#3 - Indigenous Environmental Issues

On today’s show, we took a bit of a different approach to our conversation. Both of us chose a topic within this overarching idea of Indigenous Environmental Issues. This is an important area to explore because our connection to the natural world is inseparable. Unlike the broad topic of being Indigenous in the modern world, this episode is more specific. We discuss oil transportation along the BNSF Railroad and the implications that spills have on the people, landscape, and watershed in western Montana. We also relate the reasons for why this is so significant to Indigenous communities by looking at two documents as examples of ways current approaches are highly colonized, but also for ways we can move forward with environmental issues in general.

Some of the main ideas we talk about are:

- The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway: How much oil is transported, Implications for the watershed, How this can affect all people

- The Rights of Mother Earth: The Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

- Government Documents at Different Levels

- Grassroots Change through Personal Change

- The Power of Your Vote

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Links and Resources:

Oil and Water Don't Mix YouTube Video

Understanding Oil Spills In Freshwater Environments

Middle Fork Flathead River: Treat: Oil Transport by Rail

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth

The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia's Historic Bill

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