Ecuador Amazon tribe win first victory against oil companies
Ecuador’s Waorani indigenous tribe won their first victory against big oil companies in a ruling that blocks entry onto ancestral lands for oil exploration.
Indigenous rights & well-being
Navajo Nation embraces renewable energy as era of coal power ends
The Navajo Nation voted not to pursue the plan to operate the coal-powered Navajo Generating Station itself, but rather to create a new local economy based on renewable energy.
The United States convenes the most diverse Congress in its history
There are more women than ever before, and a new generation of Muslims, Latinos, Native Americans and African-Americans in the House creating what academics call a reflective democracy, more aligned with the population of the United States.
New Mexico Democrat Debra Haaland and Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids become the first Native American women elected to U.S. Congress
Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Native American women elected to Congress.
Indigenous rights get boost as Green Climate Fund approves $1 billion for new projects
The fund – to which countries have pledged more than $10 billion – adopted a landmark policy to protect indigenous people who often live in or near forests, where the fund plans to back conservation projects.
Cleveland Indians will stop using Chief Wahoo logo on uniforms in 2019
The smiling red-faced logo which has for years been criticized as racist by the Native American community and others will be removed from the team’s jersey sleeves and caps starting in the 2019 season, the MLB announced Monday.
L.A. City Council replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day on city calendar
Over the objections of Italian American civic groups, the council made the second Monday in October a day in L.A. to commemorate “indigenous, aboriginal and native people.”
Court finds that approval of Dakota Access Pipeline violated the law
A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects.
San Francisco moves to divest $1.2B from companies financing Dakota Access Pipeline
The board approved a resolution introduced by Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer urging City Treasurer Jose Cisneros to add the Dakota Access Pipeline to the list of screening factors he considers when making city investment decisions.
Defund DAPL spreads across Indian country as tribes divest
The Navajo Nation is making moves to join a growing number of tribes that have already respectfully, but conclusively, shown Wells Fargo the door.