The two-week Honor the Earth Energy Justice Tour launched in Minnesota on April 10th and wrapped up with a final show on Earth Day (April 22nd) outside Denver. Indigo Girls and I went to 8 college campuses, did full-blown activist music events, and were able to mobilize thousands of students and communities around issues of sacred site protection, renewable energy and opposing environmental law exemptions for the Department of Defense. We are incredibly thankful for the opportunities of this tour, the hard work of many activist groups, the Spitfire Agency, Keppler Associates, and the many volunteers who came out and supported our organizing work.

There's no way to actually communicate the power of moving between grassroots community organizations and struggles (many of whom are Honor the Earth Grantees), and to large groups of students, many interested and hungry to become involved in activist struggles. All that can be said is that we were all personally moved by each experience, our resolve and commitment strengthened, our hearts lifted by the music and communities, and that we were able to both raise money and awareness in a way, which allowed people to participate and communities to be heard. Some of our accomplishments include:

Minnesota

We began in southern Minnesota, traditional lands of the Dakota, and the lands impacted today by the XCEL Corporation's incinerators and nuclear power plant. We began by talking about Energy Justice, and the opportunity to transform from a nuclear/fossil fuel based economy to an alternative energy based economy.

Rosebud – South Dakota

We met with Lakota activists on the Rosebud Reservation, including Concerned Rosebud Area Citizens who are winning a bid in the courts to oppose an industrial hog farm Bell Farming had planned to build the countries third largest hog farm, raising 1 million pigs a year in 200 steel roofed barns. The operation, which began in 1999 had 24 barns built by 2001, with 50,000 pigs. Right now, the operation will be stalled because of a US Supreme Court decision in favor of the Concerned Rosebud Area Citizens.

Also on the Rosebud Reservation, we saw the first commercial tribal wind generator – a beautiful sight, and were able to speak with the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Utility, one of the first integrated tribal utilities in the country. The 750 kilowatt wind turbine has just been officially dedicated and is currently providing enough power for the Rosebud Casino and Hotel (this one turbine has the capacity to power 350 individual homes).

We also did a presentation to six hundred Native youth at Todd County High School (on the Rosebud Reservation) where we performed, spoke and distributed our Makoche Youth Reader.

Pine Ridge – South Dakota

Further along in South Dakota, we visited the Pine Ridge Reservation, where we did a live studio performance and interview at KILI Radio, "The Voice of the Lakota Nation." We talked about wind energy development and the tour as a whole. KILI Radio is actively raising funds for their own wind turbine that would power the entire radio station. HTE is working with this partnership as coordinators with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.

Also on Pine Ridge, we visited the White Plume Tiosapaye (which is the traditional Lakota form of government, based on the extended family) where we discussed local community issues and worked on Honor the Earth's plans for two wind turbines on the reservation. Joining us were youth organizers from who are working to protect a sacred site in Badlands National Park.

Idaho

In Moscow, Idaho we helped the Nez Perce tribe get the word out about salmon preservation and the dams they are working to decommission on the Snake River.

We worked with local environmental groups addressing the water contamination issues of the pulp industry, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), which has 52 nuclear reactors, more reactors in one place than in any other lace in the world. Score so far: 27 meltdowns, l6 were totally unintentional.

Washington

At Yakama (near Ellensburg, WA), we met with the Yakama tribe about the nearby Hanford Nuclear reservation (issues include present nuclear contamination as well as the question of where the radioactive waste will go in "clean up") and their native fish restoration project. We began conversations with the tribe about wind power development in their area as a clean alternative to dams and nuclear power; this marks a new region for Honor the Earth's energy justice organizing. A special thanks to the Colombia River Intertribal Fish Commission for their efforts in making our visit to the Northwest all encompassing.

In Seattle, we worked with the Duwamish people, who seek to be "restored" as a federally recognized tribe and want to clean up their sacred river, which is currently contaminated with PCB's and toxic sludge from industrial dumping. We also generated support for the Snoqualamie Falls Preservation Project, another struggle to protect a sacred site and dismantle a dam.

