#Landback Project, Red Carpet Green Dress, Green Biotech’s Hive Hydrogen, Mangrove Planting in Fiji

#LANDBACK PROJECT

I was doing research on the Piscataway people of the Washington, DC metropolitan area when on their website I discovered #LandBackProject. What is the #LandBackProject? LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands. 

According to its website, landback.org, it’s more than just a campaign. It is a political framework that allows us to deepen our relationships across the field of organizing movements working towards true collective liberation. It allows us to envision a world where Black, Indigenous & POC liberation co-exists. It is our political, organizing and narrative framework from which we do the work.

Why does #LandBackProject matter to us? Its manifesto clearly demonstrates the intersectionality of social, political and climate justice. To wit:

• It is a relationship with Mother Earth that is symbiotic and just, where we have reclaimed stewardship.
• It is bringing our People with us as we move towards liberation and embodied sovereignty through an organizing, political and narrative framework.
• It is a long legacy of warriors and leaders who sacrificed freedom and life.
• It is a catalyst for current generation organizers and centers the voices of those who represent our future.
• It is recognizing that our struggle is interconnected with the struggles of all oppressed Peoples.
• It is a future where Black reparations and Indigenous LANDBACK co-exist. Where BIPOC collective liberation is at the core.
• It is acknowledging that only when Mother Earth is well, can we, her children, be well. It is our belonging to the land – because – we are the land.

Landback.org also offers on its website, LANDBACK U, a free comprehensive online learning platform to engage in political education and discussions on topics critical to the movement to reclaim land and their relationship to land. It’s based on the concept that native ancestors built a robust foundation for the generational transfer of knowledge.

DEEPER DIVE: PiscatawayIndians.com, #LandBackProject

RED CARPET, GREEN DRESS

Faced with the lack of an ethical fashion choice to wear to the 2009 Avatar press tour, Suzy Amis Cameron announced the start of Red Carpet Green Dress (RCGD). Cameron is an environmentalist, business pioneer and wife of director, James Cameron.

RCGD launched at the 2010 Oscars. It’s a women-led global change-making organization bringing environmental and social sustainability to the forefront of conversation and action within the global apparel and design industry.

With the goal of drawing attention to the importance of more sustainable practices in the apparel and design world, Red Carpet Green Dress hopes to be a part of bringing solutions to the global market. RCGD’s signature initiative is “At the Oscars” – a competition requiring contestants to make an Oscar-worthy dress entirely of sustainable materials. It also offers a handful of Youth Initiatives, too. Why does RCGD matter to us non-fashionistas? 

The fashion industry accounts for about 8-10% of global carbon emissions and nearly 20% of wastewater, and the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second. I’ve done the math:there are 31,536,000 seconds in one year! 

Said CEO Samata Pattinson, “The decisions we make have an impact. I want everyone to see that they are part of this conversation.”

DEEPER DIVE:  RCGD, Fashion Week Online, Vogue

GREEN BIOTECH, HIVE HYDROGEN OF SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is about to build its first “green ammonia” production facility.  Ammonia is a gas used to make agricultural fertilizers, plastics, explosives, to name a few. The project is through a partnership between UK energy company Hive Energy and South African energy companies BuiltAfrica and Afrox. 

Traditional ammonia manufacturing is not a green process as it requires the use of natural gas or oil. Around 1.8% of the global carbon dioxide emissions is produced during this process. Green ammonia, by contrast,  is created through a process that’s both 100% renewable and carbon-free. The first step in the process is to split the hydrogen from the oxygen in H2O. That’s done through a process called electrolysis. 

Hive Hydrogen will use wind/solar or hydropower to produce electricity to split hydrogen from water. The rest of the process remains the same.

Why does green ammonia production matter to us? The ability to produce green ammonia on a large scale means that there are other choices globally for agriculture producers to use fertilizers made without ammonia with natural gas or petroleum gas. Hive Hydrogen hopes its plant will be fully operational 2027. It also hopes to help South Africa achieve its 2050 net-zero carbon emissions targets.

DEEPER DIVE:Mining Weekly, Energy Capital & Power, The Royal Society

CLIMATE CHANGE CHAMPION, JIM TUIMOCE MANGROVE PLANTER, LAUCALA BAY, FIJI

Historically, the coastline of Laucala Bay on the island nation of  Fiji used to be full of crabs and fish. In 1898, mangrove forests made up 79% of the Fiji coastline in the capital region of Suva. But over the years, the villagers have cleared most of the area of mangroves to make way for more fishing canoes.  Mangrove forest cover fell to 35% in 2019. Because of mangrove deforestation, the land has been washed away.

Fijian Jim Tuimoce lives along that bay in Korova village. He says, “now we’re paying the price.” So, Tuimoce started planting rows of mangrove seedlings as a hobby. Now, it’s become a serious endeavor for the whole village. He says that in Fiji “Everybody has been slowly getting into their heads the importance that we need to try to control climate change.”

Why does replenishing mangroves matter to us? Mangrove forests are vital to coastal sustainability around the world. They provide natural infrastructure and protection to nearby populated areas by preventing erosion and absorbing storm surge impacts during extreme weather events such as hurricanes and typhoons. Also, their root systems filter nutrients and pollutants from water, and mangrove peat acts as a shock absorber during storm surge events, absorbing much of the excess water. Mangrove forests are nursery habitats which protect many commercial fish and shellfish in the almost $8 billion-dollar seafood industry. Thank you, Jim Tuimoce!

DEEPER DIVE:  Fiji Times, News Trust, Floodlist