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Honor the Earth Annual Report 1 HONOR THE EARTH ANNUAL REPORT 1 HONOR THE EARTH ANNUAL REPORT 2011–2012 HONOR THE EARTH ANNUAL REPORT 2 We are a part of everything that is beneath us, above us and around us. Our past is our present, our present is our future, and our future is seven generations past and present. – Haudenosaunee teaching TABLE OF CONTENTS: Letter from the Executive Director ......................................................3 “ Our Mission ...........................................................................................4 Advisory Board .....................................................................................5 Music and Art ................................................................................... 6-7 “If You Do Not Fight You Will Never Win” ............................................8 We Spoke Out Against the Military ......................................................9 The Mines and Lake Superior ..............................................................9 We Supported Those Who Defend the Sacred .................................10 White Earth Renewable Energy .........................................................11 Grantmaking / Grantees .............................................................. 12-20 Future Goals .......................................................................................21 Donors ......................................................................................... 22-23 Cover Art: Chip Thomas, Graffiti artist- Back Alley, Flagstaff, AZ. Princess and Financials ...........................................................................................24 Klee Benally who continue their fight to protect the sacred Doko’oo’sliid, (San Francisco Peaks) from desecration. Dedication ...........................................................................................25 A VOICE FOR THOSE NOT HEARD HONOR THE EARTH INTRODUCTION 3 LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR: And, we know that the future genera- It is a great beauty which surrounds us… Beauty before, beauty behind and tions are counting absolutely on our we are as humans beautiful, if we choose to be. vision and work today to make it pos- sible for them to survive. That means Honor the Earth had an amazing journey this past year. The most trying of times, that we must take responsibility for good as we lost some of the greatest of leaders in our Indigenous community, yet this technological choices in energy, and in was also a time when we were reminded of the mettle we were made of, and restoring our food systems so that our what we as an organization were formed to do for our people, and our land. people may control their lives, protect the environment, and eat well. We remembered who we were and our lessons: We did all of this, and we supported Beautiful and committed artists and musicians came together with a vision our communities. We allocated over for honoring the earth.These musicians, whose songs warm our hearts in $160,000 to Native Organizations. the hardest of times and lift our spirits helped us through. These artists, whose beauty and clarity of vision spoke more than a thousand words con- We are incredibly thankful to be able to do this work. And we are incredibly tinue to lend their hands and art for Mother Earth. We are grateful. thankful to all of you for supporting us in these trying times. And, during this, of all times, we embarked on a bold restructuring of our organization - joining We remembered that if you do not fight you do not win. You do not even forces with our reservation based sister organization - the White Earth Land have a chance to win. So we took up some battles when asked by our com- Recovery Project, as a training center for much of the work we do, and as the munities. Or we continued some battles and won this past round for Mother host for our offices. We also began the process of building out a lateral set of Earth in a couple of them. And we remembered where we came from as an relationships with Indigenous and allied organizations who share the same vi- organization - the defense of our Mother Earth brought us together, and the sion - because that is the only way to move ahead in these times. knowledge that it takes all peoples to join together in this work. Thank you again for believing in us, and joining us in our work for Mother Earth. We remembered to honor the sacred. The sacredness of the Salmon and the rivers of the Wintu, the sacredness of San Francisco Peaks and the sacred- ness of the Miskwaabik Child – the copper child of Lake Superior. And we worked to support those who defended the sacred. Winona LaDuke FROM THE DIRECTOR HONOR THE EARTH OUR MISSION 4 OUR MISSION: Honor the Earth’s mission is to create awareness and support for Native envi- other communities. We’ve produced significant literature, particularly on the Green Economy (Tribal Sustainable Communities, and Green Economics for ronmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for Brown People), and this last year, wrote and distributed 2000 copies thus far the survival of sustainable Native communities. We develop these resources by of The Militarization of Indian Country. using music, the arts, the media and Indigenous wisdom to ask people to rec- We have initiated and carried out solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and wind ognize our joint dependency on the Earth and be a voice for those not heard. power installations in five communities, and are looking to do more of this work. We’ve hosted many gatherings, and presented at hundreds of events Honor the Earth is a nineteen year old Indigenous led advocacy and re-grant- in tribal and non tribal communities, as well as been able to carry out political ing foundation which has extensively utilized the media, arts and music as a work through musical events - ranging from 80 benefit concerts, often featur- tool in our organizing work. Our strategy has focused on the understanding ing the Indigo Girls (one in 2011 and two in 2012), and many other musicians. that Indigenous environmental justice organizations and a movement need We have re-granted approximately $3 million to Native American front line more than money to change our situation, yet financial resources are essential communities, and been in concert with many organizations to make a better and must be buttressed significantly. and more sustainable future. This past year, we were also part of the defeat of the Mega Loads, intended to carry large machinery from a Pacific Coast port Our work involves strategic public education work, media, advertising, music, (the machinery is made in Korea) to the Alberta Tar Sands. promotion of critical thinking and more recently, the promotion of the essential intellectual capital for a green economy. During the course of our work, we’ve This involved a good deal of ground work and meetings with the Nez Perce been able to successfully oppose a number of destructive projects, in con- Tribe and finally resulted in a victory at the end of the year. And, in early 2012, cert with Indigenous and environmental organizations. These include nuclear after a year of building grassroots oppostion, and two decades of focus on this waste dump proposals (Skull Valley Goshute), coal fired power plants (Big issue prior to that, we joined with our allies in northern Wisconsin to celebrate Stone Two - Sisseton and White Earth), and coal bed methane exploitation, the defeat of the largest proposed taconite mines in North America, one which as a few examples. We’ve testified at statewide hearings (Green Economy in would devastate the Bad River Ojibwe reservation and Lake Superior. We are Minnesota, and the New Mexico Carbon Cap hearing), written briefing materi- very proud of our work. als for the United Nations and federal hearings, written hundreds of articles and pieces of literature which have been distributed throughout Native and OUR MISSION HONOR THE EARTH ADVISORY BOARD 5 ADVISORY BOARD: ADMINISTRATIVE AND OFFICE CHANGES This year, we had some major transition on our advisory board, and we are In November and December of 2011, Honor the Earth consolidated offices still transitioning. We’ve been very fortunate to have committed board mem- to the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, where it will be housed bers, and in 2012, we added new board members: in the (soon to be) wind powered school in Callaway Minnesota, owned by the the White Earth Land Recovery Project. This has been a long time dream Paul Demain , Indian Country Communications , News from Indian Coun- of our community, to have a national foundation on the reservation. We had try- CEO, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe. major board and staff changes during this period, and are now in the process of completing strategic planning for 2012 and beyond, with new staff and a Robert Gough , Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, Rosebud reservation, redesigned organization. South Dakota. We are very grateful for your support in 2011, and hope you will join us in Shannon Martin , Executive Director, Ziibwing Cultural Center- Saginaw 2012 as we work to create a transition from a fossil fuel and nuclear economy Chippewa reservation, Anishinaabe and Potowatami. towards a revitalized land-based sustainable economy in Native America and beyond. Cynthia Perez, Chicana, La Pena Cultural Center and Indigenous Wom- en’s Network, Austin , Texas. AKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Amy Ray, Indigo Girls, Atlanta, Georgia. This past year, two committed staff left Honor the Earth, for a new path, Nellis Emily Saliers, Indigo
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