Indigenous Environmental Network

Indigenous Environmental Network

Formation	1990 (1990)
Headquarters	Bemidji, Minnesota
Exec. Dir.	Tom B.K. Goldtooth
Website	ienearth.org

Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a network of Indigenous, grassroots environmental justice activists, primarily based in the United States. Members have also represented Native American concerns at International events such as the Climate talks in Copenhagen, 2009, and Paris in 2016. IEN also organizes an annual conference; each year the conference is held in a different Indigenous Nation.

History

Past

The Indigenous Environmental Network was formed in 1990 to bring to light the environmental and economic justice issues faced by marginalized groups of people. The network has focused its activism on bettering Indigenous communities through grassroots efforts; mainly including projects that would improve land, air, water, sacred sites, and natural resources. To accomplish the preservation of these assets, the network has authorized campaigns, public awareness, and community building. The Indigenous Environmental Network gathers locally, regionally, and nationally to promote awareness about these social justice issues, but primarily holds focus in North America.

The immersion of the Indigenous Environmental Network came out of the recognition of the harm done to the livelihood of indigenous peoples. The rise in toxic waste and nuclear waste storage facilities near the lands of indigenous peoples was a main concern to this network at the beginning of its formation in the early 1990s. After the initial focus on environmental hazards of toxic waste facilities, the network spread awareness across youth and tribal populations that gave way for the group to move forward with campaigns and public activism. Every year, a conference is held entitled Protecting Mother Earth Gatherings, and these events aim to educate the public and develop strategies for protecting the lands of indigenous peoples.

In 1995, the IEN began hiring staff members to represent the ideologies and goals that protect their future. The people working for the IEN have strived for preservation of indigenous peoples through tribal grassroots communities and tribal governmental environmental staff. The IEN has developed into a group that works to create change and strength for tribal communities through protecting and preserving sacred sites.

Current Activism

The most popular form of activism that The Indigenous Environmental Network participates in is the fight against the North Dakota Pipeline project that is currently underway. The pipeline is set to run through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and end in Illinois. The IEN has called for an international day of emergency actions that protest fascism and the use of fossil fuels that disrupt the livelihood of indigenous peoples.

Goals and Beliefs

1. Educate and empower Indigenous Peoples to address and develop strategies for the protection of our environment, our health, and all life forms – the Circle of Life.
2. Re-affirm our traditional knowledge and respect of natural laws.
3. Recognize, support, and promote environmentally sound lifestyles, economic livelihoods and to build healthy sustaining Indigenous communities.
4. Commitment to influence policies that affect Indigenous Peoples on a local, tribal, state, regional, national and international level.
5. Include youth and elders in all levels of our work.
6. Protect our human rights to practice our cultural and spiritual beliefs.

Beliefs in Practice

Certain practices of coal mining, oil drilling, and fishing and hunting in the United States directly infringe upon native land and values. The Indigenous Environmental Network tries to engage with the American public by raising consciousness about environmental issues like these that have a particularly strong impact on indigenous peoples. One such way that the IEN tried to do this was by dedicating a day, October 13, 1996, to challenging Americans to consume as little energy as possible. The goal of this was to encourage people to think about how much energy they do in fact consume on a daily basis and what the impacts of that use are on native communities.

In 1991, at Bear Butte, South Dakota (a sacred site to many of the Plains Indians Peoples), the IEN established an Environmental Code of Ethics. Key points include that indigenous people culturally, and Native Americans politically, are tied to their land; Native Americans in the United States and Canada are restricted to reservations if they want to maintain any kind of political nation idea; and that Indigenous people often have religious or ancestral ties to specific tracts of land. This unique relationship makes them less likely to leave, makes the land more valuable, and makes them even more staunchly opposed to polluting it in any way.

Spiritual Activism

The IEN states that part of their mission is to protect and maintain sites sacred to indigenous communities, primarily in North America. In their list of injustices perpetuated against indigenous people they list “ Protection of sacred, historical and cultural significant areas” as one of their main goals. They reference their love for ‘Mother Earth’ has a driving force behind their activism. The IEN recognizes humanity’s connection to the Earth and believes their activism is restoring and furthering this connection.

