By Alyssa Macy / For The Herald
In this epic election, a majority of Washingtonians voted for candidates who proudly support bold environmental action to build a future that protects all that we love about the places where we live. We — the voters — rejected candidates who side with polluting industries’ efforts to dismantle protections for air and water, forests and wildlife, and the communities overburdened by the climate crisis.
As we collectively suffered the effects of this year’s wildfires and harmful smoke, we were witness to how climate change is harming not only our environment, but our health and our homes. Now more than ever we must hold our state lawmakers accountable for their promises to protect our health, our economy and our way of life.
It starts with restoring a sacred awareness that we are all connected. Esteemed Laguna Pueblo poet Paula Gunn Allen articulates the interconnectedness between all beings and the land so beautifully: “All are seen to be relatives; all are offspring of the Great Mystery, children of our mother, and necessary parts of an ordered, balanced and living whole.”
I am a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, of Wasco, Navajo and Hopi descent. I grew up on our reservation in central Oregon, a place of vast beauty, of sagebrush and white juniper trees, wide open rolling landscapes of wildflowers and snowberries, in the shadow of Mount Jefferson and the cool waters of Boulder Creek. When my father would tote me along on his favorite hikes on our land, he taught me how our treaties are a foundation for who we are as a people; that understanding and exercising our rights is knowledge I needed to possess to be a good advocate for our people.
These lessons led me to working on Indigenous Peoples’ rights for the United Nations, which gave me a global perspective about treaty obligations here in the United States. Working all over the world, I could see first-hand how profoundly complex and diverse Indigenous peoples are; our common purpose bonds us toward protecting our lands and our peoples, our territories and resources, and considering impacts of our decisions today and for generations to come.
This year, I accepted the role as chief executive for Washington Conservation Voters, as the first Indigenous woman to head the state’s largest environmental organization with a political action committee. Whether it’s fighting for action on the climate crisis or preserving salmon habitat, this work not only affects our quality of life here in Washington, but is also connected to my people in Oregon, and to our global health.
The global pandemic has demanded a Great Pause, a significant shift in how we live and work, and connect with the environment. It has exposed how fragile society is when we aren’t connected to each other, place additional burden on the most vulnerable and oppressed, and undermine any sense of collective security. The murder of George Floyd sparked a national outcry and a Great Reckoning of the racial violence and discrimination that Black and bBrown people have experienced since first contact.
Together, the Great Pause and the Great Reckoning”force us to bear witness to the devastating impacts of intersectional issues like lack of access to housing, health care and education and food insecurity. These impacts disproportionately affect Black and Brown bodies, and are compounded further if you’re a woman, disabled, queer or trans. This is unjust.
We cannot change our climate future, or address the covid public health emergency without also addressing structural and institutional racism, health inequities and violence among people. There is no racial justice without environmental justice. We need fierce leaders who are 100 percent committed to overcoming persistent roadblocks to environmental progress in our state.
That’s why Washington Conservation Voters and our allies took on fossil fuel interests in the most closely watched state races this election cycle. We held all politicians accountable — no matter their party — for putting fossil fuel interests ahead of our peoples’ health and our communities’ survival.
When our elected leaders put our collective destiny and the future of our land, forests, rivers, oceans and air first, we can restore a sacred connection to our environment once again and bear witness to the dawn of the Great Healing.
Alyssa Macy is chief executive of Washington Conservation Voters.
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