Last Wednesday, Oct. 25, environmental activist, economist and author Winona LaDuke, came to Michigan Tech as part of the Social Justice Lecture Series run by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.
In her talk, LaDuke presented a Native American perspective on environmental sustainability, telling the story of a pipeline that had been planned for construction by Enbridge Corporation in her home state of Minnesota, near Big Rice Lake on White Earth Indian reservation. Enbridge has proposed three pipelines, Line 3, Line 67, Line 13 and a full new pipeline called the Sandpiper. The planned Sandpiper pipeline was canceled in August of 2016 after extensive litigation on behalf of the local population, according to the non-profit Honor the Earth and stopline3.org, with which LaDuke is affiliated. Despite their success in battling the Sandpiper, organizers have lots to do in preventing Enbridge from building Line 3 “through the heart of Minnesota’s best lakes and wild rice beds,” after the Enbridge Pipeline, built in 1961, has left a “legacy of contamination in the ground” that has led to the abandonment of existing infrastructure and the creation of an entirely new corridor. According to Enbridge itself, this project is the largest in the history of the company.
In addition to being a matter of the protection of water and land, resistance to climate change and energy security, LaDuke’s battle against the pipelines has also been a matter of fighting for the rights of citizens over the rights of corporations. In response to how civilians were treated by governmental institutions in light of conflicts such as those that took place over both the Dakota Access Pipeline and against the water protectors working against Enbridge Corp, LaDuke said, “Hate. It’s really about hate. I’m really tired of living in a world that has so much hate in it.” But LaDuke’s work is much more than an outcry against hate; it is also a call to action.
Honor the Earth was founded in 1993 by LaDuke and Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The mission of the organization is to address what is identified by their website as “the two primary needs” of the Native environmental movement; the first is the need to “break the isolation” — both geographic and political — of Native communities, and the second is the need to increase financial resources for organizing and creating change. Winona continues to work as the executive director of the organization and travels in order to conduct consultations with tribes and to conduct speaking engagements, where she inspires listeners in encouraging them to “Be diligent [in organizing and in working to create change].”
One way in which you can contribute to LaDuke’s cause is by donating to her Kickstarter, Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm, which will fund the purchase of 40 acres of land to be used for growing industrial hemp as well as heritage foods. In expressing her desire to start a farm of her own, LaDuke states that whenever she goes to a Line 3 hearing, there is somebody who stands up and says, “‘we can’t live without oil; we can’t live without plastics.’” She continues, “…and I keep thinking, ‘no, we need hemp.’” LaDuke is a strong proponent of the potential of industrial hemp as a source of fuel, food, textiles and many other products. To support her project, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winonashemp/winonas-hemp-and-heritage-farm.