The group holds ‘Protecting Mother Earth Gatherings’ in which they discuss techniques and plans to protect indigenous communities and their lands. In their “Rights of Mother Earth” conference held in April 2004, their beliefs about Mother Earth were specifically outlined as thus: “[we] sees and treats nature and Mother Earth as a fundamental, rights bearing entity. A paradigm, that is based on Indigenous thought and philosophy needs to be forwarded which grants equal rights to nature and which honors the interrelation in all life.”

Environmental Justice

Pipelines

The group began garnering more public attention in 2014, when they began their protest against the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Initial disputes over the pipeline went national in 2011 when groups became concerned that the oil pipeline would contaminate nearby water, but garnered more attention as the building of the pipeline was delayed. IEN was one of the bigger groups surrounding the debate over the pipeline, allying with other environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club and 350.org

The IEN experienced another surge of media coverage in 2015, as protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline gained attention from the American public. The pipeline is currently complete, with the exception of the section mapped to be located under Lake Oahe, which is a major water source for the native Sioux tribe of Standing Rock North Dakota.

After a federal order requiring protesters to leave the build sites of the pipeline, IEN stated publicly that they would not follow the order in an attempt to further delay the progression of the pipeline. Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, told a reporter for the Washington post that “We are staying here, committed to our prayer. Forced removal and state oppression? This is nothing new to us as native people.”

Tom Goldtooth, founder of the IEN, stated after President Donald Trump signed the executive order to continue the building of the pipeline that “Donald Trump will not build his Dakota Access Pipeline without a fight. The granting of an easement, without any environmental review or tribal consultation, is not the end of this fight -- it is the new beginning.”

Conferences

The Indigenous Environmental Network hosts yearly conferences called the Protecting Mother Earth gatherings. The conferences began in 1990, with the first conference hosted in Bear Butte, South Dakota. The conferences has changed location almost every year.

Members of the network come together for the conference to discuss the group’s goals and projects in the upcoming year. These resolutions are typically published online following the conferences close (Race, Poverty, and the Environment).

Past conference locations and projects include:

• The 1992 conference in Celilo Falls, Oregon; formerly a major salmon fishing site until dams were constructed on the Columbia River, downstream from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
• The 1993 conference at Sac and Fox Reservation, Oklahoma; IEN helped defeat a proposed nuclear waste site.
• The 1994 conference on Mole Lake Indian Reservation, Wisconsin, where Exxon plans to open a huge zinc - copper mine upstream from the Mole Lake Chippewa's wild rice beds.
• The 12th Protecting Mother Earth Gathering in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, August 2001, was the first IEN conference held in Canada.
• The June 2004 conference was again held near sacred Bear Butte, South Dakota.

In 2009, IEN began the "Red Road to Copenhagen" initiative. Delegates attended the 15th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen. The Initiative statement read: “this initiative will bring accumulated traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples from North America coming from climate-energy impact zones and persons experienced in linking an indigenous rights-based framework to climate policy.”

IEN prioritizes multigenerational and inter-tribal organizing, and has specific youth and elders groups. IEN is governed party by an Elders Council. Their Youth Council solicits involvement by young Indigenous people and tries to make connections between the urban culture of the youth and the environmental issues the communities face.

In 2016, members of IEN have been involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, notably in the media coverage and in establishing the media tent at the Oceti Sakowin camp.

Other Work

The POPs Treaty, now known as the Stockholm Convention after it was signed in May 2001 in Sweden, was designed to ban a number of pesticides and other chemicals from use. During the formation of this treaty, the Indigenous Environmental Network played a key role in expressing to the treaty delegates what indigenous peoples wanted from the treaty. Throughout the week of negotiating sessions, the IEN met with delegates from all over the world in order to relay to them how indigenous peoples are impacted by POPs and what they need from the treaty.

REDD, which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, is a policy mechanism designed to work for the preservation of global forests. REDD is backed by many influential environmental organizations, including Greenpeace and Conservation International. However, it is very controversial among both grassroots and indigenous organizations. REDD is centered around the idea of providing forest owners with financial incentive to preserve them. However, in accomplishing this, REDD also requires the relocation of indigenous peoples who reside in the forests that are being targeted.  The IEN publicly opposes REDD, claiming that it is a direct violation of the rights of indigenous peoples to have autonomy over their own land.

Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network has an overview of his position on US drilling and native lands.