The first show went better than we expected. We had no idea how many people would show up, how the speaking portion of the show would mix with the music, or how the question and answer sessions would go. We spent the last month preparing for the tour by targeting political goals, studying the local, regional, and national indigenous/environmental issues, and doing interviews. The students at St. Olaf did an excellent job of organizing this first show. The questions asked during the Q and A were well informed and challenging, and seemed to predict the tone of the whole tour.

Here are some of the best:
1. Q. Do Native Peoples feel that their tribal councils represent their interests well?
    A. I would ask yourself how you feel about your own government and then realize that the whole tribal council system was put into place under duress by our federal government and in some cases is still corrupted by this relationship. Even in the best scenario, none of us is represented appropriately; that's why we should at least keep it in check by making sure our vote is cast.

2. Q. What do we do about the huge transmission lines that would be used to carry wind power?
    A. Ultimately, power needs to be democratized, so that each region is creating its own power supply. In the meantime, its better to fill the transmission lines with wind or solar energy than with fossil fuels, hydro, or nuclear.

3. Q. What do you think of the conflict between the anti - whaling animal rights activists/environmentalists and the Makah Indian Tribe?
    A. As an animal rights activist, I have thought about this a lot. The amount of damage done by industrial farming, fishing, and cosmetic animal testing far outweighs what the Makahs do with their whaling. I would trust a subsistence-based society like the Makahs to hunt and farm as humanely as possible.

4. Q. How do we decide which environmental cause is the most important?
    A. You have to dig in with the first thing that moves you and that initial action will lead you to where you should be. The most important thing is to be engaged. You can't intellectualize these decisions, you have to be in it to know.

5. Q. How do I put on an Honor The Earth Show of my own?
    A. Anyone is welcome to raise money and donate it to HTE, we need all the help we can get. Just find a venue, it could be someone's garage, a club, a community center, etc., and get some entertainment together and go. If you want to hand out brochures at your event, get in touch with the HTE website and we will supply you with the information

The issues we are focusing on while in Minnesota are:
The Prairie Island Nuclear Plant and the French Island Waste Incinerator.

Xcel Energy, a company which is headquartered in Minneapolis and is the nation's 4th largest utility, owns both of these projects. The Prairie Island Nuclear Facility is located on a sandbar in the Mississippi River and has been storing its waste in cask on site. The Prairie Island Dakota Indian Community is located minutes from the plant and has a cancer risk 6 times higher than the rest of Minnesota. Currently the Dakota Community is being offered a controversial settlement from Xcel (money to buy land and relocate) in exchange for continuing to create and store waste on the site. This offer creates a tough position for the environmental activist who want to stop the nuclear power and who also respect the rights of communities to be compensated for the health damages they have suffered so far, and to be safe from further dangers by nuclear waste. Xcel is also one of the main companies behind creating storage sites for Nuclear Waste in the Goshute community at Skull Valley, Utah and at Yucca Mountain, territory of the Western Shoshone and Paiute tribes.

The French Island Waste Incinerator is located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. They use a short stack for their toxic emissions, and even though they are the largest waste incinerator in the state, they are insisting that they should be classified as "small" and therefore would not fall under stricter EPA regulations.

Action Cards
Andy Sulkko Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)
Prairie Island Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)
Senator Coleman Action Card (Microsoft Word Format)

Amy Ray's Tour Diary Continues:
April 11th, Rosebud, South Dakota