For indigenous environmental activist Tokata Iron Eyes , climate solutions are all about indigenous rights and culture . When Iron Eyes converge Swedish teenager activistGreta Thunberga couple of weeks ago and realise Thunberg feel the same way , she bid Thunberg to her ancestral motherland . The two 16 - year - olds forged a friendship — not much different , I imagine , from the girlfriend I made when I was a unseasoned woman .
For these teens , however , thestakes are much higher .
Thunbergarrived in the U.S.in August and has since toured the country and Canada . On Sunday , she get together Iron Eyes on a control panel on the climate crisis hosted by the Lakota People ’s Law Project at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota where Iron Eyes exist . Thunberg will be speaking on another instrument panel Tuesday at Standing Rock in North Dakota , the site of a germinal 2016 dissent over the Dakota Access Pipeline .
Greta Thunberg, 16, sits next to Tokata Iron Eyes, 16, during the panel Sunday at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.Photo: Courtesy of Lakota People’s Law Project
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welcome a blue - eyed European to lands that many Native Americans in the neighborhood consider sacred is no little thing . These land were pillage and destroyed by people who looked like Thunberg , and there ’s a farseeing chronicle of continued racial discrimination perpetrate on tribes by white Americans . Few ashen folks are experience with such love and gratitude as what Thunberg has understand .
Her invitation to these nation sends a clear message to her critics : She ’s one of us . Some people on the left hand have criticise both the media for giving Thunberg so much attention and Thunberg herself for taking up space that some believe should go to untried activists of colour that have been doing this work for years .
Frontline community like Standing Rock and youth from these residential area like Iron eye have seen what climate modification look like , so they ’ve been sounding the alarm system on climate change long before mood tap were a thing . The fogy fuel extraction that drive the crisis happens on their nation . The pollution as a result of that origin ends up in their waterways . And all the while , these tribal nations have little to no say on whether such projects should continue or even be built in the first place . For many , it ’s not just an infringement to their basic human rights , but also a legal violation of treaty right wing establish with the U.S. politics .
Iron Eyes make out firsthand what that ’s like ; she was pay in the Standing Rock Reservation and lived there at the meter of the mass objection against the Dakota Access Pipeline . Youth play a key function in the battle against the 1,172 - mile crude crude oil word of mouth , makinginterstate runs to deliver petitionsand producinga video campaigncalled Rezpect Our Water to raise awareness of the grapevine . And rear awareness they did : Standing Rock exploded into a textbook example of what clime mobilization can await like when frontline communities lead .
Iron Eyes was speaking out about environmental shabbiness long before Standing Rock , telling the crowd at Pine Ridge on Sunday that she spoke out about atomic number 92 mining at age 9 .
For communities who present environmental menace on the regular , their history runs mystifying . Thunberg , on the other hand , only began speaking out about mood variety a twelvemonth ago when she start herFridays for Future schooltime strikesoutside the Swedish parliament . She ’s still comparatively new to the world of clime activism , and she ’s front some criticism over it . I get the criticism , but I find it , quite candidly , unfair . And Iron Eyes ai n’t down with it , either .
“ I think that it ’s not a job of who ’s in the spot , ” Iron Eyes tell Earther . “ I think it ’s a problem of the U.S. media , specially , want to only address a white narrative . It ’s not somebody ’s personal geological fault for being valued more in a organisation that values only them . ”
Truth ! First of all , Thunberg is a baby . And homegirl is out here doing more than plenty of adults in the clime space . She ’s a kid uncoerced to say whatever she want to whomever she wants ( such ascalling out the elite group at the World Economic Forumfor their role in the climate crisis in January 2019 ) . Thunberg can get away with such bold financial statement , in part , because she ’s this seemingly innocent - looking , depressed - eyed white miss . But the stripling has been exonerated about using her privilege to provide keep and allyship to her fellow youth of color who are not sensitive dearie .
In regards to thelandmark external climate complaintshe and 15 other immature people launched last calendar month , Thunberg has been vindicated that it ’s not about her but about all of them . During the press conference , she kept urging the closet to ask other young questions . At a march and rally against the Keystone XL Pipeline in Rapid City , South Dakota , on Monday , Thunberg advocate loss leader to hear to indigenous voices , concord to Rapid City Journal .
During the Sunday panel , Iron Eyes did n’t shy out from address some of the criticism Thunberg has received from others in the movement .
“ We have to realize that we ’re all on the same squad , and we ’re all crusade for the same matter , so no matter who is in the spotlight , no matter who is set out the most camera prison term , we have to be capable to do together as one under the same exercise set of value and be able-bodied to talk to each other on this layer of human being and talking about the same thing and how we can make real change together without any forms of jealousy , ” she said during the conversation .
And green-eyed monster can number quite well when you ’re a teenager , so it says a draw that this is coming from a 16 - year - older . It also says a lot about the moment we ’re in that Thunberg is at Standing Rock . We each have our own unique contributions to bring to the table when it comes to address the climate crisis . Indigenous mass have so much cognition and soundness to offer . Thunberg speaks with an urgency that the universe needs — and a privilege that many of her peer do n’t have .
Climate changeGreta Thunberg
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