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Protecting Mother Earth Conference: the Right to Prayer

4/16/2025

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​During August of 2024 Kerri Pulley and I attended the 18th Protecting Mother Earth conference. It was held on the Qualla Boundary Land Trust of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The conference was founded by the Indigenous Environmental Network. There were over 900 participants from all over Turtle Island. Speakers and teachers represented indigenous peoples from around the world.
 
I was happy to see Great Grandmother Mary Lyons speaking at plenaries and meeting with leaders. Mary Lyons is one of the original international Great Grandmothers or Keepers of Wisdom. I first met her at the 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Salt Lake City. We again met up at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. She is a member of the  Anishinaabe or Ojibwe people. I was excited when she agreed to be interviewed. I assumed she would talk about her work as a water protector, or as a prominent member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, or perhaps her work with the United Nations. However, as is usually the case, Mary had other plans. She introduced me to two of her colleagues and provided a panel interview.
 
Her colleagues included Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck. Crystal is an adjunct professor of Social Sciences at Salem College. She has extensive experience advocating for indigenous approaches to protecting the environment. She is the executive director of 7 Directions of Service. Dr. Cavalier-Keck is a member of the Occaneechi-Saponi people. She is partnered in her endeavors with her husband, Jason Crazy Bear Keck. He is also a strong advocate for protecting Mother Earth using traditional indigenous approaches to caring for the land. Jason is a member of the Choctaw people and the multiethnic Creole people.
 
Their topic was not about a specific ecology, extractive practice, or pollution. It was about an incident that interfered with indigenous prayer to 3000-year-old ancestors. It was about conflict with neighbors, police, and the initial presumption of guilt by the media. This may not initially look like a topic one would expect to hear about at the Protecting Mother Earth conference. However, the conference speakers often compared colonial extractive economies to indigenous practices of living in harmony and balance with Mother Earth. This is being in relationship with Mother Earth and all the inhabitants of our home. That relationship requires communication, it requires prayer. So, for these three people, as they told their story of one event in North Carolina, they also spoke of how powerful prayer is and how it must not be limited or interfered with.
 
So, as you watch the video, I suspect it will become clear to you why these three indigenous people are environmental and social justice leaders.

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GreenAction at the 18th Protecting Mother Earth Conference

4/16/2025

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During August of 2024 Kerri Pulley and I attended the 18th Protecting Mother Earth conference. It was held on the Qualla Boundary Land Trust of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The conference was founded by the Indigenous Environmental Network. There were over 900 participants from all over Turtle Island. Speakers and teachers represented indigenous peoples from around the world.
 
Kerri identified Bradley Angel as someone we should be interviewing, and she was right. Bradley is the executive director of GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice. Between this grassroots advocating group and another multinational green group he previously worked for he has over 40 years of experience organizing, advocating, and networking for healthier environments for the poor, marginalized, and exploited populations. Green Action is a grassroots organization that was founded in 1997. They have had numerous victories in closing down polluting facilities and blocking harmful proposals. Green Action has been instrumental in encouraging changes in industry policies, participating in toxic cleanups, and improving environmental justice policies.
 
Bradley Angel talked about the early days of the Indigenous Environmental Network. He said the first Protecting Mother Earth conference had 200 participants and was deemed a big success. The second PME conference had 500 attendees. Bradley has attended all 18 of the Protecting Mother Earth conferences and was active in the creation of both the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Protecting Mother Earth conferences.
 
As you watch the interview you will get a sense of his effectiveness as an ally. This includes humility (he does not need to be in charge and follows the lead of the Indigenous leaders), he values diversity and inclusivity, and he shares a profound love for Mother Earth.

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Protecting Mother Earth: Advocating for a Nuclear-Free World

4/11/2025

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During the “18th Protecting Mother Earth Conference” in Cherokee North Carolina, I had the honor of interviewing Jesse Deer in Water. The conference was founded by the Indigenous Environmental Network and was hosted by the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians. The conference was held on the Qualla Boundary Land Trust.
 
Jesse Deer in Water is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He is a Nuclear Abolitionist. Jesse has a long history of working to make Turtle Island safer by advocating for structural changes to nuclear facilities. Jesse is the director of Citizens Resistance at Fermi 2 (CRAFT). He works with allied organizations such as Beyond Nuclear. He views nuclear power, uranium extraction, and nuclear disasters as all threats to indigenous peoples and to citizens of the world. It was impressive to see his fund of knowledge and to learn of his body of work as an advocate. 

Jesse watched his mother as she evolved into an effective nuclear abolitionist. The construction of a nuclear reactor was proposed for Oklahoma. Jessie Pauline and others organized and advocated for the plant to not be built. They were successful. After that victory they found out that Kerr-McGee had applied to dispose of nuclear waste from the Sequoyah Fuels Corporation (SFC). Jessie Pauline and then Vice-Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma joined together to create the Native Americans for a Clean Environment (NACE). After ten years of advocating the SFC closed.  