Oregon

We continued our work with the Klamath tribe, seeking return of their land and protection of the water for the fish in the Klamath Basin. We are working with the community on intervening in the re-licensing process at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of four dams on the Klamath River.

Western Shoshone Territory – Nevada

We spent a day with Carrie and Mary Dann, Western Shoshone matriarchs (and sisters) opposing Bureau of Land Management encroachment on their ancestral lands. Their struggles of sovereignty and environmental justice are linked to issues of nuclear waste disposal, western mining laws and the federal and corporate acquisition of Native lands. We are hoping to help establish a solar energy project on their land.

Skull Valley Goshutes – Utah

In a beautiful sage brush valley, we met with the Environmental Justice Foundation of the Skull Valley band of Goshutes, a grassroots group opposing a proposal for a large-scale nuclear waste repository on their land. This proposal is led by the XCEL Corporation is called Private Fuel Storage. Recent decisions by the Atomic Safety Licensing Board may help stop the private nuclear dump because there is a study to determine whether or not the F-16 fighter jets that already fly over the Goshute reservation may pose a possible safety threat to a nuclear waste dump site. On top of this federal and corporate battle, the Skull Valley Goshutes continue to challenge the legitimacy of agreements signed by Leon Bear, a non-Goshute and deposed chairman who negotiated with Private Fuel Storage to bring the dump to Skull Valley in the first place.

Colorado

We did three shows in Colorado and our organizing and educational work centered on two key issues: supporting clean energy and stopping military pollution. Several colleges and universities in the state are moving closer towards renewable energy purchasing (following the lead of UC Boulder, which has successfully moved to wind power purchasing).

In Durango at Fort Lewis College, we helped raise awareness on issues on two of the nearby reservations' lands: Dine (Navajo) and Zuni. We helped Dine CARE increase awareness on the shortcomings of the Indian Energy Act and its negative impact on Navajo land and their ongoing struggles against mining. We supported the Zuni Salt Lake Coalition's effort to stop a corporate coal strip mine near their sacred salt lake.

On Earth Day – the last day of the tour – we held a press conference in Denver where we met with the press to highlight all aspects of the energy justice work of the tour and continue to make the link between the need for safe, clean, renewable energy and the ongoing oil-driven foreign policy. As well, we were able to have Glenn Morris, Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Colorado at Denver present on the link between activism and the diminishment of constitutional rights of individuals. Morris is an attorney representing individuals whose names are part of the "Denver Spy Files", including an estimated 3500 activists who are classified under various terms such as "extremists". Honor the Earth wishes to support the exercise of civil liberties.

Overall

On every stop of the tour, we focused on a few national and regional issues that impact communities everywhere. Including:

We generated several hundred postcards to the XCEL Corporation calling on them to engage in Energy Justice by purchasing wind energy, instead, basically, of procrastinating with nuclear power.

After encountering multiple military bases along the way and continuing to make the connection between the U.S.'s lack of support for clean energy development at home and over-dependency on foreign oil, we highlighted a dangerous federal proposal called the "Range and Readiness Preservation Initiative." This Initiative, if made into law, would exempt the Department of Defense from five environmental laws: The Superfund Act, Clean Air Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Since the D.O.D controls 25 million acres of the U.S. and the U.S. Military is already the largest polluter in the world, these exemptions would mean massive and potentially irreparable environmental degradation.

Our ongoing anti-war message merged with our environmental message, and we began organizing more aggressively to oppose this Initiative as part of the 2004 Defense Appropriation Bill. We generated thousands of postcards to Senators about this dangerous "above the law" proposal.

In short, these recent weeks have been a blizzard of organizing work, strategic coalition building, and fundraising. Thanks to every one of you that contributed to this tour with out you the tour would have not have been a success.

For the Earth – Miigwech,

Winona LaDuke