Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
One tribe’s climate plan put to action in Montana.
Dear Reader,
Until recently, this story from NPR’s All Things Considered tells us, Montana had a climate plan — one of the country’s first — drafted in the early 2000s. It’s been shelved, however, thanks to the current governor and legislation that bars the state from regulating emissions unless the federal government does so first.
But that’s not stopping Mike Durglo Jr., who lives on the Flathead Indian Reservation — the home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Durglo is the tribes’ climate change coordinator, and he was the architect of that early climate plan. He’s well aware that, as sovereign nations, tribes can undertake climate action even when state efforts fail and federal funding disappears.
The tribes’ plan includes wind energy development, water conservation efforts, and ecosystem restoration. This year in particular, their goal is to reduce wildfire risk and ensure safe air quality for the reservation's 33,000 residents.
Durglo struggles with what to prioritize. “You can’t say, well, the grizzly bear is the most important, or the eagle is most important, or the salmon or the trout, or whatever, because everything depends on everything else,” he said. He ensures that Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is woven into the plans. And various tribes share their plans and their work with each other.
Their work is a reminder that Indigenous people have been caring for our Earth long before the term “climate change” became part of our vernacular. And it’s a reminder that we’re all connected, and that, as Durglo puts it, “everything depends on everything else.”
Dependently,
Dot
Here are Ten Gardening Tips to Conserve Water from Bluedot’s garden expert.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
