High Country News: Young Indigenous activists lead climate justice action in Alaska
Nanieezh Peter, 15, and Quannah Chasing Horse Potts, 17, speak in support of a resolution reinstating a climate action leadership task force and declaring a state of emergency on climate change, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019 during the Alaska Federation of Natives convention at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks. (Loren Holmes / Anchorage Daily News)
Two Alaska Native teenagers pushed for a resolution declaring a climate emergency – and decision-makers listened.
By Tripp J Crouse for High Country News
“We do not want to stop our ways of life. That’s why we’re here.” Seventeen-year-old Quannah Chasing Horse’s voice broke as she stood on stage in front of a sea of delegates at the Alaska Federation of Natives 2019 Convention in Fairbanks, Alaska. “We shouldn’t have to tell people in charge that we want to survive. It should be our number-one right. We should not have to fight for this.”
In October, at one of the largest gatherings of Indigenous people in the U.S., the Hans Gwich’in and Lakota Sioux teenager stood with 15-year-old Nanieezh Peter (Neetsaii Gwich’in and Diné) and advocated for a resolution urging the federation’s voting members to take action on climate change as it affects Alaska Native people in a way that matches the scale and urgency of the problem. Chasing Horse and Peter, who spoke for the Elders and Youth Conference, which drafted the resolution, also called on members to create a climate action task force within AFN and to declare a state of emergency on climate change.
In appealing to the public for action, Chasing Horse and Peter join the likes of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, and clean-water activist Autumn Peltier, 15, (Wikwemikong First Nation). A groundswell of voices is amplifying the concerns of youth on larger stages — and decision-makers at the state, national and global level are starting to listen.
Read the rest of this article by High Country News here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/52.1/indigenous-affairs-young-indigenous-activists-lead-climate-justice-action-in-alaska