Greenaction works with Native Nations and other Indigenous partners and allies to protect Indigenous people’s health, environment and sacred and culturally significant sites. Greenaction supports and respects Tribal Sovereignty of Native Nations. State and federal governments everywhere must respect Tribal Sovereignty. Greenaction supports and recognizes that Indigenous peoples have lived in harmony with the earth for thousands of years, and have engaged in sustainable hunting and fishing for food and as part of cultural and religious practices. Greenaction supports the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples that states;
Article 3- Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
ARIZONA
Gila River Indian Community, Arizona:
Greenaction and the grassroots tribal member organization the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment have worked together since 2000 on many environmental health and justice issues on this reservation near Phoenix. Together we have won several big victories, including closing down two major polluting industries that imported waste from around the west, the Romic hazardous waste plant and the Stericycle medical waste incinerator. Current efforts are focused on diesel pollution and protection of culturally important sites.
Colorado River Indian Tribes, Arizona:
Greenaction and the Mohave Cultural Preservation Program, a grassroots group from the Colorado River Indian Tribes have worked together since 1997 when MCPP members and Mohave Elders helped found Greenaction. Together, with many allies, we defeated the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump. Today we continue working to stop the burning of hazardous waste at the Siemens plant operating in violation of federal law on the reservation.
O’ohdam lands in Arizona and Mexico:
Greenaction and the O’odham Rights Coalition have worked together since 2006 to protect the O’odham ceremonial site and village of Quitovac in Sonora, Mexico from desecration and pollution. Together we defeated plans for a hazardous waste landfill proposed close to Quitovac, and today we are helping protect Quitovac from new threats including mining.
CALIFORNIA
Laytonville Rancheria, California:
The Cahto Tribe and other residents of Laytonville are rising to defend their right to life. Between 1950 and 1993 Mendocino county-operated two landfills in Laytonville that were improperly capped and have continued to contaminate surrounding wells, springs, groundwater, air, soil. Cancer and miscarriages are only a few of the health issues the community members have endured for decades but enough is enough. Many tribal members are organizing in hopes of relocating to ensure that everyone can enjoy a healthy future. Greenaction stands in solidarity with the Cahto Tribe and other residents of Laytonville and will support them as they move forward with this battle!
Read more about our campaign at Laytonville Rancheria, California
Indian Pass, Sonoran Desert, California:
Greenaction is working with the Quechan Tribe and other indigenous peoples of the region to stop plans for a proposed open-pit gold mine on sacred and environmentally sensitive land at Indian Pass, in the Sonoran Desert of California. The Indian Pass Wilderness Area is located in Imperial County in the Sonoran Desert in the southeastern part of California, approximately seven miles from the Arizona border. It lies between the Picacho Peak and Buzzards Peak Wilderness Areas and is east of the Chocolate Mountains. It is approximately seven miles from both the Colorado River and the Picacho Peak Wilderness Area. Indian Pass has great sacred and cultural significance to the Indigenous people of the area, including the Quechan and Mohave. The land is referred to by the Quechan as the “Trail of Dreams”
Read more about our campaign at Indian Pass
Mojave Desert, California:
Greenaction is supporting Native Nations and the Sacred Sites Protection Circle in efforts to stop the destruction of burial and other culturally significant sites including ancient geoglyphs created in the desert thousands of years ago by indigenous peoples. Burial and cremation sites as well as geoglyphs, giant rock drawings on the desert floor, are threatened by massive industrial-scale solar power projects being built on top of and next to these sacred sites. These sites are also being harmed and threatened with further destruction by reckless ATV use.
Ward Valley, California:
Greenaction joins with the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Quechan and Colorado River Indian Tribes and allies every year to celebrate the historic victory won when the nuclear waste dump proposed for the sacred lands at Ward Valley was defeated. The 113 day occupation of the federal land at Ward Valley that began February 12, 1998 was Greenaction’s very first direct action.
23rd Annual Ward Valley Celebration, February 25th, 2021
See photos from Ward Valley Campaign and Occupation
Coyote Valley, California:
Read the Impacts of Wood Pellet Production
Read the Pellet Plant Community Signatory Letter
“Our Community Demands Clean Air” Mendocino County Protest Flyer (August 28, 2020).
Winnemem Wintu Tribe, California:
In 2018 Greenaction joined the Winnemem Wintu Tribe on the historical 300 mile long Run4Salmon journey led by Chief Caleen Sisk. The two-week journey seeks to raise awareness about the importance of protecting waterways, restoring endangered salmon runs, defending sacred sites and revitalizing indigenous lifeways in the face of climate change and ecological collapse. The prayer run begins in the San Francisco Bay Delta with the Ohlone people at Sogorea Te and prayerfully follows the same journey that the Chinook winter-run salmon take upstream to Winnemem lands.
Click here to learn more about important dates, maps, and registration for Run4Salmon 2019!
HAWAI’I
The protection of Indigenous Lands and sacred sites and landscapes go hand-in-hand. The summit of Mauna Kea in Hawai’i is one of these sacred landscapes. To Native Hawaiians or Kānaka Maoli, the mountain, Mauna Kea, represents many things; a place of worship, an ancestral burial site, and a life-giving source of fresh water. The aquifer located within Mauna Kea provides fresh water for the town of Hilo and other surrounding communities. Greenaction advocates and supports the protection of Mauna Kea and is adamantly against the building of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Project. The TMT project would have devastating and irreversible environmental impacts on Mauna Kea’s fresh water aquifer and desecrate sacred lands. The TMT summit is already overburdened by thirteen previously built telescopes, which have been proven to leave toxins. Greenaction stands in solidarity with the “We Stand with Mauna Kea” and “Protect Mauna Kea” movements and protective actions.
Kū Kia’i Mauna!
Click here to read more about the recent peaceful blockade at Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
TAKE ACTION NOW! CALL NOW TO HALT THE TMT CONSTRUCTION!
Governor David Y. Ige
(808) 586-0034
Contact the Governor Online
Contact Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
(650) 213-3000
NO TMT! Protect Native Sacred Sites:
Ask them: Why are you desecrating Mauna Kea????
Tell them: “NO TMT! Protect Native Sacred Sites
“Please Divest from Desecration”
Sign this Petition
For more ways to stay updated and support the Mauna Kea Protectors, please visit:
Weblinks
Facebook Pages
Use these Hashtags on Social Media
#ProtectMaunaKea #WeAreMaunaKea #MaunaKea #ProtectTheSacred #ProtectTheSource #WeStandWithMaunaKea #WeAreStillMaunaKea #NOTMT #TMTShutDown #WeStand
Stay Tuned to Greenaction for more Direct Action!
Mauna Kea UC Berkeley Protest Press Release
UTAH
White Mesa Ute Community of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Utah:
Greenaction works with tribal members from the White Mesa Ute Community of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southern Utah against the Denison Mines uranium mill that was built next to the reservation and on top of hundreds of ancient culturally significant and sacred sites. The mill emits radioactive yellow cake into the air and dumps radioactive and toxic materials in the land. Greenaction, tribal members, the tribe and allies won a big victory when we defeated plans to ship radioactive uranium tailings from Moab, Utah to the uranium mill. We continue to fight the mill’s expansion plans.
OTHER NATIVE NATIONS
Navajo Nation, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and other Native Nations:
Greenaction is working to educate tribal members and tribal governments in many Native Nations being targeted by an onslaught of proposals for new incinerators using gasification, plasma arc or pyrolysis technologies to treat garbage and other wastes. Companies are targeting tribal lands in an attempt to avoid city, county and state laws and are disguising these incinerators as “renewable energy.”