Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

Conference: Sustainable Native American communities

One of the best presentations I’ve seen was made by Dennis Martinez, a restorative ecologist, who spoke to students at the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont. Martinez spoke about restoring the land by following traditional Native American practices.

Meanwhile, I’m glad to share the following information about the continual attention being paid to the traditional ways in which Native people created an environment viewed by others as a land of “milk and honey.”

Plan on attending the “Building a Healthy, Sustainable Native American Community” conference, Sept. 25-27 in Fairfield, Iowa. Sponsored by the David Lynch Foundation, the conference will examine the ways Native American cultural and agricultural practices have influenced the sustainability movement and how modern technology could better serve the Native American community.

Addressing five core issues of education, health, agriculture, energy and cultural preservation, leaders in the Native American and sustainability communities will discuss what a healthy, sustainable future would look like for the Native American population. The steps that have already been taken to reach that goal will feature prominently as well.

You can learn more about the event here.

Jodi Rave

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.