accio-firewhiskey:izanzanwin:micdotcom:The oil industry needs to #RezpectOurWater and stop building
accio-firewhiskey:izanzanwin:micdotcom:The oil industry needs to #RezpectOurWater and stop building the Dakota Access PipelineI am 13 years old, and I’ve spent my whole life drinking and fishing from the Missouri River in North Dakota. As members of the Standing Rock Tribe, my family has lived here for generations. Today our lives on the reservation are still defined by the river.But now an oil company wants to build a pipeline that will cross the river a mile away from our reservation, carrying 570,000 barrels of crude oil across each day. We’re terrified that it could leak into our water, but the company doesn’t seem to care. We, the youth of the Standing Rock Tribe, refuse to let them risk our water and lives without a fight. So far over 130,000 people have signed our petition.— Anna Lee Rain Yellowhammer for Identities Mic“Its like our lives are expendable to others” Let that sink in. And despite all the oil propaganda that will trivialize the issue like “there is only a chance that it could leak” there has been so many instances where pipelines HAVE leaked, that needs to stop being ignored and swept under the rug. If people feel so comfortable with it then they can choose to do it on their own territories or those who are willing to take that risk. But even that thought im not fond of. Because Indigenous peoples have lost so much, mother Earth has become so damaged… its time to start healing the destruction that humans have caused. Its time to start taking responsibility and moving forward to sustainable solutions. I shouldnt have to parcel out the many instances of environmental violence and injustice that Natives have faced even leading up to now. And although Flint was a separate issue aside from oil, I think it really has awakened the general public to the ways that this injustice, this negligence to taking care of essential natural resources like water, effects us all, primarily those most impacted by poverty and inequity. Bottom line, there are so many communities facing disparities directly linked to environmental violence and economic corruption. We need to seize the opportunity to support those who rise up and organize to implement change. This is so damn powerful -- source link