Interactivist Love
My favorite feature on Grist is their interviews with up-and-coming, intelligent ecopreneurs, community leaders, and activists. Dubbed Interactivist, the latest column features the comely Native American Evan Peters, who knows that ANWR isn’t just an acronym, it’s a huge, gorgeous ecosystem. He knows because the lands in the refuge are the homelands of his people, who have lived there for generations. (So much for the idea that the area is a ‘barren wasteland’ as Senator Ted Stevens (R-Ak) once said.)
After dropping out of school, talking his way into college, graduating, and becoming a chief in his 20’s, Evan went on to found Native Movement. When asked why he became an environmental activist, Evan says, “There was something inside of me that just couldn’t accept the situation I found my people, the earth, and myself facing.”
Evan describes his organization:
Native Movement is a collective of around 15 organizers who work on a myriad of projects focusing on youth leadership development, sustainability, protection of sacred sites, and social, political, economic, and environmental justice. We work mostly with Indigenous peoples in the Southwest and Alaska, although we consciously outreach to the non-Indigenous community as well.
Photo and Quote Credit: Grist
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
