This article from the fall 2020 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly introduces a series of works on the subject of environmental justice and Indigenous communities in the United States, curated by Raymond Foxworth of the First Nations Development Institute, a grantee of The 11th Hour Project.
In the introductory piece, Foxworth writes:
Too often, Native voices in all aspects of American life are silenced and marginalized, and this has continued to be the case in the global environmental justice movement. This series is an attempt to bring Native leaders working for environmental justice in their communities into the conversation, to speak for themselves and discuss how they are mobilizing to stop environmental degradation and racism and build more sustainable futures for their communities and beyond.
Native lands today, once thought to be barren and desolate areas fit only for Indians, cumulatively occupy over 55 million acres of land and 57 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. The lands of Native nations sit on top of “nearly 30 percent of the nation’s coal reserves west of the Mississippi, as much as 50 percent of potential uranium reserves, and up to 20 percent of known natural gas and oil reserves.” In all, according to the Department of Energy, Native lands today house over 15 million acres of potential energy and mineral resources—and nearly 90 percent of those resources are untapped.
Economists Shawn Regan and Terry Anderson have noted that Native communities, especially in the Western United States, are “islands of poverty in a sea of wealth.” Some economists have suggested that Native nations exploit these resources for economic gain, to lift themselves out of poverty and enable local community development. In fact, federal policy-makers and extractive industry lobbying groups have long advocated for reducing barriers for Native nations and people to lease these valuable resources to mostly non-Native companies for exploitation and development. Historically, Congress and their extractive industry allies sought to exploit Native lands and resources without Tribal input and consultation or by diminishing Tribal lands. Deals surrounding non-Native access and use of Native lands and resources were the subject of one of the largest settlement cases involving mismanagement and neglect of Native lands and interests by the federal government.
But today, as highlighted by the expert contributors to this issue, Native nations are reversing histories of exploitation by the federal government and other accomplices. Native nations and Native organizations are actively fighting for the protection of local resources. Moreover, the leaders at the helm of this special issue all highlight place-based efforts to advance Indigenous environmental justice, rooted in Indigenous knowledge and epistemologies.
Read the entire article.