I just spent the past four days, ending Saturday, at the Native Peoples Native Homelands Workshop II in Prior Lake, Minn. It was an inspiring conference attended by grassroots organizers, indigenous scientists, White House and NASA representatives. I had the opportunity to watch an amazing collaboration among some 300 people who all worked together to help shape the Mystic Lake Declaration, a document outlining the concerns of indigenous peoples as world leaders get ready to go to Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change talks scheduled to take place in December. I will post the document as soon as I get the go ahead from the drafters, a group of about 15 people who gathered ideas from the the workshop participants.
While at the conference, we heard from young and old alike, all people with like minds who are working to save the planet from further destruction, a climate crisis brought on by the continued use of fossil fuels. One of the people who energized the workshop was Kandi Mossett of the Indigenous Environmental Network. Mossett showed a video of the tar sands in Canada, the world’s largest and dirtiest environmental disaster. As for the tar sands, watch this tar sands blow video and see what our thirst for oil is doing to Mother Earth.
Also, if you want to read a story on the Mystic Lake Declaration, I have a story on Indian Country Today. It was posted late Friday. I’m planning on a longer story for posting later Monday.
Jodi Rave