Hundreds of thousands were affected when Exxon Valdez, an Exxon oil tanker, dumped 11 million gallons oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
1989: The spillage One of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in U.S. HistoryThe destruction of the livelihood of local Indigenous fishermen, local foods sources, and the natural habitats local fish, whale, or bird species has resulted in the loss of their livelihood.
Dune Lankard (the founder of Native Conservancy) said, “The thing about oil spillage that a lot people don’t realize was that it was like climate change happening overnight.” The devastation caused by the oil spillage to the local economy, and ecosystem led to the creation of the Native Conservancy.
Lankard founded the group to help protect the region from further destruction caused by corporate development. He is just one of many environmentalists who believe that Indigenous tools and traditions can reverse climate injustice. Land Back movement.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates that indigenous people comprise less than 5% worldwide, but they have preserved 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity for centuries.
Climate change and environmental injustices continue threatening vulnerable populations, including Indigenous tribes. Lankard and his crew have established rich kelp mariculture farms to combat this looming threat. Lankard calls them the “waterkeepers” of the ocean.
He claims that kelp farming provides a valuable food source for tribes and offers business opportunities. It also has the ability to pull billions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere each and every year.
Energy Futures Initiative, a science research nonprofit, found that kelp farms can store up to nine billion tonnes of carbon per annum, which is essentially reversing the effects of climate change.
It has become a powerful tool for scientists and climate activists to fight environmental destruction.
The more land and water Indigenous people are able to conserve and repair, they will be able to implement climate-saving strategies like kelp farming.
Lankard said, “People have to organize, they have to direct their energy and money in any direction that they may need, in order save the last wild places that are not just dear to them but also necessary for survival.”
What is the Land Back Movement and how can it help you?
The Land Back movement, which is led by Indigenous peoples, aims to restore land to Indigenous tribes in order to conserve, restore, and revitalize important landscapes.
Jade Begay from the Indigenous activist group NDN Collective stated, “We are calling on the return to land and putting it in indigenous land management or governance so that we can have indigenous-led conservation.”
According to the Census Bureau, 99% have been taken from Indigenous lands by tribes since the advent of modern-day America. To 2021 discoveries in the Science Journal.
Research also showed that Indigenous people who have been forced to move to lands are more vulnerable to the ongoing effects climate change.
The decentralized movement requires that tribes are able to manage environmental activities on ancestral lands, efforts that can stop or reverse negative climate impacts.
Land Back is already proving to be a success. The government is attempting to repatriate Native and Indigenous land from tribes.
Recently, the Rappahannock Tribe acquired approximately 465 acres at Fones Cliffs in Virginia.
Fones Cliffs is the ancestral home of the tribe. It’s also a key area for resident and migratory Bald Eagles and other birds. It is home to one the largest nesting populations on the Atlantic coast of bald eagles.
They now plan to create trails and a replica village from 16th century Rappahannock to educate tourists about Rappahannock history, conservation efforts, and train tribal youth in traditional river knowledge.
“We see the Mother Earth as our mother. What would you do to harm her?” Chief Anne Richardson from the Rappahannock Tribe said:
“The work I did to get land back on Rappahannock River was to teach the public how we think and how to use the incredible value systems that have kept our people sustaining this land for 11,000+ years.”
The Eyak people, Rappahannock Tribe, and other Indigenous groups are working to align themselves with climate scientists’ goals as they continue their dire fight against climate change.
Climate fears increase
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC), global emissions must reach a maximum level by 2025 or else they will continue to fall rapidly. This is to prevent climate change from getting worse.
Currently, the Paris Agreement’s conservative figure of 1.5 degrees Celsius is not being met by countries.
The report identified a variety of solutions to global emissions reductions, including reducing fossil fuel consumption; large-scale renewable energy resources; improving energy efficiency; and drastically reducing methane emissions.
Begay stated, “If we want to really accelerate and be efficient about decarbonization honoring indigenous rights, honouring, calls for action for Land Back will really push me to meet those climate targets to keep temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees.”
The Land Back movement’s efforts, which include water filtration and carbon sequestering, can be used to tap into the IPCC recommendations.
Richardson stated that Richardson loves it when tribal traditions and values validate what professional scientists have discovered. “It’s important that the tribes be in the care and to be able train and teach the people how to care for the land.
Similar to the Eyak and Rappahannock Tribes Indigenous groups across the country are already doing the ground work to save the planet — one river or cliff at a time.
Land Back is a climate justice solution
The effects of the oil spillage into the Copper River are still not fully understood, more than 30 year later.
Lankard called Exxon’s $2 billion cleanup effort after the oil spillage “a dog-and-pony show.”
“Once an oil spillage — any oil spillage — reaches the water, it’s over, the war is over. You’ve lost. Lankard said, “There’s no way that you can clean it up.”
He said, “The best thing you can do is get environmental legislation in place and preventive steps that will actually preserve the environment.”
He believes that efforts such as the Land Back movement can help prevent such disasters. Alaskan Natives managed to save more than a quarter of a million acres of wild salmon habitat in the Gulf of Alaska coastline after the spillage.
Kelp farming has been a positive addition to the local economy, which was hampered by the oil spillage, and also added an environmental component.
Kelp farming is only one of the many traditional practices that are used in environmental justice and joining methods like Oyster cultivation for natural water filtration and fire management methodsBurning land to reduce grass fuel, and limit wildfires.
Lankard stated that they want to be part of the emerging regenerative industry. He also said that they don’t want to be owned by the corporations over the next 150-years.
Lankard stated, “They’re going all the fun words like conservation, restoration, mitigation and say they’re helping to save the ocean while they’re actually the ones who got us in this mess.”