The Call from Standing Rock
by Meg & Tim Toben
The Eco-Institute is part of an international network of organizations working for Earth Justice and Social Justice who received the invitation to join in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux and allied tribes in North Dakota.
Over the past several months, we have been sending funds to our brothers and sisters of the Standing Rock Sioux and 280 other tribes to protect drinking water, indigenous rights and sacred burial grounds in North Dakota. Recently, the Council of Elders put out a call for people and provisions at Standing Rock. The Eco-Institute has agreed to bring both on November 26th, 2016.
Why our Response is so Vital
What does a pipeline in North Dakota have to do with an environmental nonprofit in North Carolina? Frankly…everything. All over the world, indigenous people are on the front lines of protecting water supplies from fossil fuel profiteers. Whether its tar sands oil or fracked gas, dirty fuel must move, and as it moves, it destroys ecosystems, drinking water and life. Every pipeline leaks. Every single one. Will people and planet prevail or will the oil barons? The toxic “black snake” of pipelines that was prophesied by Native Elders is winding its way around the world, threatening human and non-human life. It’s time that we end the madness.
Clean water or dirty fossil fuels
The choice is simple. We have alternatives to fossil fuels – wind, solar, geothermal power. We have no alternative to water. The greedy oil tycoons routinely route the “black snake” through native lands and the neighborhoods of people of color, because their reconnaissance says that is where they will meet the least political resistance. At this very moment, riot police, acting on behalf of corporate interests, are pepper spraying native grandmothers, who are protecting their drinking water and ancestral burial grounds. Those grandmothers have asked for our help.
Responding to the Call
“Healing the Human-Earth Relationship” means responding to the call for help, when both are under attack. When your family is ill or in crisis, you go to them. We are at a crossroads as a culture. Do we value fossil fuels over human and non-human life? Which side of the riot line do we stand on – the one that serves the oil barons or the one that serves the people, the land, and the water? We are willing to put our bodies and our resources on the line to defend life.
We invite you to join us. Click the links below to see some of the many ways you can help!