She then moved to Michigan with the goal of retiring from the hard work of being a nuclear abolitionist. However, that was not to be. On December 25, 1993, Fermi 2 had a malfunction of a turbine. The result of this was that 1.5 million gallons of untreated toxic, radioactive water was dumped into Lake Erie. Jessie Pauline was then contacted by locals to assist in a response. She was clear that she was not knowledgeable about engineering designs of nuclear plants, but she did know how to organize community. In response to the Fermi 2 malfunction the Citizen’s Resistance at Fermi 2 (CRAFT) was founded. CRAFT was active until 2001. At that time several central organizers left the area and CRAFT became dormant. 
 
Events once again resulted in the reformation of CRAT. In 2011 there was a significant nuclear accident at the Fukushima reactor in Japan. The reactor was the same model as the one in Michigan. Elders gathered to consider a reaction. The result was that in 2012 many of the original leasers gathered and CRAFT was revived. Jesse Deer in Water became the Community Organizer. He focuses on community engagement and education. He focuses on Extraction of radioactive material, transportation of radioactive material and radioactive waste, and then energy production and the safety concerns related to the reactors. Part of community education is helping citizens understand there are multiple avenues of contamination. These include Nuclear or radioactive contamination, toxic contaminations such as heavy metals and forever chemicals, and thermal pollution. Jessie’s concerns were not hypothetical. During a plenary session it was announced that the transportation of uranium through a reservation was to restart. For all these reasons Jesse collaborators with other groups whenever possible. This includes university law department, university biology researchers, and together they produce reports for the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency or FERC. 
 
Jesse was an active presence at the Protecting Mother Earth conference. He led two breakout session He was sought out by other participants. This is not surprising. His mother was his mentor and role model. He saw here in action, and she brought him to IEN conferences and other networking events. That impact was evident. Jesse brought a number of youths to the conference. He was not attempting to create junior nuclear activist. He was modeling community, culture, being a responsible member of the web of life. For the youths' part, they were just having fun while learning about life. 
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The interview reflects his depth of knowledge, the complicated world in which he lives, and his decades of contribution to all of us.   ​

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Protecting Mother Earth Conference: Sustainable Land Management

4/10/2025

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In August of 2025 Kerri Pulley and I attended the 18th “Protecting Mother Earth conference” in Cherokee North Carolina. The conference was hosted by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The conference was held at the Qualla Boundary land trust in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Oconaluftee River. The conference is an official event of the Indigenous Environmental Network.  
The conference was marked by rituals such as the daily Welcoming of the Sun around the Sacred Fire, dance and purifying sweats. Participants ate locally gathered and harvested authentic traditional meals together. There was a profound sense of community. All of this helped to sustain the participants for the serious work of Protecting Mother Earth. 

 Speakers, leaders and participants were from all over Turtle Island, South America, and the Pacific. There were Plenary sessions, trainings sessions and breakout sessions.  Kerri Pulley, the production assistant (and my daughter) created a mobile recording studio, identified potential interviewees, and kept us on schedule in an environment where the schedule was fluid. One of the interviewees was Dane DeSouza. 

Dane is a member of the Metis Nation. This was an identity I was only recently familiar with. I was attending virtual trainings through the Outdoor Learning Store. They introduced me to the First Nations University of Canada. Through taking virtual classes at the university, I was introduced to the Metis. Canada recognizes three large groups of indigenous peoples. The include First Nations (think Indian tribe or indigenous nations, Eskimos and Inuit, and the Metis. The Metis are a distinct culture and history. They share European ancestry and Indigenous ancestry but maintained indigenous original culture, language, and a sustainable worldview. 

Dane spoke of his journey from City Indian to a more engrained Metis identity. Dane spoke of his introduction to disaster relief work, firefighting, and living and working in nature. This led to a greater understanding of the differences between the colonial extractive economy and the indigenous sustainable approach to living in balance with Mother Earth. 

While articulating these differences he was respectful of all the people he worked with and encountered. He is a bridge-builder. The interview provides numerous examples of colonial extractive economy versus a sustainable indigenous approach. Perhaps the clearest example was the wildfires as consequences of exploiting the land versus the life-sustaining generative approach of living in harmony with the land. 

Dane's work is in the service of all. This is seen most clearly when he addresses his international work. It was an honor to interview this Indigenous activist for the environmental. I hope you enjoy the video. 

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    Carl Jylland-Halverson

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    I am just a nature lover who struggles not to be overwhelmed or immobilized by the destructive impact humans are having on the planet. My goal is to do my part to reduce my carbon footprint, to celebrate biodiversity, to help heal my tiny part of the earth. Please join me in this endeavor to turn hope into action.

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