Category: Backyard Talk

By: Leija Helling, Community Organizing Intern
On Monday afternoon between Zoom meetings, I set out for a walk around my Boston neighborhood and opened the front door to a hazy sky. The air felt thick and smelled like a backyard barbecue. I stood in confusion for a moment, and then in disbelief: wildfire smoke.
News headlines confirmed that smoke from wildfires in the Western U.S. and Canada had taken the jet stream to the east coast and settled over major cities like Boston and New York. Never before had I seen the Boston city skyline blurred out, a reddish haze covering the athletic fields at my university campus, or a deep orange sun. Air quality alerts had been issued across the upper east coast, warning people to stay indoors, especially children, the elderly and those with respiratory and cardiovascular health conditions. I’d been hearing horror stories about the unprecedented wildfire season tearing across Oregon, California, and British Columbia, but to see fires 3,000 miles away affecting air quality in my home city so significantly provoked new feelings of shock and urgency.
Folks on the west coast know intimately how intense, long-lasting, and dangerous wildfire seasons have become in recent years. But for western fires to cause the worst air quality New York City has seen in 15 years, to bring unhealthy PM2.5 levels to swaths of the east coast, highlights just how far the effects of corporate negligence and industry-fueled climate change reach. With extreme heat and dry conditions fueling fires that have already burned at least 1.3 million acres across 13 western states, it’s clearer now than ever that reactionary band-aid solutions won’t be enough. When PG&E, California’s largest power company, cuts costs by leaving flammable brush around their power lines, they start fires that wipe entire towns off the map. These are the consequences of corporate greed. And to fight, we must take power into our hands.
This spring and summer, the infrastructure plans debated by Congressional leaders have offered a glimmer of hope that, if we come together and make our voices heard, we can indeed hold big industries accountable for the harm they cause. For instance, President Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes measures to make sure polluters, not the public, pay to clean up toxic waste sites from industry. But the infrastructure negotiations have also demonstrated the massive obstacles we’re up against. Big industries, especially chemical, oil and gas, hold excessive amounts of power in our political process. As long as Senators’ votes can be bought by big oil, our system will allow corporations to keep putting people’s lives at risk for the sake of profit.
From worsening wildfires to the 40-year backlog of Superfund toxic waste sites, there are a whole lot of corporate messes worth getting mad about right now. Let’s channel that anger toward naming names, building local power, and calling on our elected leaders to fight for the people they’re supposed to represent. Right now, I’m fighting to #MakePollutersPay alongside people across the country who live, breathe, and raise families while industry’s toxic dumps sit in their backyards. It’s about time to start holding polluters accountable for their actions.
Photo Credit: Gary Hershorn/Getty

By: Tony Aguilar, Community Organizing Intern
Time and time again, it seems as though legislation always swings in the direction of big industries–especially the chemical, oil and gas, and pharmaceutical industries–rather than in the direction of the general public. A small number of pharmaceutical companies have been allowed to control the market on drugs and thereby control the prices, making it more and more difficult for Americans to get the drugs that they need. Toxic chemicals continue to pollute our environment and harmful drilling practices like hydraulic fracturing often go unchecked and unchallenged by our government. In a nation where the government is supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people, something seems to have gone awry.
The answer to why or how this has happened is probably clear to many by now. These industries have become so large and powerful that they seem to have a stronghold on the government. So, what exactly is at stake here for the American people? Well, in addition to all of the environmental damage that these industries are doing to the planet, they are also putting the lives of millions of Americans at risk in order to make more money. Not only are these industries putting lives at risk for the sake of money, but at the thousands of sites across the country where toxic chemicals are polluting communities, the government cannot seem to find it in the budget to clean up these sites and protect public health. Laws that hold polluters responsible for the cleanup continue to give these industries the benefit of the doubt.
Any work to clean up areas where people are being exposed to toxic chemicals is done at a snail’s pace and the government agencies that were created to help protect us from environmental harms often take the side of industry as well.  Recent evidence has been uncovered showing that the EPA, the nation’s defense against environmental dangers, has even approved some chemicals that have been shown to be harmful to humans and the environment to be used in hydraulic fracturing–again, giving the oil and gas industry the benefit of the doubt without taking every precaution to ensure public safety. Many chemicals that are released into our environment and our communities have been related to public health hazards yet they are approved by the EPA on the grounds that the evidence is incomplete or that a causal connection cannot be made between the chemicals and illnesses in humans. Rather than erring on the side of caution, the government gives polluting industries every opportunity to make a profit, while disregarding possible risks to public health.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 was created to hold polluters accountable for their pollution by charging a tax on polluting companies that would be used to clean up areas of waste and toxic contamination. Since this “polluter-pay” tax expired in 1995, the average number of cleanups completed per year fell from 71 to just 12, leaving more toxic chemicals in our air, water, and soil posing a threat to communities all over the country. 
Despite these grim circumstances, there is still hope in our future. These industries have a daunting power that seems insurmountable, but we as the People, have a power that is not to be taken lightly. Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan includes a provision to reinstate this “polluter-pay” tax which would result in more money for the government to clean up communities that have been affected by decades of industrial pollution. This is just one effort in the fight to shift the priority onto the people, where it always should have been, and away from profit-hungry industry. 
Although this signals a glimmer of hope, we as the people need to make sure we exercise our power as the chemical, oil and gas industries are sure to do everything in their power to ensure that the polluter-pay tax does not make it into legislation. This new bill will be yet another test of where America’s priorities truly lie.
Photo Credit: Stuart Villanueva/The Daily News file photo

