We had one last day of learning about some significant Native justice issues in Montana. We left from our hotel on Flathead Lake to travel down to the National Bison Range on the reservation. We were lucky to hear a last impromptu rallying talk from Jodi Rave and Eriel Deranger about the emotional perspective they have while doing work on behalf of Native social and environmental justice. It can’t really be overstated how important it is to have your land and culture in tact, and to understand the challenge of working on these issues in communities where the basics of food and shelter are still hard to come by.

My friend, Spider McKnight in Missoula reminded me tonight of a word I want to keep in mind - reciprocity. We owe it to the earth, to ourselves, and to Native communities to do the work to support and to heal the eco-system and the human family. These Honor The Earth tours humble me. We have fed ourselves and grown drunk with consumption, in our fossil fuel economy at the expense of our Indigenous neighbors. Yet, it is our Indigenous environmental activist neighbors who are the visionaries for a new energy economy and who bring a righteousness to these battles that we often turned away from. I see the intellect, the creativity, the organizing, and the sheer will of the groups Honor works to support, and I am heartened and compelled to join the good fight.

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers are teaming up with Native activist Winona LaDuke and members of the Women Donors Network to host free community events on the Blackfeet and Flathead reservations June 4 and 5.

PABLO - Two-time vice presidential candidate and Native American activist Winona LaDuke will be here Saturday afternoon to moderate a panel discussion of energy issues facing Montana and its Indian reservations.

Now that the dust has settled and a giant addition to the Big Stone coal power plant known as Big Stone II has been canceled, what next?

Honor the Earth is proud to join a coalition of national and international groups who signed a recent advertisement in Variety comparing tar sands development with the plot of the movie Avatar and the ad has generated a lot of attention. The ad is running in Variety just before the Oscars and it expresses support for Avatar because it closely parallels the struggles of real life Indigenous Peoples inundated by tar sands developers.  Below are links to some of the prominent media coverage of the ad and a copy of the ad itself.

I had a nice visit with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls a week or so ago. I’ve asked for a reworking of her song lyrics “Nomads, Indians and Saints."

Big Stone II’s demise is not a bad sign for wind, it is the opposite. Now is the opportunity to move ahead to the next economy, not to worry about what we lost with a big polluter. Let’s give this gift to our future generations — a better future.

MINNEAPOLIS - The utility leading an effort to build a $1.6 billion coal-fired power plant in South Dakota that would serve five states has pulled out of the project.

PRIOR LAKE, Minn. – American Indian stalwarts of environmental justice recently met at a national workshop to write a milestone climate change declaration, clearly outlining a course on how to save the planet using indigenous science and knowledge.