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What would a decolonized world look like? How can we spend more time building the world we want to live in, while still fighting back against oppressive systems?
This week we’re focusing on the work of two Indigenous environmental leaders, Winona LaDuke and Sherri Mitchell.
We discuss teenage Winona’s decision to use her high school debate skills at the U.N. Conference in Geneva, how to learn from Indigenous wisdom without extraction, and ways to dismantle white supremacist and colonial capitalist practices in our lives, even those that have benefitted us.
Other topics include the 80/10/10 rule, the dandelion insurrection, and the song of the summer as decided by Elise’s cat.
Story #1: Winona LaDuke (Olivia)
Sources:
Winona LaDuke on returning land to American Indians, Facing History and Ourselves
TEDxTC – Winona LaDuke – Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life, Tedx Talks, March 2012
Minobimaatisiiwin – the good life | Winona LaDuke | TEDxSitka, Tedx Talks, September 2014
Winona LaDuke, Current Biography Yearbook, 2003
For Some Native Americans, Uranium Contamination Feels Like Discrimination, NPR, November 2017
Follow the Life of Winona LaDuke, Vice Presidential Candidate and Environmental Leader, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Winona LaDuke’s Last Battle, BELT Magazine, November 2018
Trace Material Episode 04: The Green Path, Healthy Materials Lab
Ware Lecture, UU General Assembly 2010, UUA
As we said in the episode, Winona is an incredible speaker! We highly recommend checking out the speeches above and keeping up with her on social media.
Check out more of Winona’s projects here:
Honor the Earth website
White Earth Land Recovery Project website
Small correction to the episode — Indigenous Women’s Network is no longer active, but you can access their website archive here.
To learn more about Line 3, follow Line 3 resistors like Winona, Tara Houska, Resist Line 3, and Stop the Money Pipeline. Listen to our explainer episode on Line 3 and our Indigenous-led movements episode (discussing Line 3 and the Treaty People Gathering on the frontlines) — those posts have a full list of resources and way to help.
“And as I stand here in front of all of you — of which there are quite a few, I see — I ask you to consider the process of decolonizing yourselves. It is a jackhammer, this American industrial civilization. It is deafening… And the question, I think, that should be asked and needs to be asked of each of us is how much and how brave we are in our ability to deconstruct some of the paradigms which we have perhaps embraced. If we are able to liberate our minds to be the people that are going to be here on this land. The people who are going to protect our mother, and care for ourselves.”
Winona LaDuke, UU General Assembly Ware Lecture, Minneapolis, 2010
Story #2: Sherri Mitchell (Elise)
Sources:
Indigenous Wisdom & the Seed of Life with Sherri Mitchell, No Place Like Home, May 2020
Sacred Instructions
Sherri Mitchell, Americans Who Tell The Truth
About Us, Land Peace Foundation
LibroFM Sacred Instructions Audiobook Preview:
And find Sacred Instructions in our Bookshop affiliate shop 🙂 Should this be our next book club book?
The Dump
Others places/books/things mentioned:
Climate Museum
Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
Sunrise Movement
The Dive Motel in Nashville
The World Is Burning bookshop is live! Help us come up with book list titles and bulk up our reading list.
Our World is Burning themed playlist is on Spotify.
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Thanks for listening!
World Is Burning 