By: Julia Weil, Organizing Intern
While switching to green energy is typically beneficial for human health, a higher standard for what is classified as “green energy” is required to protect vulnerable communities. An example of this is the definition of renewable resources, which allows Europe, which pledged to decrease fossil fuel use, to consider biomass a viable renewable alternative, though it is not carbon neutral.
What is Biomass? Biomass can be made up of wood, wood processing wastes, agricultural crops, agricultural waste, and manure. When this type of renewable material is burned, energy is produced. However, the production of some of these materials can be particularly harmful. In this case, Europe’s outsourcing of biomass includes a crucial “loophole,” which causes damage to the environment. For example, trees that are still rooted are leveled in order to produce greater quantities of wood pellets.
Because of the definition of biomass used by the European Union, they were able to declare themselves to be the first to use more renewable energy than fossil fuels. However, the enormous increase in the use of biomass caused people in the US – specifically, people living in the South – to suffer.
Enviva, the largest producer of “industrial wood pellets” – a type of biomass – was operating two facilities in North Carolina, processing this type of biomass far away from the location where the benefits of the “green energy” would be reaped. It should be noted that this type of biomass is not produced in the EU, therefore, Europe is able to report fewer emissions than were emitted throughout the entire process. The Enviva website, www.envivabiomass.com, advertises clean, green energy, and uses language promising a decrease in emissions from importing materials, however, there is no mention of the consequences suffered by the communities where these plants are located. The locations of the Enviva facilities highlight yet another case of environmental racism – eight of the nine plants located in the United States are in areas with a higher Black population than that of the entire state. Furthermore, “all of Enviva’s plants are in census tracts that have lower median household incomes than their states, and eight of the nine…are in tracts with higher poverty rates than their states as a whole.” Two of the major health concerns experienced by communities affected by Enviva’s production of biomass include defects from the significant increases in air pollution and sleep deprivation from noise.
As is true of most environmental concerns, the production of this type of biomass is one example that can be linked to the harmful effects it has on the environment and to the communities where biomass is produced. There are clean alternatives to energy that are less damaging, and they should continue to be championed as replacements for fossil fuels, such as wind and solar power. However, even with these sources of energy, it is crucial to take into consideration what communities will be adversely impacted by the expansion of our infrastructure, and what is needed to ensure that affected communities are the first to benefit from “green energy.”
Photo Credit: https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/news/74166/dogwood-alliance-concerned-citizens-of-richmond-county-mount-last-ditch-opposition-to-enviva-pellet-plant
 

