Rivers, Water & Life
September 9th, 2020 @ 6:30 PM EST
Water is at the heart of the current climate emergency. Around the world, this life-giving resource is a point of celebration, exploitation, and conflict. The St. Lawrence River watershed on Kanien’keha:ka/Mohawk territory is no exception. In panel discussions, artists from the WATER & ORIGIN exhibition joined researchers and environmental advocates to discuss the past, present, and future of the region’s rivers. The conversation took the form a circular discussion, in which the panelists delved into their relationship with rivers, the threats these waters face, and the importance of safeguarding the natural resource.
Moderator: Sandhya Ganapathy (St. Lawrence University).
Speakers: Iakonikonriiosta (Akwesasne Cultural Center Museum Program Coordinator and Artist), Jessica Jock (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment Division), Lee Willbanks (Environmental Advocate and former RIVERKEEPER), Sateiokwen Bucktooth (Snipe Clan Botanicals), Prof. Shane Rogers (Clarkson University), and Blake Lavia & Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo (Artists).
Food Sovereignty in the Time of COVID-19
September 16th, 2020 @ 6:30 PM EST
During the COVID-19 pandemic, communities throughout the world became painfully aware that they could not rely on the current food production’s practices. Throughout the United States of America (Turtle Island) there were food shortages, while industrial farmers were forced to plow over their unharvested crops or were pushed to kill thousands of farm animals that never made it to market. In this panel, food producers from the Northeast discussed alternatives to globalized industrial food production.
Moderator: Dr. Claudia Ford (SUNY Potsdam), in collaboration with the assistant moderator Derek Sherrange (St. Lawrence University '22).
Speakers: Carmen Mouzon (North East Farmers of Color Land Trust), Katsitsionni Fox (Two Row Productions), Prof. Himanee Gupta-Carlson (SUNY Empire State College), Catherine Bennet (Bittersweet Farm and Milkweed Tussock Tubers).
Environmental Justice in the North Country
September 23th, 2020 @ 6:30 PM EST
The North Country (Haudenosaunee Territory) has joined with communities across the country and world to address the systematic racism that lies as the heart of the criminal justice system. This same racism is felt by communities whose public health and environment have been degraded by centuries of racist settler land practices.
The panel discussion will address how the Doctrine of Discovery has shaped the region, specifically relating to environmental racism and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderator: Agnes Williams (Indigenous Women's Initiative)
Speakers: Craig Arquette (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment Division), Kaiatihtakhe "Jaclyn Hall" (Grassroots Reporter and Organizer), and Stephanie Morningstar (The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust).
The Environmental Future of the St. Lawrence Watershed
September 30th, 2020 @ 6:30 PM EST
The current pandemic reaffirms the need to engage in deeper environmental conversations. COVID-19 is only one of the symptoms of an unbalanced and unsustainable economy. Tackling environmental solutions and discussing our shared regional/global future has never been more urgent. The panel will bring together speakers from across the North Country to address the importance of planning for the environmental future of the region. They will discuss different actions that can or are being taken to mitigate the effects of the human-induced climate crises, local environmental exploitation, and mass migrations.
Moderator: Prof. Stephen Bird (Clarkson University).
Speakers: Nicky Hylton- Patterson (Adirondack Diversity Initiative), Leigh McGaughey (Rivers Institute), Prof. Michael Twiss (Clarkson University, River Institute), Prof. Tom Langen (Clarkson University, St. Lawrence Land Trust and Grasse River Heritage), and Tony David (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Environment Division).
Burning or Breathing / Concluding Address and Film Screening
October 2nd, 2020 @ 6:30 PM EST
Join organizers from watersheds around the world to create a global movement. The concluding event of the NCALE Summit will be a film screening and conversation with the filmmakers behind the production of BURNING OR BREATHING, a documentary series about Earth Guardians. The filmmakers will screen portions of the films, which feature Earth Guardians from the Antigua Watershed (Totonac/Nahua Territory) in Veracruz, Mexico. The event will also feature a virtual round table discussion with the directors, Blake Lavia and Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo, and several the Earth Guardians who are seeking to create global alliances. They will discuss how communities can work together across watersheds to create a just, sustainable, and socially equitable future for all.
Speakers: Blake Lavia & Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo (Filmmakers/Organizers from the Talking Wings Collective), Tobias Rehm (Organizer with Climate Connect), Georgina Vidriales Chan (Coordinator of SENDAS AC), PUCARL Collective (River Sentinels of the Antigua Watershed, Veracruz), Alejandro Beltran Cordero (Storyteller/Organizer from the Talking Wings Collective), José Alfredo Del Moral García (Forest Protector and Vice President of COLPRED), Sateiokwen Bucktooth (Founder and Medicine Maker of Snipe Clan Botanicals).