All Greenwashing Events

“Resisting the Global Land Grab,” a virtual event exploring how histories of colonialism, apartheid and uneven development have set the terms for today’s “solutions” to ecological crisis, engaging not only the common conditions of oppression faced by Indigenous communities across the world, but also the solidarities they are forging in their shared struggle against neocolonial conservation—and for Land Back.

SPEAKERS
* Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota/Cheyenne), Executive Director of Honor the Earth
* Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian architect, environmental activist, author, poet, and Director of the environmental think tank Health of Mother Earth Foundation
* Ashley Dawson, Distinguished Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and the College of Staten Island and Red Natural History Fellow

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Held on July 18, 2024, this webinar was curated by Ashley Dawson as part of “Natural History for a World in Crisis,” a virtual programming series organized by Red Natural History Fellows with The Natural History Museum.

Made possible with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and 4Culture.

Natural History for a World in Crisis

“Indigenizing Coastal Conservation,” a virtual event asking what it means to place Indigenous knowledge and tribal sovereignty at the heart of conservation. Focusing on ongoing work to fight coastal erosion on the Pacific coast, this event engages a frank conversation with Native and non-Native ocean conservation practitioners grappling with the complexities of decolonizing the conservation movement and incorporating Indigenous worldviews effectively and appropriately with mainstream approaches.

SPEAKERS
* Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes), Lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, independent educator in American Indian environmental policy, and Red Natural History Fellow
* Leah Mata-Fragua (yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Chumash)
Artist, Educator and Council Member, YTT Northern Chumash Tribe
* Calla Allison, Founder and Executive Director of the Marine Protected Area Collaborative Network
* Gus Gates, West Coast Regional Director of the Surfrider Foundation

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Held on June 28, 2024, this webinar was curated by Dina Gilio-Whitaker as part of “Natural History for a World in Crisis,” a virtual programming series organized by Red Natural History Fellows with The Natural History Museum.

Made possible with support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and 4Culture


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Full recording from Day 1 of “Unfence the Future”, a virtual symposium dedicated to dismantling the colonial logics, practices, and protocols inscribed in institutions of federal law, conservation, and historic preservation. https://bit.ly/UnfenceTheFuture.

Day 2 video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdpN5Jss_Lw&t=29s

00:00 OPENING BLESSING, SONG, AND INTRODUCTION
* Kwaslmut Sadie Olsen (Lummi), Co-founder, Whiteswan Environmental
* Beka Economopoulos, Co-founder and Director, The Natural History Museum

23:06 DISCUSSION: CONSERVATION-BY-DISPOSSESSION
* Ashley Dawson – Professor of Postcolonial Studies, CUNY Graduate Center
* Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/ Métis) – Ethnobotanist, author, and environmental historian
* Karl Jacoby – Professor of American History, Columbia University

1:41:35 FILM: THE SACRED REMAINS
• The Sacred Remains: Desecration & Res…

1:57:39 DISCUSSION: INDIGENIZING CONSERVATION
* Andrew Curley (Diné) – Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Arizona
* Melissa K. Nelson (Anishnaabe/Métis/Norwegian) – Ecologist and President of Cultural Conservancy
* Jim Enote (Zuni) – CEO, Colorado Plateau Foundation; Chair, Grand Canyon Trust
* Jon Eagle Sr. (Lakota) – Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

3:09:39 PREVIEW OF DAY 2
* Beka Economopoulos, Co-Founder and Director, The Natural History Museum
_______________________________________

UNFENCE THE FUTURE: TAKING DOWN FORTRESS CONSERVATION AND ITS ENDURING LEGACY

A two-day virtual symposium of panel discussions, poetry, films, and a call to action.
April 12 & 13, 2023

Fences create artificial borders between places and mediate the relations between them—what goes in, what comes out, and under what conditions. Without the lines that fences inscribe, there would be no place for border police. Nor could lands be parceled up, claimed as property to be possessed or plundered.

In the history of conservation, the logic of fencing was institutionalized in what critics call “fortress conservation,” a project of drawing boundaries between designated wilderness areas and their outsides, expelling perceived threats to ecological balance–from Indigenous Peoples, to predator species. In the process, habitats have been fragmented, and lifeworlds devastated.

While the science of fortress conservation has been widely discredited, we continue to live in its world. Where did this model come from? Where does it endure? How is it encoded in current laws, policies, and institutional practices—and more broadly, in our ways of seeing, understanding, and relating to the land? And what are activists, communities, and institutions doing to take it down?

Join community leaders, conservationists, legal scholars, geographers, historians, activists, and artists for a free online symposium dedicated to dismantling fortress conservation and its enduring legacy.