By: Benjamin Silver, Science and Technology Intern
Imagine suspecting that your drinking water is unsafe, but lacking the tools to verify your assumption. If the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota wants to obtain useful data about their drinking water, they must navigate to an online Water Quality Portal with multiple spreadsheets. Some of these datasets take hours to download and contain millions of samples with confusing, bureaucratic jargon. You might fall asleep on your keyboard before reaching any conclusions about your water…
This case study is a prime example of how disadvantaged communities face challenges in learning about the chemicals in their environment. The disproportionate impact of toxic chemical exposure on low-income, minority Americans is compounded by restricted access to the knowledge to combat the injustice. These Americans inevitably struggle to find useful information, whether from a lack of knowledge about existing water quality data or the digital divide that exists in impoverished communities. Even with comprehensive reports at their disposal, most Americans don’t have the scientific knowledge necessary to interpret the data.
Understanding the chemical composition of one’s surrounding environment is a human rights issue. The CDC estimates that over 60 million Americans drink water with chemicals associated with acute or chronic health conditions. While the EPA has never formally investigated chemically-associated health outcomes on the Yankton Reservation, various hazardous waste dumps along the reservation leach into the Missouri River. Even if the EPA did attest to water safety, government promises garner skepticism amongst a culture that has been consistently deceived by white people.
The importance of access to and control over data on tribal land ignited the Sacred Water Bundle Project. CHEJ and the Braveheart Society, a Sioux non-profit dedicated to preserving traditional cultural practices have collaborated to harness data in the water quality portal to construct an interactive map of the land along the Missouri River, the primary water source of the Yankton tribe. Viewers will be able to click on various sampling locations in the region and learn about various toxins at each location, including pesticides, metals, and inorganic compounds. 
To create the map, we used ArcGIS (an online mapping software) to pull only water quality data in the region of interest and generate coordinate points for each water sample. We then wrote a code that identified desired toxins in each dataset to group them by chemical type. We will use these groups to create the files for the interactive map.
Harnessing innovative data visualization methods will allow marginalized communities to familiarize themselves with their environment. Regardless of water safety, exposure to accessible, immersive data will equip the Sioux to grapple with long-term sustainability questions facing the tribe: What pollution sources threaten future water quality? Can the water support culturally-valuable plants and wildlife for generations to come? Empowering the Sioux with useful tools will better prepare them to fight for environmental justice and be stewards of their land. 
Water quality data doesn’t have to be a jumble of mundane parameters and values. Effective data presentation can allow everyday Americans to become well-versed scientists and leaders in their communities.
Photo Credit: South Dakota State University

By: Isabel Maternowski, Community Organizing Intern

In the 1930s, the federal government redlined Black neighborhoods across the United States. A ‘Forgotten History’ Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America: NPR. These neighborhoods were labeled as “hazardous” and “risky” investments. People living in these areas were denied access to federally supported mortgages, bank loans, and other forms of credit. This perpetuated a cycle of disinvestment and abuse that has negatively impacted communities of color to this day. Richmond, Virginia is one example of the hundreds of American cities suffering from the legacy of Redlining. How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering – The New York Times (nytimes.com).

Almost one hundred years later, these Redlined districts now represent the “heat islands” within the city of Richmond, especially in the summer. What are Heat Islands?  “Heat islands” have very few trees and an abundance of heat-absorbing concrete. Redlined neighborhoods are an average of five degrees hotter than non-Redlined neighborhoods. Studies Find Redlining Linked To More Heat, Fewer Trees In Cities Nationwide : NPR.  These low-income residential areas generally contain the highest concentrations of Black and Brown residents. Redlined districts turned “heat islands” are ubiquitous or found everywhere across the United States while the predominantly White neighborhoods have a bounty of trees and parks that keep the residents happy, healthy and much cooler in the summer.  Unfortunately, our country’s toxic environmental history of systemic abuse of people of color extends to all areas for individuals living in these “heat islands.”

As we have seen and are currently seeing, the health impacts of high temperatures are very serious.  In Richmond, Virginia, more than 2,000 Black residents are living in low-income public housing without air conditioning.  These ZIP codes have the highest rates of heat related ambulance calls in the city. Despite all of the resistance from cities to change, there is, however, a slow push that can be noted in Richmond’s environmental justice movement, to assist these residents. We now can look at Richmond’s initiatives and how it has utilized the three dimensions of environmental justice to better understand how the legacy of Redlining can begin to be dismantled.  

The first dimension of Environmental Justice is Procedural Justice which relates to the idea of fairness, public inclusivity on decision making, and equal allocation of resources. Procedural Justice is being facilitated by officials in Richmond’s Sustainability Office. This office is currently engaged in an “intensive listening process” with neighbors. They want to hear the concerns of the people as they work to create a climate action and resilience plan with racial equity at its core. It is critical to include the people most affected in the process of change. This strategy should be implemented at all levels of government across the nation. The study “Equity, environmental justice and sustainability: incomplete approaches in climate change politics” by Jekwu Ikeme describes the dimensions of environmental justice more thoroughly. 

