Breaking Green Ceilings
Mar 2, 2021
EP 44: Indigenous Environmentalism
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Deondre Smiles is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography and is a citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. His research interests include Indigenous geographies, science and technology studies, and tribal cultural resource protection/preservation. His current dissertation research focuses on historical and contemporary disrespect and disturbances of deceased Indigenous bodies and Indigenous burial grounds in his home state of Minnesota.
Deondre is also teaching a course this spring on indigenous environmental activism at The Ohio State University, which we talk about in-depth in this 44th episode of the Breaking Green Ceilings podcast.
Follow Deondre:
- Twitter - @DeondreSmiles
Follow Breaking Green Ceilings:
- Website - https://watersavvysolutions.com/podcast
- Instagram- @breaking_green_ceilings
- Facebook - @breaking_green_ceilings
- Twitter - @sapnamulki
More episodes from Breaking Green Ceilings
Nov 15, 2022
EP 64: The Power of Indigenous Storytelling (Pt2)
In the second part of a two part series, we will continue talking about The Whale Child, a book written and illustrated by Indigenous authors Keith and Chenoa Egawa. Keith and Chenoa are siblings and enrolled members of the Lummi Indian Nation and of Japanese heritage.
This book is a reminder of why we are here, why I am here, and why I am doing this work and this podcast.
In the first part of the episode, we hear more about the role of magic in telling the story and about the inspiration for the book. In the second part of the episode, Keith and Chenoa talk about influences, habits, and advices that helped them in their work and life.
Magic is a part of life. It is also the potential that we all have that somehow gets limited through conditioning and socialization, especially in modern world. We are able to connect to that magic – if we wish to – through our dreams. It comes from the heart, not the mind. But now, we do not even know what the heart is saying any more.
We want you to remember you’re important; this is who you are. You can be what you want to be. But what is your goal? Is it to make money? And, is it to make money at the cost of life? It does not matter if you’re a good engineer; if your job is destructive, you’re destroying the Earth. It is important to bring this reality to our children now and prepare them to what is happening and what is going to happen.
Episode Highlights
* We have stories about whales and orcas. They’re akin. It is not just some kind of idea of magic, but these are parts of our wisdom and understanding over thousands of years.
* If you want to connect with your magic, you have to open something within yourself to remember what is already in you.
* We were inspired to write the story because we saw the power of the birth of our nephew, and what happened during that time.
* We want all children to remember that they are this precious and this sacred.
* And then the environmental message came too, because of where we are now. We thought of all our children and our nieces and nephew, thinking about all of them and wanting to have that hope for them. That’s how the story came about. It came from a dream that my sister had.
* There’s a change of jobs that needs to happen. There’s a change in our conciseness that needs to happen. If you’re doing a job, it needs to have some aspects of caring about the Earth, life, and healing.
Contact information and other Resources:
Keith Egawa is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Creative Writing program and author of the novel Madchild Running. Keith’s extensive work experience in the fields of Child and Family Services and Indian Education Reform has provided him with both inspiration and insight into his subject matter.
Chenoa Egawa holds a BA in International Business and Spanish from the University of Washington. In addition to being a writer, Chenoa is an activist for Indigenous communities and the environment, a ceremonial leader, medicine woman, singer, storyteller, and artist dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth and people of all origins.
Breaking Green Ceilings:
Website: https://www.breakinggreenceilings.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breaking_green_ceilings/
Follow Keith and Chenoa Egawa:
Instagram: The Whale Child
Facebook: The Whale Child
Website: http://www.swanclan.com/
E-mail: chenoa egawa
Penguin Random House: The Whale Child
Amazon: The Whale Child
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Nov 1, 2022
EP 63: The Power of Indigenous Storytelling (Pt1)
In this first episode of a two-part series, we will be talking about The Whale Child, a book written and illustrated by Indigenous authors Keith and Chenoa Egawa. Keith and Chenoa are siblings and enrolled members of the Lummi Indian Nation, and of Japanese heritage.
Keith Egawa is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Creative Writing program and author of the novel Madchild Running. Keith’s extensive work experience in the fields of Child and Family Services and Indian Education Reform has provided him with both inspiration and insight into his subject matter.
Chenoa Egawa holds a BA in International Business and Spanish from the University of Washington. In addition to being a writer, Chenoa is an activist for Indigenous communities and the environment, a ceremonial leader, medicine woman, singer, storyteller, and artist dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth and people of all origins.
The Whale Child is an inspiring book that introduces young readers to the environmental challenges facing the planet through the eyes of Coast Salish characters and authors. It is a story about two children: a young whale and a little girl. Her task is to follow the whale child as he shows her the threats of pollution and global warming to water and thus to all interconnected life and creatures on Earth.
The book is a reminder of our severed and hurt relationships with nature. We were born with connections to nature. But as we grow older, we get socialized away from nature, which takes us away from our essence, who we really are.
According to the authors, there is nothing wrong with awareness. We do not need to be afraid. We need to recognize what is going on, and realize that we still have the power to change the situation. Turning our backs and being afraid to look at the truth will not help us to overcome anything. Facing the reality of what is going on, whether it is within or around us, is part of the healing that we all came here to do. And now, perhaps, if we can come together and recognize our common humanity, we can see that together we can make these changes. It is on us to find a way to respect nature wherever we are.
