veterans of climate justice struggles as an activist, community organizer, coalition-builder, and award-winning litigating environmental and human rights attorney, Colette Pichon Battle, born and raised in Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, focuses on creating spaces for frontline communities to gather and advance climate strategies that help them steward their water, energy, and land responsibly. She draws from her decades of experience fighting for equitable climate resilience to unearth historic lessons and exposes the root causes of the inequities and imbalances that characterize our relationships to the natural world and to each other. Colette argues that we must expand our understanding of what a genuine Climate Justice movement needs to encompass if we are to succeed in innovating a better future, and why such struggles as gender and migrant justice are inextricably connected to human rights for clean air, clean water, sovereign land, and community control of justly-sourced sustainable energy.

This keynote talk was delivered at the 2024 Bioneers Conference.

Introducing the UIA World Congress of Architects CPH 2023. See the challenges facing architecture, inclusivity, and sustainability in the 21st Century. The UIA World Congress takes place in

Introducing the UIA World Congress of Architects CPH 2023. See the challenges facing architecture, inclusivity, and sustainability in the 21st Century. The UIA World Congress takes place in Copenhagen, July 2-6, 2023. SUSTAINABLE FUTURES LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND