Honor the Earth

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Description

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Overview

Honor the Earth is a grassroots movement that focuses on addressing Native environmental issues. Its creators felt that it was time to remove themselves from isolation and fight for the pressing envorionmental issues that Native communities have faced for years. These key environmental battles in North America can only be fought with sufficient financing and support. Honor the Earth has successfully used music, art, fashion, literature, and other tactics to raise awareness and promote change.

Mission Statement

"Our mission is to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities. Honor the Earth develops these resources by using music, the arts, the media, and Indigenous wisdom to ask people to recognize our joint dependency on the Earth and be a voice for those not heard." [[[2]]]

Initiatives

Grant-making

Honor the Earth has worked to organize concert tours and collaborative philantropy to raise the funds and awareness for Native environmental groups.

Concerts: Since 1993, Honor the Earth has collaborated with many musical artists including the Grammy Award winning Indigo Girls, Jackson Browne, Phish, and Sarah McLachlan to raise the money and public support needed to implement Native environmental projects. In 2003, the Indigo Girls, Dixie Chicks, and Ben Folds performed a concert in Charlotte and donated all the proceeds to Honor the Earth. [Press Release]

Description

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Philantropy: Honor the Earth has collaborated with Aveda and Whole Foods in their support for grassroot Native environmental groups. Aveda's Earth Month 2005 raised over 80,000 dollars for Honor the Earth, and once every quarter Whole Foods Market donates 5 percent days total sales to the organization. [More on Aveda Earth Day 2006]

Energy Justice

Problems: Native American lands and natural resources (primarily uranium and coal) are exploited daily in the United States. For example, every proposed nuclear waste dump is designed to be located in Native lands, and the world's largest coal strip mine is located on a Native reservation.

Solutions: Honor the Earth urges tribal governments to take on a renewable energy agenda. They point out that wind power on Native lands could produce about half of our country's enery. Also the sunlight that shines on our country in a given year contains more energy than the fossil fuels used by the entire world.

Plans In-Action: Honor the Earth has helped to bring wind power to reservations in the Northwest and plans to continue to do so. A 660-kilowatt turbine in Fort Peck, MT will hopefully save the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes $134,000 annually. The savings will go towards community programs such as a senior citizen's kitchen to feed poor elders. [More on Wind Power]

Teaching the Youth

Problems: Most Native Youth grow up in poverty stricken conditions. One in five homes have both a telephone and indoor toilet. The Native youth is exposed to very high levels of voilence and substance abuse. Sadly a native child is ten times more likely to die of a violent cause than a non-native one in the state of Minnesota. The federal government consistently underfunds both the health and school systems of Native communities.

Solutions: Honor the Earth has heavily invested in the Native youth, educating and empowering them so that they can responsibly take over the grassroot movements in time. "Our strategy is to improve their self-esteem, involve them in environmental issues in their communities, reinforce their cultural identities and develop their management and outreach skills." [[[4]]]

Plans In-Action: Honor the Earth is recognizing young Eco-Heroes worldwide. They recognize young people between the ages of 8-16 who have positively carried out environmental projects. Young citizens worldwide have made significant impacts in the protection of environmental health and of the natural world. International Young Eco-Hero Awards are given out every year by Honor the Earth and Action for Nature. These awards of cash prizes and global recognition serve as incentives for young citizens to take personal action to "Honor the Earth", on which all life depends.