Then write your congress representatives directly! No matter what state you live in, your federal legislators will vote on this. Tell them to vote NO on raising Shasta Dam!
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION! This will tell legislators in your state that you oppose raising Shasta Dam.
California congressional representatives (Democrats and Republicans) are lining up to ram through federal legislation to raise Shasta Dam and guarantee low cost water to Central Valley water brokers for big profits.
The Winnemem Wintu of the McCloud River have paid once already, losing our lands, our river and our salmon. We received no compensation when the dam flooded us out, and then were told we’re not Indians any more.
A higher dam will drown more of our ceremonial sites, including the grounds of our Balas Chonas (Coming of Age ceremony), which make us who we are.
Indigenous communities demand land rights, blame land grabs for failure to curb deforestation March 26, 2014
Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples from Asia, Africa and Latin America have called for increased recognition of customary land rights in order to curb deforestation and ensure the survival of their communities.
“We, forest peoples, are being pushed to the limits of our endurance just to survive,” a coalition of community representatives and NGOs said in a declaration released on Wednesday.
The Palangkaraya Declaration on Deforestation and the Rights of Forest Peoples calls on governments to uphold forest peoples’ rights to control and manage their customary lands and to halt rights-violating development projects being carried out without consent from local communities.
The statement was drafted during a week-long conference in Palangkaraya, Indonesia, where members of forest communities met with environmental, human rights and indigenous rights activists to discuss deforestation and the threats faced by forest peoples as their lands are increasingly encroached upon by large-scale agribusiness, logging and mining projects.
“Our lands are being taken over and our forests are being cleared to produce timber, palm oil, soya, minerals, oil and gas for global and domestic markets and for infrastructure and hydro-power,” the statement read.
“Often these impositions are part of large-scale development programs elaborated by governments and corporations without our involvement and funded by international development agencies,” the declaration continued. During the conference, participants found that environmentally destructive development projects that disregarded the rights of forest communities were being carried out in all the regions represented.
Even in areas where national or local laws recognize indigenous land rights, participants found that these regulations were often disregarded on the ground.
“Threats to indigenous peoples’ forests are similar worldwide,” Carmenza Tez Juogibioy, an indigenous people’s leader from Colombia said in a press release accompanying the declaration.
“States and companies carry out deforestation despite this violating the rights of forest communities. Governments mostly disregard our just demands, but we will continue to fight for respect for our lands and territories and respect for human rights, which are the source of life for our peoples,” she added. The declaration stressed that while “global efforts to curb deforestation are failing,” the international community could help reverse that trend by putting indigenous rights at the center of conservation efforts and bringing land back under the control of groups who have successfully and sustainably managed forests for generations.
“The forest feeds and takes care of us,” said Marceline Louanga, an indigenous community representative from Cameroon.
“Our people know how to protect the forest, but the state has taken the forest away by force. We no longer have access to forest land, and without our forest livelihoods, it is far harder to educate our children.”
The conference was held from March 9-14 in the capital city of Central Kalimantan, a province in Indonesian Borneo. Despite being designated as Indonesia’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) pilot province in December 2010, Central Kalimantan has seen large forest and peatland areas cleared for palm oil, often by companies illegally expanding plantations beyond their concession boundaries.
Chevron has partnered with Texaco Oil company and have been dumping their waste around the Amazon. Since there are indigenous people living in voluntary isolation near the oil projects, they have to suffer from being exposed to such toxics. This little girl has to live with these pollutants because Chevron and Texaco do not take in consideration where they are leaving their waste and have no need to clean it all up.
Much respect and appreciation to all the tribal people, and others, who showed up at the “Don’t Frack California!” Rally last Saturday, to make a strong statement for Water and the future generations!
The Ogallala Aquifer has been named “America’s Best Tasting Water” by the National Rural Water Association. The aquifer is what Transcanada wants to drill the toxic tar sands crude Keystone XL pipeline though.
Recently, the Swinomish, Suquamish, Lummi, Tulalip tribes, Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam Nations released a joint statement of solidarity to stand together to protect the Salish Sea.
The energy giant, Kinder Morgan, filed an application with the National Energy Board of Canada in December of 2013 to construct a pipeline, dubbed the TransMountain pipeline, from the tar sands in Alberta to Vancouver, B.C. From Vancouver, the crude oil would be placed on tanker ships and exported to Asia.
“We issue a call to all Native Americans, First Nations relatives, and to all people who love the Salish Sea to please stand with us to protect our rights, our health, and our children’s future. It is our generation’s time to stand up and fight. What happens to the Salish Sea happens to our peoples, and to all those who call this unique place home.”
So, with Keystone XL coming to Pine Ridge whether my tribe wants it or not, and the Bakken shale oil having upped the number of rapists the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara have to deal with, AND the number of oil rig workers who are registered sex offenders, many are worried that it might increase the number of rapes against Indian women in South Dakota.
CHRISSY SWAIN, DEFENDING GRASSY NARROWS - Chrissy Swain shares about her connection to the land, the importance of youth defenders, and how some leadership should “smarten up” and be Anishinaabe.
On December 2, 2002, youth and Elders of the Grassy Narrows First Nation established a blockade on a logging road in their territory and sparked one of the longest standing Indigenous logging blockades in Canadian history. The Grassy Narrows community has survived many colonial traumas including relocation, residential schools, mercury contamination, flooding of sacred grounds and burial sites, and clear-cut logging within their traditional territory. However, resistance is strong at Grassy Narrows where youth and Elders are actively defending their territories by re-occupying their lands, reviving their culture, and exercising their rights to manage their land as they see fit.
Little Bear gathering strawberries: te kapa hapay k'awim e'nnaan (Maidu)
Gardening Tips:
Strawberries are a regenerative plant that will spread out as long as their is more room. While the plant is busy spreading out, and dropping roots, they rarely grow their berries. If you want your plant to flower keep it in a separate container/pot; so they can focus their energy on flowering rather than spreading.
Helpful hint about growing strawberries. There are regenerative; they will spread and drop roots as long as their is more soil to spread out on. The strawberries will not grow because the plant is too busy putting down roots. If you want these berries to grow you must have them separately potted, in a pot or hanging/dangling container.