Distributive Justice aims to provide equal protection and equal access. In Richmond, a new mapping tool has been released that shows how the heat and flooding disproportionately impact communities of color. The City of Richmond also has announced a goal that ensures everyone within the city limits has only a ten-minute walking distance to a park from where they live. The city is also working with the Science Museum of Virginia and community partners to identify the most vulnerable areas that can be converted into green space.  
The city EJ movement concludes with Corrective Justice initiatives, which address previous harms and structures that are contributing factors to ongoing inequalities, with a long-term master plan which was drafted in June 2020. The plan calls for an increase in tree canopies (parts of a city that are shaded by trees), redesigning buildings to improve airflow, reduction in the number of paved lots, and using a light color pavement, which would reflect back the sunlight that hits it. This is the city’s first large-scale “greening project” since the 1970s. What we are learning is that cities across America can benefit from increased green spaces psychologically, restoratively and environmentally. Green spaces are transformative, as they help cool down areas, lower electric bills, lower risk of death, filter air pollution, and reduce stress.

Redlining is a historic and toxic force that not only shaped some American cities but continues to put lives in danger. The long-term impacts of Redlining are forms of institutionalized racism. By looking at the example of Richmond, Virginia, we can begin to see how much of an impact procedural, distributive, and corrective justice can have to start to remediate the blatant inequities that these communities face. By embracing the three dimensions of Environmental Justice, political and social initiatives become powerful forces that can contribute to profound shifts in our society and disrupt the cycles of systemic Environmental Injustice.

Photo Credit: Nelson, Winling, Marciano, Connolly, et al./Mapping Inequality

By: Simone Lewis, Communications Intern
After years of activism from Indigenous, environmental, and community groups, TC Energy announced on June 9, 2021 that the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline project would finally be terminated. The announcement ends a more than decade-long battle over fossil fuel use and the right to protect land and water sources.
I was in high school when the pipeline first started making national news because of the sustained protests from residents, farmers, and business owners along the proposed route from Montana to the Gulf Coast. The protesters voiced that the pipeline would send a flood of toxic tar sands oil – one of the dirtiest fuels in the world – through their homes and homeland, and would contribute to advancing climate change.
Now, as I enter my senior year of college, those who have never stopped fighting for their freedom from environmental stress finally have some level of peace. This is an incredible reminder of the power of grassroots mass mobilization, as well as the perseverance and struggle that is often required of citizens to protect themselves from polluting industries.
Proponents of the pipeline are criticizing its termination for sacrificing the jobs it may have created.  In fact, the State Department reported in 2014 that less than two thousand jobs would be created during the construction phase of the pipeline and that the post-construction operational phase would only require about thirty-five people. The rhetoric surrounding job creation is often used by the oil and gas industry in contrast to clean energy policies and environmental protection. Economic goals and environmental goals, however, are not inherently at odds the way these industries would like us to believe. This false rhetoric around jobs often comes from corporations and not the people living in the areas affected by infrastructure projects, like those in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline. It is unacceptable that communities should be forced to choose between employment opportunities and their health and safety, though they consistently are when it comes to fossil fuel extraction and distribution. The fossil fuel industry leans on economic arguments to justify their operations, and even these arguments now are beginning to fail more and more.
I find it infuriating that our health and safety are weighed against profits, especially when environmentally safe investments can often be more profitable but are completely ignored. Solar energy, for example, has become not only the cheapest form of power but also the one with the highest potential for job creation. My generation realizes that there are alternatives to fossil fuels that create well paying, sustainable jobs and uplift communities rather than harming the environment.
If the argument is that investing in infrastructure creates jobs, then why not invest in positive infrastructure that communities can support?  Why not invest in new pipes, so that citizens can have cleaner drinking water?  Why not invest in forest waste clearing projects to lessen the environmental and economic severity of wildfires?  Why not bolster public transportation to minimize air pollution, why not strengthen landfill linings to prevent leaching, why not renovate buildings to withstand extreme weather events and why not build homes and schools to be more energy efficient. These efforts, and a properly trained workforce, can all create significant numbers of jobs and strengthen local communities’ economies, as well as face the challenges of climate change. We know job creation can be consistent with environmental justice, so it’s heartbreaking that people continue to have to put their lives on hold to protest projects that deepen injustice.
As we celebrate the victory of the activists against the Keystone XL oil pipeline, we at CHEJ are awaiting the final outcome of the infrastructure bill. It is our belief that it has the capability to provide more environmentally safe communities, strengthen our infrastructure, and provide needed job growth.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File; center, AP Photo/Evan Vucci; right; RICARDO TORRES / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL VIA IMAGN CONTENT SERVICES LLC
 

