The Environmental Crisis on Native American Lands

On June 14th, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe saw a significant victory in the ongoing battle against the oil industry. A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers did not sufficiently examine the environmental impact of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The judge did not halt construction, but he is requiring a follow up report that fully recognizes the risks that the pipeline poses to its natural and human surroundings. It was hard not to feel defeated after the events that occurred earlier in the year with the evacuation of the last Water Protectors and Donald Trump’s order to go ahead with construction. This ruling proves that the fight is not over and that there are legal roadmaps to sustainable peace.

This victory comes as the effects of climate change are becoming impossibly difficult to ignore. This month, temperatures in Arizona got so high that dozens of flights from Phoenix were cancelled. Recycling bins were melting in the street and emergency rooms saw an increase in patients with heat-related sickness. The situation will only get worse, and it will get worse faster and in areas that otherwise have never had to deal with such drastic shifts in weather. The oil industry still illustrates again and again that it has no plan to change course.

We are fighting back. We are standing with the indigenous people who are on the frontlines. Our film, A Different American Dream, is still available for educational screenings to bring awareness to the devastation that big oil wreaks on the environment and vulnerable populations. We also continue to highlight native rights violations and promote awareness through video footage, archival, and research. We cannot stress enough the urgency of this issue, and we must all come together on behalf of our unbreachable common bond:  Earth.

Links:

• Visit our page on "A Different American Dream"