Episode Highlights
* I remember the stories that our great-grandmother would tell us. There was sadness in me because I thought about how those days are gone and these stories are, somehow, disappearing in this new world.
* We wrote The Whale Child honoring the memory and realizing that these things are not gone, that we can remember them at any time. And if we breathe that life back into them, they are waiting for us.
* All of nature is alive, and the spirits of the stories are not just legends and myths. They are living, breathing, alive hearts of this world in which we live.
* Every child has a special gift for society as a whole, for our community, and our family to be whole and fully expressed. Each person needs to contribute their unique genius or unique gift that they came to bring to the whole.
* There is this remembering and forgetting that we go through when we come to this Earth.
* We have responsibility. We have a voice. And we are taught to use it in a helpful way and a way of being of service
* Let’s be hopeful for our children. Let’s talk to them about what is happening so we can come up with some changes and solutions that can ensure a good life for them, their children, and their grandchildren.
* There are no borders in nature. It is all connected. We are all part of the global ecosystem.
Contact information and other Resources:
Keith Egawa is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Creative Writing program and the author of the novel Madchild Running (Red Crane Books Inc. 1999). Egawa’s extensive work experience in the fields of Children and Family Services and Indian Education Reform has provided him with both inspiration and insight into his subject matter. Egawa has been awarded several artists’ grants, including the ARTs Up grant through the Seattle Arts Commission, which was used to conduct a series of writing workshops for Native youth in the Seattle area.
Chenoa Egawa is the Coast Salish of the Lummi and S’Kallam Nations of Washington State. She is a ceremonial leader, singer, speaker, environmental activist, and artist dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth, and people of all cultures, backgrounds, and origins through recognition of our shared experiences as human beings. Chenoa has long been active in local and international work for Indigenous peoples, children, and the environment. For over 20 years, she has worked in Washington State schools, creating programs that integrate Native American culture and history, often teaching through songs and storytelling, empowering Native youth, and bringing greater appreciation for cultural diversity to all children in the public school system. Over the past 25 years, she has traveled throughout North, Central, and South America facilitating communication among indigenous peoples with the intent of protecting and preserving cultural heritage, languages, and homelands.
Breaking Green Ceilings:
Website: https://www.breakinggreenceilings.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breaking_green_ceilings/
Follow Keith and Chenoa Egawa:
E-mail: chenoa egawa
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chenoa.egawa/
Chenoa Egawa website: http://www.swanclan.com/
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Oct 18, 2022
EP 62: Moving Resources to Benefit the Dreams of Environmentalists of Color
Grace Anderson (she/her) is a network weaver, strategist, and dreamer working at the intersection of race, healing and the environment.
While working in the outdoor and environmental sector, she recognized a lack of people of color in that space, not only in leadership, but also in the program. Their stories have not been being told. She soon realized she did not want to spend her time educating white folks. Instead, she wanted to spend her time, resources and energy on people of color and their experiences, moving resources towards what they needed.
In this episode, we will hear about what made her become an independent environmental consultant, and what specific issues she is focused on. She shares her thoughts about DEI, volunteering, and philanthropy, among other things. Her insightful article about the problems related to DEI: “Is DEI work upholding the same systems it seeks to challenge?” is available on her web page.
Episode Highlights
* Nature has played two different roles in my life. Every time I’m outside, I am reminded how small I am in a big system of things and also how powerful I am in a big system of things.
* Now I see my work as just liberation and joy work. My focus has stayed the same; I’m just approaching it differently.
* We’ve been advocating for what we need for so long. And we know what we need. My goal now is to move resources toward that.
* Yes, I think DEI is tricky because it does provide some space, and there is a lot of education that needs to be done. I just think it is so out of balance.
* In 2020, after I left PGM ONE, I was granted a fellowship from the Pisces Foundation alongside Angela Mooney D’Arcy and we are creating a fellowship for folks of color in the environmental space.
* We are creating a framework and infrastructure to have a long-standing fellowship, specifically focused on black and indigenous folks, who need resources and time to create. Another part of it, is acquiring land for people to retreat and rest on.
* I’m genuinely curious and genuinely care about people outside of the work that I do.
* I often volunteer on the scholarship committee because I can see the benefit of other people.
* I would like to distinguish between the people with the money – philanthropist behind the foundation and the people working in that foundation.
* Too often, we look at philanthropy as a solution, and it’s not. People who have the money need to acknowledge where the money came from. No one gets that much money without extraction and exploitation, like slavery and child labor.
Contact information and other Resources:
Grace Anderson (she/her) is a network weaver, strategist, and dreamer working at the intersection of race, healing, and the environment. She is committed to building the capacity of people of color in the environmental space by moving resources toward their dreams and creating structural programming to support their growth.
With over a decade of experience in the outdoor and environmental sector, Grace has worked in several different capacities to uplift and center Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. At People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature, and Environment (PGM ONE), Grace co-directed the largest gathering of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who work in connection with the land. Her time in this role significantly deepened her commitment to building and sustaining the networks, dreams, and joy of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Breaking Green Ceilings:
Website: https://www.breakinggreenceilings.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breaking_green_ceilings/
Follow Grace:
Website: https://www.graceanderson.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amaze_me_grace/
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