By: Anabelle Farnham, Communications Intern
Just over one week ago, on May 25th, activists gathered to mark the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, which was the spark for powerful anti-racist protests and calls to action across the country in 2020. The same day this year was marked by gatherings, marches, and celebrations of life to honor him and the fight for Racial Equality that his death has come to symbolize.
As an intern with the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), Racial Justice and Equality are some things that I am challenged to think about every day, as it is inherently intertwined with the work we do for Environmental Justice and Equality. It is no secret that communities affected by pollution have greater health risks from their environment and are disproportionately constituted by lower-wealth and minority individuals. Studies estimate that on average, communities who live within 1 km (1 miles equals approximately 1.60934 km) of toxic waste facilities in the United States are majority people of color, with 20% being African-American. In contrast, communities living further than 5km away from toxic waste facilities are estimated to be only 8% African-American. In 2007, it was estimated that 1.8 million African-Americans lived in a neighborhood near one or more of the over 400 identified commercial hazardous waste facilities in the United States.
Not only are the current statistics of who is at risk from their environment skewed, but the history of Superfund clean-ups comes with its own biases, as well. As of 2021, the EPA has been working on Superfund clean-ups for over 40 years, and in the first decades of this work, particularly the 1980s, the sites with greater media coverage and urgency to clean up were often in communities with highly educated populations. This left many sites in majority African-American, low wealth, and urban neighborhoods ignored and without the attention or funding needed to clean up their toxic pollution environments. Since the first decades of Superfund, this disproportionate treatment has subsided, or ceased all together.  However, the issues for people of color and low wealth individuals living near toxic contamination remains potent and has not changed.
Racial Justice and Equality, in the context of Superfund, doesn’t stop when the sites have been cleaned up. It is still imperative that as these neighborhoods become livable they continue to be homes to those communities who have fought for their clean-ups in the first place. This means continuing to maintain affordable housing and taking additional measures that prevent gentrification, so that communities are not pushed from one environmentally damaged site to yet another environmentally damaged site. This is why the work that CHEJ is committed to remains important. Our work empowers local communities to have a voice at every step in the process, which is key in not only cleaning up Superfund sites, but other contaminated sites throughout the country.
As CHEJ celebrates 40 years of fighting for Environmental Justice and Equality, it is a poignant opportunity to reflect on what this justice encompasses. Not only is our focus on achieving a clean environment and eliminating threats to our health, it is also inextricably tied to Racial Justice and Equality for those disproportionately bearing the burden of pollution and toxic exposure in this country.  For more information on the intersections between how communities are affected by these injustices, and how to fight to win, please visit chej.org/organizing-and-leadership/.
Photo Credit: Gabriele Holtermann

By Judith Eppele, Community Organizing Intern
Have you ever wished you were a tomato? Probably not, but in the context of health issues, you may change your mind. Think about how fast health authorities respond to E. coli outbreaks in lettuce, Listeria in milks and cheeses, or even Salmonella in–you guessed it–tomatoes. Now think about health issues caused by pollution. How long has Flint, Michigan been without clean drinking water? Objectively, way too long. The disparity between the length of these responses–or lack thereof–is obvious and appalling. Thankfully, CHEJ has recognized this problem and is actively working to fix it, through our Unequal Response Unequal Protection campaign.
This campaign has been the main focus of my internship with CHEJ thus far, and so I’ve had firsthand experience with finding a solution for the Unequal Response issue. Most notably is trying to figure out how to build a model from the ground up that gives communities a fair and equal response to public health issues, in which an entity has to meet with them and have a conversation about the specific issue in their community. One of my favorite parts of this model is that it’s a joint effort between the community members and the health authority entity. Therefore, the entity and community members will be in conversation with each other throughout the process. This will allow for community members to finally be justly heard and respected in their fight against toxic chemicals, and nothing can be swept under the rug without them knowing. Further, the entity is able to make a more informed decision on what the actual problem is and how best to solve it, as they’re able to have constant communication with the community at hand. This ensures for a more transparent and efficient health investigation affair, and thus a win-win situation.
Eventually, we’d like for the Unequal Response Unequal Protection campaign to be implemented into national legislation. Doing so would be monumental for community groups across the country–possibly being the best thing since sliced bread! We are one step closer to living in a world where people are able to live peacefully in a safe and healthy community, with no fear of chemicals in their drinking water, food, or air. After living a year in a world where safety and health are never promised, a type of national legislation that covers the environmental aspect of health issues could not be more welcome.
In case you’d like to read more about the goals of Unequal Response Unequal Protection and our progress thus far, feel free to check out the page on our website HERE. You can also email us at info@chej.org if you have any questions or comments, or if you’d like to join us on our campaign journey. In the fight against toxic chemicals, the more support from awesome people like you, the better. Let’s win this fight together!
Photo Credit: CNN

