We re Generation Now, Children of the Future, Earth Revolution Earth Revolution is a celebration and call to action to the youth in our generation, Generation Now. We are the children and youth born on or after the year 2000. Generation Now means we must Change Right Now.
Our earth is in a climate crisis.our ocean are dying and our fresh water polluted and disappearing. Every day we see children and families that are refugees from war and climate. Indigenous children and youth, like myself, are on front lines of climate change, from droughts, disappearing shorelines and disappearing resources. Somali Climate refugees from drought
We hope for the dawn of a new day Earth Revolution This is my story. I am an Indigenous Youth from Canada. I am Sliammon First Nation.
My grandparents told me stories about how they practiced their culture and spoke their language when they were children. In only one generation, everything changed. It was a hidden war. Children were taken to residential schools. Our marine and and animal populations were depleted. You can t practice your culture when your land in destroyed. My grandparents were told not to teach their language to their children, and it was forbidden in the residential schools, so not very many people speak it anymore. Indigenous children and youth didn't have the same opportunities for health, education, sports, and jobs. Everyone is affected by grief and loss from poverty, drug addiction, poor health services, unemployment and violence. I lost my cousin, Jeanine, who was only 14 when she died. Indigenous children and youth don t always have human rights. I ve walked this great land, it used to be beautiful, it used to be home. Earth Revolution
We re going to turn this around, we will fix it right now, Earth Revolution Indigenous people in the Amazon can t practice their culture or survive because their lands are flooded and the biodiversity of animal species are disappearing due to hydroelectric dams. Indigenous people in Alberta, Canada can t practice their culture or survive because the Tar Sands have clear-cut the boreal forests, animal species have depleted, the water is full of toxins and the muskeg is being destroyed forever by pipeline leaks.
Indigenous people in Nigeria go to court to seek compensation against oil spills that destroyed their land and culture. Indigenous people in Indonesia have been pushed out of their lands while corporations burn the rainforests to make palm oil. Representing Native Children s Survival, American Indian Law and the 7th Generation Fund, I went to the United Nations and asked for them to support the creation of an Indigenous Children s Fund.
Many indigenous chiefs and leaders gathered to write the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous People. Many nations signed it right away. Canada was the last to sign. It must be fully implemented in every country now but only a very few countries have done this. For example, in Canada, Premiere Justin Trudeau promised to fully implement it. Then he allowed an oil pipeline, the Kinder Morgan Pipeline, to transport oil from the Alberta Tar Sands, home of the Beaver Lake Cree (who never gave consent) into the Salish Sea without the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of the Tseil Watulth First Nation. With full implementation of the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights, this would have never happened and Indigenous lands would be fully protected by international and national law. Full implementation of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights and the adoption by the UN of the Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth is good for us all. It respects the human right to have a culture, a language, an education, a standard of living and health, nation and protects their land. The adoption and full implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth protects the survival of the last wild spaces, endangered environments and biodiversity.
It provides legal protection of their territory because their culture is practiced there. It is the strongest piece of legislation to protect the last wild places on earth. Whereas in the past, corporations could destroy land for money and a few signatures, now all decisions must be made by the strictest consulting model: Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
We, ask you to join us. We, the Indigenous Youth, bestowed by a lineage guarded by clans and eagle feathers. Support us as we work towards a full implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the adoption and implementation on the Rights of Mother Earth. Support us as we find find creative ways to intertwine cultural heritage with a legacy of of untapped modern ideas. And let these ideas inspire you in your approach to demolishing obstacles.
Expand the boundary of what is expected and possible for indigenous youth. Crossing the finish line as ambassadors for the future. Stand with us in the land of our people.
We mobilize not as activists but as chiefs, matriarchs, elders, and youth who will be Idle No More, Beside a parade of activists, politicians, dignitaries, and global citizens.
Never forgetting to include the voices and values of the grassroots, the youth, the indigenous, of ordinary citizens in the Earth Revolution, which inspire the excitement and effort of the people that is crucial in making the program sustainable.
In a race to ensure desperately necessary countermeasures against climate change, a finish line for our ambitions and our mother earth. Ta Kaiya Blaney, Sliammon Nation, written at age 15
takaiyablaney.com