As Long As Grass Grows

The author states: “The overall goal of this book is to highlight the importance of building alliances across social and racial divides. To do this requires an honest interrogation of the history of the relationships between the environmental movement and Indian country.” Her impeccable research and documentation of the facts are irrefutable. Environmental justice requires us to honestly address human rights abuses. This book is the best example I have read which clearly reveals the intersection of racism and the environment regarding First Nations people. Broken treaties are not just an old historical fact but a current reality as treaties continue to be broken. A primary goal of the book is to provide “a broad overview about what environmental injustice is for American Indians, describing what justice looks like, and proposing avenues to get there.”

One reviewer calls it “A hallmark book of our time” and another one calls it “A masterpiece.” I agree wholeheartedly.

Dina Gilio-Whitaker takes the reader on an historical journey of injustices which she calls environmental injustices that resulted in genocide. She contrasts the indigenous point of view which focuses on being in relationship with the environment rather than the western view of exploiting it at the expense of Indians, people of color, and others living in areas of poverty.

“Indigenous peoples’ pursuit of environmental justice requires the use of a different lens, one with a scope that can accommodate the full weight of the history of settler colonialism, on one hand, and embrace differences in the ways Indigenous peoples view land and nature, on the other.”

The author’s perspective of understanding the historical relationship of American Indians with the US government as an environmental history enables one to see white supremacy not only on the government level but within the environmental movement itself. She does this “for the purpose of building effective alliances around issues of common concern.” She provides several examples of how Native and non-Native people are working together to build those partnerships and the role of women in this work.

“...the book looks for a way forward for environmental justice in Indian country by identifying positive trends and innovative ways communities are rallying together to build a more sane future in the face of relentless corporate power, an entrenched fossil fuel industry, and its collusion with the US State.”

I (Larry Johnson) highly recommend this book.