Skip to main content

Environmental Justice

Thoughts on “Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water”

—By Rick Kitchen

“Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water” is the name for our upcoming 3rd annual vigil in Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton on February 14th. If you are interested in this hybrid (live and live-streamed) event, here is the ESTHER link: Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water. The vigil is co-hosted by Kristin Welch’s Waking Women Healing Institute (WWHI) and ESTHER.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirits (MMIWG2S) is an epidemic across North America, which is known as Turtle Island to Indigenous people. Indigenous people want an end to molestation, rape, trafficking, and murder. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are 2.5x as likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2x more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes compared to all other races. In the United States and Canada, an average of 40% of the women who were victims of sex trafficking identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native. About 85% of Indigenous women experience violence in their lifetime and more than 55% of Indigenous women experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

ESTHER Environmental Justice Task Force

Date: 
Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

A group of concerned citizens dedicated to reversing the environmental decline of our planet and committed to addressing issues of injustice arising from climate change.

For a link to the Zoom meeting, or to be added to the task force mailing list, leave us a message at https://esther-foxvalley.org/ejtf

Climate Justice Community Webinar

Date: 
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/s/84840000619

Local Action. Real Power. Fighting for Climate Justice

Become part of the fight for climate justice in your community!

Join us for this webinar on December 15 to hear about work at the local policy level to bring about climate justice and how you can help. Recommendations of the Climate Change Task Force will be shared, local elected officials will share information on recent policy wins, and information will be provided on statewide efforts.

Please Register

Co-sponsored by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and ESTHER.

Indigenous Resisitance to Mining in Wisconsin: Panel Discussion

Date: 
Thursday, November 11, 2021 - 7:00pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

From accessibility of public lands to health impacts of burning fossil fuels, examples of environmental injustice are deeply woven into each of the issues that we organize around. To examine these connections, many parts of the Sierra Club in Wisconsin are coming together to organize an Environmental Justice Event Series beginning in the fall of 2021. 

We hope that these events can provide an opportunity to explore the inequities rooted within these issues and help shine a light on the critical environmental justice components that exist in our work. Register to receive the link to the Zoom event.

Register Now

Sponsored by Grass Roots North Shore, Sierra Club Great Waters Group, Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort, Fox Valley Sierra Group, First Unitarian Society of Madison, 350 Madison Climate Action Team, Wisconsin Interfaith Power and Light, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, ESTHER, Peace Action of Wisconsin, Nearby Nature Milwaukee, Sierra Club Wisconsin

Healing the Land

On Friday, July 16, I along with other ESTHER members went to Marinette in support of the Coalition to Save the Menominee River. This event was inspiring and allowed me to hear the stories of those who are working diligently to protect the river.

The extractive industry is a threat to wildlife, the surrounding environment, and Native communities. The extractive industry brings violence to Native communities and exacerbates the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Being at this event, I heard from people who are working specifically on this issue and how I can get more involved. This is my biggest passion, and it felt reaffirming hearing from people who care just as much as I do.

If we are looking for ways to better protect the environment, we need to listen to Indigenous communities such as the Menominee. Indigenous communities have been protecting and healing the land for many years. Their relationship with the land provides the best template for how we can move forward and heal the land and ourselves.

It was such an honor to witness a water blessing done by five generations of Menominee women. They mentioned how in their community, women are the water protectors. Women have a sacred connection with the water as the womb holds life-giving water. That relationship with the water is so beautiful and is just one of the many reasons why the Menominee River needs to be protected.

Kayla Nessmann

ESTHER Communications Coordinator

Water Celebration at Stephenson Island

Date: 
Friday, July 16, 2021 - 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: 
Stephenson Island, Marinette, WI

Water Celebration and Bridge Walk

Friday, July 16

Stop the Back 40 Mine

  • 12:00 pm: Event Opening - Bring Your Lawn Chairs
  • 1:30 pm: Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Al Gedicks
  • 1:50 pm: Western Mining Action Network (WMAN) Speech
  • 2:10 pm: Menominee Nation Speech
  • 2:30 pm: BLESSING OF THE WATERS CEREMONY
  • 3:30 pm: “River’s Edge Trio” Performance & Raffle Drawing - Custom-Built Guitars appraised at $4,500.00
  • 4:00 pm: Bridge Walk w/ Signs to the demonstration site
  • 6:00 pm: Return to Stephenson Island to adjourn, with our thanks!!

Car-pooling from the Fox Valley is being arranged. Leave a message at https://esther-foxvalley.org/ejtf if you are interested.

Sponsored By: Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc.

Website: https://jointherivercoalition.org

Citizen Lobby Training by Wisconsin Conservation Voters

Date: 
Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

Wisconsin Conservation Voters LogoWisconsin Conservation Voters is offering Citizen Lobbying Training on Thursday, May 27 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Learn how to meet with local decision makers and urge climate action.

In the training, participants will learn what lobbying is and how to have a successful meeting. Participants will get to put their newly learned skills into practice with a mock lobby meeting.

Click here to save your spot.

Can’t make it but still want to get involved? Contact Casey Hicks, Northeast Organizer, Wisconsin Conservation Voters by emailing casey@conservationvoters.org.

Fox Valley Climate Justice Rally

Date: 
Saturday, April 24, 2021 - 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: 
Houdini Plaza, 111 W College Ave, Appleton

Join ESTHER and other local and statewide climate advocacy groups for a Climate Justice Rally in Appleton on Saturday, April 24th!

From noon to 2 p.m., we’ll be gathering on Houdini Plaza to demand climate justice and a sustainable future! We are calling on elected officials at all levels of government to address the climate crisis with the urgency demanded by science, while creating good jobs and ensuring everyone has clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.

Register Now

For more information, see the event Facebook Page.

Global Developments in the Rights of Nature: Tribal Nations

Date: 
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

Hosted by the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.

Join in this fantastic free webinar with Frank Bibeau, Attorney for the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and with Honor the Earth, and Guy Reiter, Executive Director of Menīkānaehkem and Menominee Indian Organizer, both of whom have worked with the center for CDER.

Frank and Guy are advancing the rights of nature in tribal law and governance – including Frank’s work with the White Earth Band’s “Rights of Manoomin” law, and Guy with the “Rights of the Menominee River” resolution. Both may be found in CDER’s law library.

The webinar will be held on Zoom. All are welcome. No charge. Register here.

Sustainable Saturday Night: Indigenous-Led Resistance to Extraction Industries

Date: 
Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

ESTHER’s Environmental Justice Task Force is pleased to bring this event your attention

About this eventOur Revolution

Extraction industries are destroying people and planet for the profit of a few. Whether it's Enbridge’s Line 3 and Line 5 to carry dirty tar sands oil across Wisconsin for export or the Back Forty metallic sulfide mine that threatens the Menominee River, extraction is running rampant in our state with little to no oversight.

But the people, led by indigenous groups, are fighting back. In this event, Our Wisconsin Revolution is joining with Building Unity’s Sustainable Saturday Night series to present a town hall on Indigenous-Led Resistance to Extraction Industries.

Join us for the first half hour to hear original music about Line 3 from singer-songwriter Larry Long, as well as testimony from two recent visitors to the Line 3 resistance camps: Justice Peche, OWR board member and Green Bay chapter leader, and Tim Cordon, Social Justice Coordinator at First Unitarian Society of Madison.

Then our program will get underway at 6:30 p.m. with a lineup of speakers that includes:

Syndicate content