By: Julia Weil, Community Organizing Intern
As we have seen countless times, hazardous contamination is disproportionately present in areas where more minority and low-income people live. Though this has been both protested at specific sites and researched on a larger scale for many years, it not only continues, but the companies responsible both refuse to take responsibility and even deny the environmental racism that drives their decision-making.
The process of moving potential contaminating facilities out of white neighborhoods and into majority minority neighborhoods can be seen in the case of Southside Recycling, owned by Reserve Management Group, in Chicago.  Formerly General Iron, the scrap metal shredding facility was proposed to move out of Lincoln Park, a wealthier and whiter area of Chicago, and into the already environmentally over-burdened Southeast Side, in an area where the majority of residents are Latino.
In Lincoln Park, before the proposed location change, the General Iron facility was protested by residents due to the noise, smell, and particulate matter, and a notice of violation was issued due to emissions.  The new company name doesn’t change the impact that the metal shredding facility could have on surrounding communities.
Recognizing the sickeningly common narrative continued by the location change, local activists on the Southeast Side conducted several protests and participated in a hunger strike. The Southeast Side of Chicago has a long history of environmental racism and pollution, driven by zoning laws. In fact, over just the past 7 years, as many as 75 facilities in that area were inspected for “allegedly violating the Clean Air Act.”
However, the owners of Southside Recycling continue to defend their actions, asserting that this move isn’t due to environmental racism and the new facility will be “environmentally conscious.” The owners cite the greater area of the plot available on the Southeast Side as being protective, though an elementary school and a high school sit just a half mile from the new site, and the area in which they planned to relocate already suffers from a higher level of contamination.
The planned relocation resulted in a civil rights lawsuit being filed against General Iron, and has attracted the attention of the EPA. Michael Regan, the EPA’s 16^th Administrator, has declared that the Southeast Side of Chicago suffers from environmental injustice, and has asked that the city delay the issuing of a permit for this facility. Hopefully, this is a first step towards halting development of the facility altogether in this location, followed by more protective litigation for over-burdened communities.
Photo Credit: Antonio Lopez

By: Tony Aguilar, Organizing Intern
In constructing his cabinet, President Biden appointed Deb Haaland, a Native American woman and former U.S. representative from New Mexico to be the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior manages America’s natural resources and Native American relations in Bureaus such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Since Haaland’s confirmation, she has put together a diverse team in the DOI, including other Native American additions like Lawrence Roberts and Heidi Todacheene. Since the colonization of America, Indigenous voices have only been silenced, especially when it came to issues like land management. The appointment of Deb Halaand seems to be a step in the right direction in reversing the contentious history between the American Government and Indigenous communities. 
Before America’s colonization, Indigenous peoples practiced an engagement with nature that was full of reverence and respect for Earth’s natural resources. Many Indigenous cultures view our resources as entities themselves that we have familial relationships with, implying a sense of responsibility to take care of things like water and soil. This attitude toward the natural world is apparent in the way that Indegenous peoples built societies that sustained themselves for generations before Western colonization without depleting the Earth’s resources. Frequent relocation, industrialization, and other land rights infringements have not only kept Indigenous peoples from practicing the same level of sustainability of their ancestors, it has also disproportionately threatened or damaged many of the natural resources that surround or belong to Indigenous lands.  
The United States has yet to achieve a level of sustainability that Indigenous communities once had, but a restructuring of Native American affairs that Deb Haaland is committed to, may allow Indigenous communities the sovereignty and self-determination to keep pollution out of their communities and go back to the practices that built and sustained their communities for so many generations before them. These communities may then even serve as an example to the rest of America of what sustainability really means.
 As a 35th generation New Mexican and member of the Pueblo of Laguna (a Native American tribe in west-central New Mexico), Haaland has spent her career in politics fighting for environmental justice as well as many other Native American Issues. During her time in the House of Representatives, Haaland served as vice chair of the Committee on Natural Resources and also co-sponsored the Environmental Justice for All Act. As the Secretary of the Department of Interior, Haaland understands that Native American communities, along with communities of color more generally, take on most of the burden when it comes to environmental problems and has made it a point to ensure that these communities are being helped. Coming from such a community herself, Haaland serves as a beam of hope to all of the communities that suffer from environmental injustice, especially Native American communities that have not only lost their land, but also much of their culture to colonial industrialization. 
 
Photo credits: United States Department of the Interior