Speaker encourages change

“How do you make change? You just start.”

During her second visit to campus in four years, it was those words that Winona LaDuke repeatedly went back to, encouraging students to create change during the “Envisioning Political, Spiritual, and Ecological Transformation” event on Monday, Oct. 24.

Speaking to a nearly full Pellegrene Auditorium, LaDuke drew on her experiences living and working at White Earth Reservation as a water protector, author and farmer, particularly of wild rice and hemp. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch University, LaDuke ran for vice president of the United States as the nominee of the Green Party on a ticket headed by Ralph Nader in 1996 and 2000.

“I went to her lecture here as a first-year, and this one was less focused on Line 3 but more focused on hope,” CSB senior Marta Ditzler said. “She is an icon. She is iconic in the environmental movement, and she is iconic as a woman; to be an environmental studies major who is a Bennie and to see all of the things she has done is so inspiring. To get to spend time with her and hear about how she’s expecting us to go forth and do these things, I’m like ‘yes,’ and I’m going to do it.”

LaDuke spoke about the mutual relationship between humans and the natural world, arguing that each side has a responsibility to take care of the other. She talked about when “America was great,” citing a time when there was biodiversity of crops like corn and when buffaloes roamed the Midwest. LaDuke emphasized the importance of working with nature, pointing out that “where there are Indigenous people, there is biodiversity.”

She also incorporated aspects of her Indigenous heritage, taking the time to name all of the moons in her language and explaining that according to her ancestors, now is the time of the seventh fire, citing war, hurricanes, power outages, and fire. LaDuke explained that according to prophecy, there are two paths forward: one well-worn and scorched, and the other green.

“We are in a moment to give birth to a new world,” she said.

The new world LaDuke envisions comes on the tail end of the pandemic, which she spent most of at home or trying to stop the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. After being among one of more than 68,000 people to testify at hearings, protesting, camping out on the Mississippi River, getting arrested and watching Enbridge—the company manufacturing the pipeline—succeed, LaDuke manages to stay positive. She outlined “The Sitting Bull Plan,” which includes many of the initiatives she is working on, including 8th Fire Solar, a company that produces and installs solar thermal panels on the south walls of buildings, and a variety of hemp products like hempcrete, a concretelike product.

“This is an opportunity to be transformational, and we should take that opportunity,” she said.

After lecturing, LaDuke answered questions from students on a wide range of topics, including capitalism, positivity and hemp farming. Copies of her book, “How to Be a Water Protector,” and special edition posters by Mary Bruno printed on 100% hemp were available for purchase before and after the event.

“[The event] was really powerful,” SJU junior Tom Hobday said. “One thing she did really well was connecting biodiversity and resiliency. Those are two things that are really important if we’re going to continue in the fight against the climate crisis, and I think she presented some substantial solutions that were really powerful.”