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SustainUS COP 25 Indigenous Youth Delegation
We are 13 indigenous youth who will be traveling to the UN Climate Talks to pressure global leaders to take climate action now. This will be SustainUS’ first-ever indigenous youth delegation for any of our programs, help us make it a success!
THE VISION
As Indigenous youth we will maximize the centering and amplification of traditionally oppressed, excluded, silenced and marginalized voices in the discussions of climate change. Our cultures teach us that ecology and spirituality are connected, and therefore our work must also connect. We will bring spirit into politics and prayer into spaces that need it most. Our work will be culturally informed and spiritually grounded as we prepare to pressure our global governments to take climate action now and kick polluters out of COP.
THE PROBLEM
For our entire lives world leaders have gathered at the UN Climate Talks to make decisions about our futures without properly consulting us or the frontline communities we belong to. Our youth-led organization, SustainUS, has attended these meetings for over 20 years and we’ve seen the same recurring problem, the demographics of the room where solutions are drafted do not properly represent the most impacted and vulnerable communities, especially our indigenous communities.
THE SOLUTION
We are the solution and our voices must be present in the spaces where solutions are being crafted! We will be sending SustainUS’ first-ever Indigenous youth delegation comprised of 13 youth from across the United States and occupied territories.
A recent UN report has confirmed what we’ve known all along- as indigenous people we are one of the demographics most impacted by climate change and we also hold the knowledge and value systems that have the potential to help solve climate chaos. Indigenous peoples make up about 5% of the world population and protect over 75% of the world’s biodiversity.
We know that our knowledges’ and lifeways hold the key to helping our communities and all of humanity better mitigate and adapt to climate change. Read more here.
WHO WE ARE
We are indigenous, frontline, youth climate justice leaders, coming together from across the United States and occupied territories to take action at the UN Climate Talks (COP25) in Spain on behalf of Mother Earth and future generations of all life.
Many of us come from families and communities that for many generations have been advocating for the protection of our Mother Earth. We are water protectors, defenders of the sacred, cultural practitioners, caretakers of our elders and our children, keepers of traditional knowledge, seed savers and we are building the future our children deserve to inherit.
OUR WORK Our hearts have led us to the frontlines of Standing Rock in North Dakota, Line 3 in Minnesota, LNG pipeline in Oregon, Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Run4Salmon in California to protect sacred sites and waters.
We have advocated on international platforms for the decolonization of Guam , for the protection of the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and to revitalize indigenous languages and raise awareness about our missing and murdered indigenous sisters .
Some of us have lead important work to convene indigenous youth nationwide and have worked to bring an end to the unnecessary death of climate refugees on the US-Mexico border .
READ MORE ABOUT US HERE.
AT COP 25 WE WILL
join the global community to use our voices to hold corporations and politicians accountable, as we build solidarity and promote solutions that provide for the just and sustainable future we want to live in - one that uplifts the stories, cultures, and knowledge of Indigenous people around the world.
As the first all-Indigenous youth delegation for SustainUS, we are dedicated to using our experience as frontline activists to bring together our ancestral stories that have been forgotten and our ongoing struggles that are being ignored to the forefront of the global search for climate solutions.
HELP US GET TO COP 25!
Support our team in taking action to demand climate justice at the UN climate talks.
Despite the last minute venue change we still plan on showing up to the climate talks to highlight our critical narratives and the stories of our relatives in the global south, many who will not be able to attend as a result of the venue change to speak out against the profit-driven corruption and colonial ways that have brought about this climate crisis.
We have run into unexpected budget increases. Last month the venue for COP was changed last minute from Chile to Spain which has made our travel, lodging and food costs increase drastically. Because of this venue shift, our delegation needs to raise a remainder of $30,000 to cover the gap in unanticipated costs.
DONATE TODAY!
*Your donation will directly fund travel, housing, food, action costs, and UN certification for 2+ weeks for the 13 members of our team. Admittance to the delegation was without regard to financial situation in order to make this opportunity accessible to as many young people as possible. Now, we are seeking help from our communities to ensure we can do this work.
*By donating, you’re making our work possible. We want to share our work with you! When you donate you can sign up to receive email updates from our team while we’re in Madrid. There are also more ways to follow our work and see what we’re up to.
DON'T HAVE MONEY?
Share our GoFundMe on your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!
The chances are someone on your friends list might feel called to support this work even if you don’t. You can even share on your caption some of our goals to inspire folks to give and share our campaign.
Check out our goals below.
1) Ensure native and re-indigenizing youth leaders from Turtle Island and the diaspora are able to share stories and uplift their own grassroots issues and communities.
2) Highlight the narrative that ecological collapse and colonialism is deeply interconnected, and that indigenous sovereignty is crucial for climate justice.
3) Hold global leaders accountable to the demands of the most marginalized, centering native communities, at the COP.
4) Work to keep polluting corporations’ influence out of climate policy discussions and decision-making.
5) Actively work in worldwide solidarity with nations from the global south and island nations, uplifting and amplifying their demands and needs.
This year, our communities and the global south have faced unprecedented wildfires, flooding, and heatwaves as a result of our changing climate. It’s never been clearer to our team and youth across the globe that the time is now to demand climate justice for all.
FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY:
+FACEBOOK: SustainUS
+INSTAGRAM: @SustainUS
+TWITTER: @SustainUS
+WEBSITE: www.sustainus.org/
We are so grateful for your support,
The SustainUS COP25 Delegation
Niria Alicia, Mexica- Xicana, Purepecha and Raramuri Descendant
Michael Charles, Navajo/Dine
Orion Camero, Visayan, Ilocano
P Brown, Jamaican Maroon descendant
Samuel Gensaw III, Yurok
Josiah Keoni Rodriguez, Kanaka Maoli, Tagalog
Ruth Miller, Curyung Tribe of DenaʻIna Athabaskan, Ashkenazi Jewish
Isabella Tibbetts, Quechua
Leilani Rania Ganser, CHamoru, Kanaka Maoli
Micah “Big Wind” Carpenter-Lott/Hiisiis Beeyei (Old Man Sun), Northern Arapaho Citizen (Hinonoʻeino), w/ Gros Ventre (Aaniiih), Cheyenne, Ojibwe, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota ancestry
Mesiah (Sweetgrass) Ebony Burciaga-Hameed, Afro-Indigenous
Rose Whipple, Santee Dakota, Ho-Chunk, Winnebago
Alethea Phillips, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska and Iowa
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179 supporters
photo: hand-drawn faces of the SustainUS COP24 delegation, created by delegation leader Aneesa Khan
