Dear Relatives,
We hope your summer is off to a great start! For our network, June has been a month filled with celebration and action. The Indigenous Environmental Network kicked off #PrideMonth by celebrating our Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ relatives and the unique gifts they bring to our movement and sacred spaces.
In the collective fight to protect Mother Earth, IEN recognizes that Indigenous sovereignty and Black liberation are intertwined, and fundamental for a Just Transition. Our team spent #Juneteenth honoring Black relatives along with their history, joy, and excellence.
Moreover, on the longest day of the year, #SummerSolstice, we welcomed and embraced another season filled with movement, change, and abundance.
Finally, our team continues to make our voices heard, in local, national and international spaces, fighting for Mother Earth, Indigenous Peoples, and all living things!
The Indigenous Environmental Network joined other grassroots organizations such as POWHR, 7 Directions of Service, WV Rivers, 350, Third Act, and many others in action to voice their unwavering opposition to Biden’s approval of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which included language to halt all lawsuits and regulatory delays to complete and fastrack the construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline.
IEN and the groups that joined the June 8 rally to #StopMVP are part of People V. Fossil Fuels (PvFF), a 1200-member coalition movement grounded and bound together to defend our homelands, farms, fields, and forests to preserve, renew, and defend the planetary systems that future generations deserve.
Hundreds of people from Appalachia and across Turtle Island gathered in front of the White House to call President Biden out for his lies and betrayal towards the environmental justice and frontline communities he made campaign promises to.
IEN sent a seven member delegation to the 58th session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (#SB58) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany.
IEN joined forces with the It Takes Roots delegation to collectively hold a firm line to reject the push for #FalseSolutions such as market mechanisms, carbon offsets, and climate geoengineering in global climate policy negotiations. IEN participated in various panels, side events, and actions to boldly call out the greenwashing, commodification and financialization of nature against Indigenous Peoples and Mother Earth and as always, defending the inherent rights, sovereignty, and jurisprudence of Indigenous Peoples.
IEN also participated in the Facilitative Working Group (FWG) of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) which is a body that was established to further operationalize the LCIPP and facilitate the implementation of its three functions related to knowledge, capacity for engagement, and climate change policies and actions.
Furthermore, IEN and It Takes Roots delegates delivered a letter to the UNFCCC Secretariat, sharing our experiences and concerns regarding health, safety, and human rights at COPs.
Following SB58, the UNFCCC announced a new registration mandate that requires participants to disclose industry ties and affiliations. This comes as a result of years of campaigning to #KickBigPollutorsOut from various grassroots and civil society organizations to address extractive industries interference in global climate policy.
Check out our co-hosted webinar that provides a deep-dive analysis of #SB58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb8JbyXjTgI
For years, Paiute-Shoshone relatives have been fighting to protect their ancestral burial sites in Payahuunadü (Owens Valley, California) from desecration to expand Highway 395.
The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) has pushed the project forward despite concerns and protests from local Tribes (Lone Pine, Kern Valley, Timbisha, Independence, Big Pine, Bishop, and Mono Lake.) Despite planning this project for more than a decade, Caltrans has not conducted adequate consultation with the Tribes. There were attempts at consultation in 2014, but these talks never resulted in any significant changes to the project plans based on input from Tribal leaders.
As a result of community organizing, on June 29, 2023, construction halted on the culturally sensitive area of the highway expansion! Paiute-Shoshone relatives remain vigilant and continue to demand that CalTrans seek consultation and come to a mutual agreement with the tribes in Payahuunadü.
Sign this petition and learn more about this ongoing fight and how to support these relatives in their fight to protect tribal burial sites on their homelands.
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The Indigenous Environmental Network is seeking an experienced and energetic Financial Manager to join our team. The Financial Manager will play a crucial role in providing financial resource functions for IEN. These functions include accounting, financial management and analysis, budget analysis, benefits and risk management. CLICK HERE TO APPLY and learn more about this position!