Grandmother Flordemayo, Curandera Espiritu of the Maya People, addresses the Spotlight of Indigenous Peoples plenary at the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah

Grandmother Flordemayo, Curandera Espiritu of the Maya People, addresses the Spotlight of Indigenous Peoples plenary at the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 19th. Jean Fleury offers a message written in 1244 left for humanity.

Lake Superior Whitefish shares the story of the Petersons, a commercial fishing family in Hancock, MI. This video is part of The Ways, an ongoing series of stories on culture and

Lake Superior Whitefish shares the story of the Petersons, a commercial fishing family in Hancock, MI. This video is part of The Ways, an ongoing series of stories on culture and language from Native communities around the central Great Lakes.

Part of the earth's largest surface freshwater system, Lake Erie is a vital source of drinking water for 11 million people.

Part of the earth's largest surface freshwater system, Lake Erie is a vital source of drinking water for 11 million people. Researchers Anna Michalak, Tom Bridgeman, and Pete Richards are studying how farming practices and severe weather can increase the amount of fertilizer-derived nutrients in the water, which diminishes water quality and threatens the lake's ecosystem and the public's health.

Published on Jul 12, 2013

Women Leading Efforts to Uphold Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty, and Due Diligence with Financial Institutions and Corporations

From the frontlines of extractive projects, the

Women Leading Efforts to Uphold Indigenous Rights, Sovereignty, and Due Diligence with Financial Institutions and Corporations

From the frontlines of extractive projects, the boardrooms of financial institutions, to the halls of governments, Indigenous women are leading efforts to uphold Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including the right of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

During the event, Indigenous women leaders and global advocates discussed how financial institutions and corporations perpetuate human and Indigenous rights violations in relation to extractive and other industries and the necessary steps these institutions must take to stop these egregious activities— and instead, implement FPIC, Indigenous rights and due diligence, while also investing in solutions within a climate justice framework centering Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Additionally, given the severity of the climate crisis and existential threat to all of humanity, it is important to highlight that 80% of biodiversity remaining on Earth is in Indigenous lands and territories. Respecting Indigenous knowledge, ways of life, and FPIC, and the right to say “no” to continued extraction, is thus paramount to the discussion.

This was a formal side-event of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2022.

Speakers included:
-- Michelle Cook (Dine’/Navajo), Human rights lawyer and founder of Divest Invest Protect and Indigenous Human Rights Defenders and Corporate Accountability Program

-- Summer Blaze Aubrey (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a Descendant of the Blackfeet Nation), Law Fellow, Indigenous Human Rights Defenders & Corporate Accountability Program and Staff Attorney for the International Indian Treaty Council

-- Leila Salazar-Lopez, Executive Director of Amazon Watch

-- Sônia Guajajara (Guajajara), Executive Coordinator for Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB)

-- Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member

-- Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

-- Special Guest: Maria Violet Medina Quiscue (Nasa), Autoridades Indigenas en Bakata, Colombia with Xiomara Chingate

82 views  Sep 12, 2024

 On September 12, WECAN held a virtual launch event for the report, "The Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and

82 views  Sep 12, 2024

 On September 12, WECAN held a virtual launch event for the report, "The Gendered and Racial Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America and Complicit Financial Institutions (Fourth Edition).” 

From rising cancer rates to escalating violence, the report details the numerous disproportionate health and safety risks and impacts women in all their diversity are experiencing due to fossil fuel extraction, which is also perpetuating Indigenous and human rights violations. The report highlights regional case studies from Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities in North America, as well as the corresponding financial institutions that are contributing to these egregious harms. The report outlines recommendations for the banks to move toward accountability and a just transition. 

During the online event, we heard from frontline women leaders, health experts, and advocates who are demanding accountability from financial institutions to take action for the health of our communities, ecosystems, and the climate. Speakers included: 

✴� Roishetta Sibley Ozane M.S., Founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana and Gulf Fossil Finance Coordinator, Louisiana

✴� Rene Ann Goodrich (Bad River Ojibwe), Native Lives Matter Coalition and Wisconsin Department of Justice Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force Member, Wisconsin

✴� Sharon Lavigne, Founder of RISE St. James, and 2021 Goldman Prize Winner, Louisiana

✴� Patricia Garcia-Nelson (Oraricha Tribes of Mexico and the Chichimeca), Colorado Fossil Fuel Just Transition Advocate for Green Latinos, Northern Colorado

✴� Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Environmental Ambassador for the Ponca Nation, and Board Member and Project Coordinator for WECAN, Oklahoma

✴� Antonia Juhasz, Investigative Journalist, author, lecturer, Washington, DC

✴� Dr. Nneoma Nwachuku Ojiaku, MD, MPH Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Climate Health Now

✴� Osprey Orielle Lake, Report Co-author, and Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

Many thanks to the amazing speakers!

From Chaos to Regeneration - Our World in Crisis 1,115 views  Mar 23, 2024  

Life on our planet is under attack.  False solutions mask the real questions - How will we

From Chaos to Regeneration - Our World in Crisis 1,115 views  Mar 23, 2024  

Life on our planet is under attack.  False solutions mask the real questions - How will we grow our food, what kind of economy do we really need, and how can we stop the expansion of fossil fuels?  To counter the dominant patriarchal culture, whose exploitation of nature and of other cultures, and particularly of women,  climate justice groups are raising their voices and taking action to protect #Biodiversity, the health of their ecosystems, and the #RightsOfNature.  

#OspreyOrielleLake, founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network, discusses her new book, The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis with host, Dale Walkonen.