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A Red Natural History launch event, organized by The Natural History Museum and co-sponsored by Survival International and the Center for the Humanities at CUNY Graduate Center. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

* With music from “Theory of Ice” by Leanne Betasamasoke Simpson (Michi Saagig Nishnaabeg), http://leannesimpsonmusic.com

*Title inspired by the report “Unfencing the Future: Voices On How Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People and Organizations Can Work Together Toward Environmental and Conservation Goals”, by Hester Dillon (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), https://4riversconsult.com (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Full recording from Day 2 of “Unfence the Future”, a virtual symposium dedicated to dismantling the colonial logics, practices, and protocols inscribed in institutions of federal law, conservation, and historic preservation. https://bit.ly/UnfenceTheFuture.

Day 1 video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDnCAZhpHcA&t=20s

DAY 2 AGENDA
00:00 OPENING POEM
* Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Muscogee) – Poet, Writer, Curator, Advocate, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

24:15 DISCUSSION: EXTERMINATING EXTRACTION
* Kai Bosworth – geographer, professor, and author of “Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century”
* Enei Begaye (Diné/Tohono O’odham) – Executive Director, Native Movement
* Julia Fay Bernal (Sandia Pueblo/Yuchi-Creek) – Executive Director, Pueblo Action Alliance
* Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. (San Carlos Apache) – Founder, Apache Stronghold

1:27:58 INTERLUDE: MEDITATION THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SALMON
* Ruth Lchav’aya K’isen Miller (Dena’ina Athabaskan)

1:54:35 DISCUSSION: DEFENDING THE SACRED IN LAW AND POLICY
* Judith LeBlanc (Caddo) – Executive Director, Native Organizers Alliance
* Whitney Gravelle (Anishinaabe) – Chair of the Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan
* Wesley James Furlong – Attorney, Native American Rights Fund, Alaska Office

3:00:38 FILM: FROM THE ANCESTORS TO THE GRANDCHILDREN
• From The Ancestors To The Grandchildren

3:06:51 SYMPOSIUM RECAP: PULLING THE THREADS TOGETHER
* Steve Lyons, Research Director, The Natural History Museum

3:12:10 DISCUSSION: UNFENCING THE FUTURE FOR THE STORMS TO COME
* Billy Fleming – Director, McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology
* Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) – Author of “As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock”
* Elizabeth Yeampierre – Executive Director, UPROSE and Co-chair, Climate Justice Alliance
* Rueben George (Tsleil-Waututh) – Sundance Chief and Manager, Sacred Trust Initiative

4:28:36 CONCLUDING REMARKS
* Beka Economopoulos, Director, The Natural History Museum

4:32:27 VIDEO POEM: I AM FROM MEDICINE PEOPLE
* Kusemaat Shirley Williams (Lummi), Co-founder, Whiteswan Environmental
_______________________________________

UNFENCE THE FUTURE: TAKING DOWN FORTRESS CONSERVATION AND ITS ENDURING LEGACY

A two-day virtual symposium of panel discussions, poetry, films, and a call to action.
April 12 & 13, 2023

Fences create artificial borders between places and mediate the relations between them—what goes in, what comes out, and under what conditions. Without the lines that fences inscribe, there would be no place for border police. Nor could lands be parceled up, claimed as property to be possessed or plundered.

In the history of conservation, the logic of fencing was institutionalized in what critics call “fortress conservation,” a project of drawing boundaries between designated wilderness areas and their outsides, expelling perceived threats to ecological balance–from Indigenous Peoples, to predator species. In the process, habitats have been fragmented, and lifeworlds devastated.

While the science of fortress conservation has been widely discredited, we continue to live in its world. Where did this model come from? Where does it endure? How is it encoded in current laws, policies, and institutional practices—and more broadly, in our ways of seeing, understanding, and relating to the land? And what are activists, communities, and institutions doing to take it down?

Join community leaders, conservationists, legal scholars, geographers, historians, activists, and artists for a free online symposium dedicated to dismantling fortress conservation and its enduring legacy.

_________________
A Red Natural History launch event, organized by The Natural History Museum and co-sponsored by Survival International and the Center for the Humanities at CUNY Graduate Center. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation.

* With music from “Theory of Ice” by Leanne Betasamasoke Simpson (Michi Saagig Nishnaabeg), http://leannesimpsonmusic.com

*Title inspired by the report “Unfencing the Future: Voices On How Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People and Organizations Can Work Together Toward Environmental and Conservation Goals”, by Hester Dillon (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), https://4riversconsult.com (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In the spring of 2015, shortly after launching our campaign urging museums to cut all ties to the fossil fuel industry, The Natural History Museum occupied the largest exhibitor space at the American Alliance of Museums annual convention in Atlanta. The AAM convention is the world’s largest gathering of museum professionals, with 7000 museum staff from 60 countries in attendance.

The Natural History Museum highlights the socio-political forces that shape nature, yet are excluded from traditional natural history museums. Our primary subject of study is the “fossil fuel ecosystem”, characterized by a complex set of interrelated feedback loops encompassing land, energy, politics, society, economics and culture.

At the AAM convention we turned our anthropological gaze on traditional science museums as ideological habitats within this ecosystem. We re-created installations from New York’s American Museum of Natural History, including previously excluded socio-political context about the museum’s board member and biggest sponsor, David H. Koch.