Earth Guardians

I created this piece in November 2021, before I traveled to the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26 as I was thinking about the importance of standing in solidarity with Indigenous, Black and marginalized communities throughout the world who have been the most impacted by the climate crisis.

Colonization and white supremacy caused the climate crisis. Over 500 years ago, European nations invaded Turtle Island and committed mass genocide, destroying the ecosystems and pillaging the land. They also created a holocaust through the stealing and exploitation of African people in order to build a global economy. Stolen land and stolen labor is the basis of an economic system that still lives on today. We must understand that the roots of climate chaos happened when Europeans invaded and commodified human beings, animals, forests, oceans and the Earth itself. Therefore, we cannot achieve climate justice nor climate solutions without indigenous sovereignty, land back and racial justice. In other words, climate justice is racial justice. This has been my guiding premise of how I move and lead in the climate space.

And in this art piece, I was thinking specifically about the Indigenous and Black women, as well as gender nonconforming and queer leaders are shaping a global resistance to the fossil fuel industry. I drew this piece on the plane as I was flying to Glasgow, Scotland to COP26 and was thinking about how inspired I’ve been by women leaders from the Amazon who continue to hold on to their culture and to their ways, and who show up as their full selves to resist. I was also thinking about the Black women who are leading the climate justice movement in the United States today - about how they are making the connections between Black liberation and climate solutions.

I'm deeply honored to work alongside these leaders and communities and grateful to be in this fight protecting our Earth Mother. I'm deeply committed to show up to this work of protecting LIFE as a descendant of impacted people and as somebody who grew up in a polluted community and continues to witness the harm that extractive economies perpetuate on communities of color.

This piece is a one color limited edition screen print on both red and white speckled archival paper.