After oil and gas companies contaminated her community with toxic waste, Eriel Tchekwie Deranger did not stay silent. The executive director and co-founder of Indigenous Climate Action is spearheading a movement to reimagine how the world develops climate policy.
As detailed by The New York Times, Deranger is a Dënesųłiné woman and part of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in Alberta, and she comes from a family with a history of advocacy in the American Indian Movement. She believes it is crucial to implement environmental policies with a mindset of "power with, as opposed to power over."
"It's not consumed by money but by the health and wealth of our communities' spirituality, our connections to our culture, our languages, our capacities to harvest from the land and not take more than you need," Deranger told the Times when asked about an Indigenous-led policy.
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Definitely 👍 According to NASA, Earth is heating up at "an unprecedented rate" because of human activities — primarily the burning of dirty fuels — and this warming has led to serious issues, including more intense extreme weather that has devastated food crops and displaced millions of people.
Also a member of the International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Climate Change, Deranger told the Times that everyone can participate in helping to heal the planet, no matter their cultural backgrounds or traditions, though she believes Indigenous peoples have a unique perspective that can both stand alone and strengthen existing systems.
"In the context of the climate crisis, Indigenous knowledge systems are in line with and, in many cases, can bolster Western empirical science and data, and they can allow us to create stronger frameworks to build better solutions," Deranger said, also advocating for "a diversity of governance systems and policies for managing lands."
At home, Indigenous Climate Action has teamed up with more than a dozen organizations, including Keepers of the Water, to urge the Alberta and Canadian governments to investigate the ongoing pollution of Indigenous waters and implement restoration solutions. In December, Deranger was honored with the Climate Breakthrough Award, receiving $4 million to ensure Indigenous peoples have a voice in global negotiations and decisions.
"Indigenous peoples have been some of the most formidable advocates in advancing climate change as a global political issue," Deranger said in a news release. "... It is about time that we receive this level of investment into Indigenous leadership in climate policy and solutions."
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