Tuesday, April 21, 2015

April 19, 2015 Sunday Services Announcement and Follow Up

Good Morning:

My name is Mike Rominger.

Today is Native American Sunday in our UM Conference. 

Tomorrow I’ll be attending the webinar   described on the monitor.

Wednesday,  April 22 is  Earth Day.  The first Earth Day was in 1970 and became the impetus for the CWA, the CAA, and the ESA.

Three events that are linked.

Today we’ll take an offering to


1.    Help Native-American members establish new congregations.
2.    Provide job training, childcare, and cultural education.
3.    Provide scholarships for Native-American students pursuing church related vocations.

The offering is something tangible we can do.

But what about the issue noted in the webinar?

This webinar will examine the impacts of sea level
 rise and  other issues  on Native American 
communities. Across the United States,  land 
degradation presents challenges to their   homes 
and livelihoods. As many Native American 
communities contemplate their potential 
displacement, one tribe  in southern Louisiana
 is already preparing to move.  The webinar 
will  discuss the tribe's ambitious strategy to 
 become one of the first coastal indigenous 
groups to relocate as a community in modern 
times, and why they feel it is necessary.

So, what can we do about this issue?

If you go to the Green Team Idea Blog on the
 SP website, you’ll see some easy and effective 
ways to reduce your effect on SLR. Your 
Native American brothers and sisters will 
appreciate it.


Thank you.

******************************************************************************
More details and Mike Rominger’s Notes from the  
Webinar:

Monday, April 20
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
628 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Constitution Avenue and 1st Street, NE
Nearest metro stations: Union Station (red line)
Twitter hashtag:   #eesitalk    @eesionline



Experiences such as the Isle de Jean Charles Tribe's
 inspired the White House to convene a State, Local 
and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate 
 Preparedness and Resilience, which met from 
2013 to 2014. Last November, the Task Force 
published a report of 35 recommendations on how
 the federal government can assist local climate 
resilience efforts. This briefing will examine some 
of the recommendations from tribal communities, 
such as encouraging the incorporation of climate 
resilience into land use development and 
management 
practices.

Speakers for this forum are:
Albert Naquin, Chief, Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw,
 Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana @IJCBCC
Bob Gough, Secretary, Intertribal Council on 
Utility Policy

Dr. Julie Maldonado, Anthropologist and climate 
justice expert
The Isle de Jean Charles Tribe, which has made its 
home for 170 years on the Isle de Jean Charles in 
the bayous of southern Louisiana, has seen decades
 of oil and gas extraction operations, restrictive 
levees, and salt water intrusion from sea level rise 
severely diminish the freshwater marsh around its 
island. The dwindling marsh can no longer protect
 the island from ocean tides, which will eventually 
destroy it. Chief Albert Naquin is leading the Isle 
de Jean Charles Tribe as they preserve their 
community and culture by moving together to a 
new home. The tribe's vision for their new 
community will emphasize agricultural sustainability,
 healthy living, and pride in the culture and tribal
 identity of the group.

The briefing will include a 10-minute screening of 
Can't Stop the Water, a short film examining the 
struggle and optimism of the Isle de Jean Charles
 Tribe. The tribe hopes its story and innovative 
relocation plan can serve as a model for other 
tribal communities facing displacement due to 
 land loss.

Chief Albert Naquin, Bob Gough and 
Dr. Julie Maldonado are visiting Washington, DC
 as part of an East Coast tour to build awareness 
of tribal relocation issues. Other stops include 
New York and Philadelphia.

This briefing is the second in a two-part series 
examining local resilience efforts across the 
country. The first event was held April 1, 2015, 
and can be viewed at 
www.eesi.org/040115resilience.


Mike Rominger’s Notes:

  1. Many Native American communities – from 
  2. Alaska to the southern US coast – will be
  3.  forced to relocate due to the impacts of
  4.  coastal flooding, salt-water intrusion, and 
  5. other climate effects on their homes and
  6.  livelihoods (Primarily fishing).

  7. The tribe at the focus of the webinar has 
  8. an interesting heritage. They were part 
  9. of the forced migration of Native Americans
  10.  from Florida in the 1830’s - the Trail of 
  11. Tears that took many to Oklahoma.  This
  12.  tribe, however, wished to preserve their 
  13. fishing way of living, so they took a detour 
  14. and ended up on a small island south of 
  15. New Orleans.  No one really cared since 
  16. they were out of the way and not bothering
  17.  “whites”.  They’ve been there ever since.

  18. Their small island (and getting smaller) is
  19.  connected to the mainland by a road that
  20.  will eventually not be maintainable with
  21.  the storm surges and sea level rise and the
  22.  sinking land due to oil and gas extraction. 

  23. The tribe numbers about 650 people, half of 
  24. whom are age 20 or younger.  But the 
  25. majority  have already left for the 
  26. mainland. 
  27.  Only 25 homes remain occupied on the 
  28. island.

  29. The challenge is to regroup everyone on 
  30. the mainland and preserve their community.

  31. The biggest  hurdle they face is to get support 
  32. (both regulatory and financial) for moving 
  33. their communities intact.  There are  
  34. programs available to relocate individuals 
  35. but not communities.  And there is little 
  36. thought given to relocate communities to 
  37. an area where they can continue to 
  38. practice cultural and historic
  39.  methods of living such as fishing.



 







No comments:

Post a Comment