Featuring photography by Ivan Bandura

Last October, the IPCC reported that we must cut global emissions in half by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Faced with the enormous task of decarbonizing our economies and radically transforming nearly all systems of life, we must dream into new and ancient futures. At the heart of this calling for transition lies evermore urgent questions of justice: How will power and resources be distributed? Whose voices will be represented and needs prioritized? Join us with Jade Begay and Julian Brave NoiseCat for a live recording at Bioneers 2019, as they share their thoughts on decolonizing a just transition and recentering Indigenous leadership within the movement. 

Jade Begay is a filmmaker, communications strategist, impact producer, and climate justice activist. Jade’s work explores Indigenous futurism, inclusion, and representation in the media landscape. Jade has partnered with organizations like Resource Media, United Nations Universal Access Project,  350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Club, Bioneers, Indigenous Climate Action, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Allied Media Projects, and Tribal Nations from the Arctic to the Amazon to create content, develop strategies, and storytelling campaigns to mobilize and create more engagement around these urgent, complex, and sensitive issues of our time. Jade is also the Creative Director at NDN Collective, an Indigenous led organization that builds indigenous power through decolonizing the world of philanthropy and creates direct funding opportunities for Indigenous and Native communities. 

Julian Brave NoiseCat is Director of Green New Deal Strategy at Data for Progress, a think tank, and Narrative Change Director with The Natural History Museum. He is a correspondent for Real America with Jorge Ramos and contributing editor for Canadian Geographic. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, The Paris Review and many other publications.

Together, we are re-energized by the call for accountability within the environmental movement and invite you to reflect on your own habitual patterns of engagement and consumption. May this episode move you to not only listen, advocate, and stand alongside Indigenous and frontline communities, but also directly resource those at the forefront of climate chaos fighting for a just and livable world. 

♫ Music by Sea Stars, Katie Gray, and The Ancient Wild

Learn More & Take Action

Visit NDN’s website https://ndncollective.org and read their Position Paper on mobilizing an Indigenous Green New Deal: https://ndncollective.org/get-involved/resources/

Explore Julian’s many essays, articles, and interviews listed on his website https://www.julianbravenoisecat.com. Be sure to read his piece, “An Insiders Guide to the Climate Debate,” published by Data for Progress: https://www.dataforprogress.org/memos/insiders-guide-climate-debate.

Support groups that help register Native voters, including the Rural Utah Project https://www.ruralutahproject.org and Native Vote http://www.nativevote.org. For more information and resources, download and share Native Vote’s comprehensive toolkit: http://www.nativevote.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Native-Vote-Toolkit-2018.pdf

We also ask that you put pressure on candidates in 2020 to speak about their Native American platforms. Call, write, and tag candidates on social media to support Native people in making these demands and getting clear answers from candidates on how they will advocate and protect Indigenous rights. 

Read more about Julian’s organizing work with Alcatraz Canoe Journey 2019: https://www.canoejourney2019.com https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/22/us/occupation-alcatraz.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share 

To learn more about climate colonialism, resource extraction, and renewable energy, we recommend the following reading list: 

“A Red Deal” by Nick Estes: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/red-deal-green-new-deal-ecosocialism-decolonization-indigenous-resistance-environment

“The Green New Deal and the Danger of Climate Colonialism” by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò: https://slate.com/technology/2019/03/green-new-deal-climate-colonialism-energy-land.html

“The Limits of Clean Energy” by Jason Hickel: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/06/the-path-to-clean-energy-will-be-very-dirty-climate-change-renewables/

“End the “Green” Delusions: Industrial-scale Renewable Energy is Fossil Fuel+” by Alexander Dunlap: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3797-end-the-green-delusions-industrial-scale-renewable-energy-is-fossil-fuel

“A new chance for climate justice?” by Nathan Thanki: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/new-chance-climate-justice/?fbclid=IwAR3yyrq_uXpV-VJxKj3yQ-UoxrNHWiLwIYLrebVlFNUy2bO4FoHN2WQrWu0

References & Recommendations 

There There by Tommy Orange

Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest by Zeynep Tufekci 

‘Data for Progress’ Policy Report on the Green New Deal: https://www.dataforprogress.org/green-new-deal-report

Thunder Valley CDC: https://www.thundervalley.org/

Black Mesa Water Coalition: http://www.blackmesawatercoalition.org/