Indigenous Environmental Stewardship during Climate Change: a reflection on Brittani Orona’s webinar

The title of Incomindios Lippuner scholar, Brittani Orona’s final talk originated from a prolific Hoopa Valley Tribe artist named Lyn Risling, who lives and works on the North Western coast of California. ‘Hope and Renewal Swim against the Current,’ reflects both the ways in which climate change and environmental destruction has impacted Indigenous land. This painting also portrays a sign of hope for Indigenous people and highlights how they are leading the way on tackling climate change.

Hope and renewal swim against the current: Lyn Risling, 2018

When discussing the ongoing impacts of climate change and how to fix those issues, it is imperative to talk about environmental destruction, settler colonialism and the violence that occurs against Indigenous people, as they have long been the victims of violence, genocide and forced relocation. Colonization of the Americas removed Indigenous communities from their land through violence and this mass displacement is evident globally, although it is unsurprisingly particularly visible in the Americas. Native people have experienced unimaginable violence both directly and indirectly as colonialists and their governments sought to claim Indigenous land as their own. This has been conducted through various means such as extractive capitalism, oil and gas extraction, and dam and water infrastructure. This is particularly destructive when done without the expressed consent of Native peoples.

Patrick’s Point in North Western California is now a state park which is protected Indigenous land. The reclaiming of this culturally important location was highlighted by Brittani as it provides an example of the progress which can be made when we recognise the importance of Indigenous land to Native communities. As well as understanding and facilitating Indigenous knowledge concerning land preservation and protection. Brittani reiterated that it is important to note that cities are Native lands as well and that Native peoples still have a relationship with those places, despite the construction which has drastically altered the landscape.

Indigenous peoples have been leading the way in protecting land and nurturing the environment since time immemorial. So Indigenous peoples know their lands better than anyone else, because of their strong traditions, culture, practices and stories. Creation stories are incredibly significant in situating Indigenous lands and the ways in which people interact with those lands. While policies in the United States of assimilation, termination and removal have tried to break these ties, Indigenous peoples and their practices have remained. In the United States alone various governments have been complicit and active in trying to break the relationships between Indigenous communities and their land. One of the most famous examples would be the Cherokee Trail of Tears. However, this is just one example of many forced removals which have occurred across North, Central, and South America.

Whilst historical examples abound, Indigenous peoples still face violence on their lands today. Very recently, an Oneida/Navajo military veteran named Darrell House was tased repeatedly by a National Park Service Ranger Gardner at Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico.[1] This is a symptom of the wider systematic profiling occuring in the US. Consequently, Native people and groups face discrimination for practicing ceremonies, gathering, and caretaking land without government permits or permission. The colonial ideal of preserving an ‘untouched landscape’, which empowers these federal law enforcers is an ideology based in myth as Native peoples have been interacting and tending to the land for thousands of years. Cultural fires in California played an important part in the development of plants and underbrush growth. They also help take care of the land as a whole. The wildfires that have recently been occurring in California recently and which have caused devastation, occurred in part because Native people are no longer allowed to tend and look after the land using traditional methods.

Land Back!

Giving land back to Indigenous nations is vital to helping the worldwide catastrophe that we are going through with climate change. It is also important to recognise and acknowledge the ways in which Indigenous lands have been destroyed and misused based on pollution. So not only are Indigenous people forcibly removed off their lands but when the lands are returned there are still environmental contamination problems that they then have to deal with. For example, the lands of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Ontario are surrounded by the largest complex of petrochemical plants in Canada. This is highly concerning as there have been increased rates of cancer and respiratory diseases in these communities since the construction of the plants.[2] In her talk, Brittani Orona emphasized that Climate change stewardship begins with the return of Indigenous lands.

The Indigenous worldview that we have more than just human kin, is essential in recognising that animals, plants and the world around us are not inferior, but an equal, interconnected, and vital part of existence. Indigenous acceptance of this worldview as opposed to Western, human dominant ideologies (where nature is a resource to be used for man’s personal gain) is key for a reciprocal relationship developing which consequently ensures the protection of the natural world. It is important to value the human and animal kin relationship and to respect that this is a defining feature of Indigenous communities.

In the face of Climate Change, Native advocacy is increasingly important.

Brittani Orona shared a list of organisations to support in their fight toward land back and Indigenous stewardship: