The Art & Ecology Recorded Stories series aims to bring together different ways of thinking about cultural and ecological problems to help broaden our collective understanding and to highlight the interconnectivity of the post-industrial world. Each piece focuses on broad ecological or social issues and features interviews from a variety of voices, sometimes with very specific knowledge. The aim of the series is to make this information interesting and accessible to everyone, so be assured you don’t have to be an expert to listen in. The series is part of Grand Union’s collaborative programme and engages with participants of The Growing Project as well as scientists, artists and activists, both locally and internationally.
Land Justice, a struggle for social, racial, and climate justice that connects us all across the world, from Turtle Island to here in Birmingham. Our previous exhibition, We gather and dream of new congregations by Alberta Whittle interrogates both the historical and present legacies of imperial extraction that built and maintained Birmingham. Across her 18 month long project, Congregation (creating dangerously) Alberta engaged with various methodologies of (re)connecting with the land using gathering, and gardening as a means of resistance to the hostile environment. Our ongoing Growing Project works to heal land injustice in Birmingham, nurturing community gardens for vulnerably-housed people and those experiencing crisis. In this piece we talk to Helen Knott, Bill Tripp, and Laura Hackett about the intersections and interconnections of issues of Land Justice. You can read more about each of our guests below.
You can find the transcript here
The Art & Ecology recorded stories are a Grand Union production. This piece was narrated and co-produced by Zoe Wakeling along side Matthew Cox. With thanks to Helen Knott, Bill Tripp, and Laura Hackett.
Helen KnottOpen accordion
Helen is of Dane Zaa, Nehiyaw and Euro descent from Prophet River First Nations, Canada. She is an author, social worker, poet and activist, whose work explores a multitude of themes connected to indigenous experiences of land injustice, as well as journeys of healing from sexual violence and addiction.
Her work includes her first book, In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience, which you can find here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44643952-in-my-own-moccasins
She has also created a documentary with CBC which further explores the link between violence against Indigenous women and violence against the land:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GbGL7dmEwA
You can read more of Helen’s words and insights through her blog:https://reclaimthewarrior.com
Bill TrippOpen accordion
Bill is the Karuk Tribe’s Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy, based in the Klamath Region of northern California. His work focuses on revitalising indigenous cultural burning practices and educating about their necessity for both the ecological landscape and for indigenous knowledge, practice and belief systems.
The Karuk Tribe’s Endowment for Eco-Cultural Revitalization Fund is a crucial part of enabling the Karuk Tribe to tackle past and present injustices. It works to change land and water policies and ensure the survival of their cultural principles and practices that are so essential to the health of their land and people. You can donate to the Endowment Fund here:https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/karuk/campaign/default
More information about the work that Bill and the Karuk Tribe are doing to tackle climate change and advance Karuk knowledge and management principles can be found here: https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects.com
You can also keep up with the Karuk Tribe’s work through their Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/karukpeople
Laura HackettOpen accordion
Laura Hackett is an environmental campaigner and activist based in Birmingham. She co-founded the Bee Friendly Brum campaign to ban pesticides in Birmingham, is the Community Development Officer for Green and Growing in the Active Wellbeing Society, and has been involved in the Right to Roam Kinder in Colour Trespass. She works to try to find and model a process for communities in accessing land.
Below are some of the organisations that Laura has been involved with or supports.
Right to Roam: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk
Bee Friendly Brum: https://www.change.org/p/birmingham-city-council-save-the-bees-ban-the-use-of-pesticides-in-birmingham-s-public-green-spaces-8ac8d785-098e-4b5e-9d39-f60648ec1b92 and https://www.facebook.com/Bee-Friendly-Brum-104657705232855 and https://twitter.com/beefriendlybrum
We Go Outside Too:https://www.wegooutsidetoo.com
Resource listOpen accordion
Websites
- https://reclaimthewarrior.com
- https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects.com
- https://www.facebook.com/karukpeople
- https://www.righttoroam.org.uk
- https://twitter.com/beefriendlybrum
- https://www.facebook.com/Bee-Friendly-Brum-104657705232855
- https://www.wegooutsidetoo.com
- https://threeacresandacow.co.uk
- https://www.landjustice.uk
- https://www.compostculture.co.uk
- https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/
- https://civicsquare.cc/about/
Campaign groups
- Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources:https://connect.clickandpledge.com/Organization/karuk/campaign/default
- The Wretched of the Earth: https://en-gb.facebook.com/wotearth/
- Save The Bees! Ban the use of Pesticides in Birmingham’s Public spaces:https://www.change.org/p/birmingham-city-council-save-the-bees-ban-the-use-of-pesticides-in-birmingham-s-public-green-spaces-8ac8d785-098e-4b5e-9d39-f60648ec1b92
- Land in Our Names: https://landinournames.community/
- Grow Tottenham: http://www.growtottenham.org/
Videos and podcasts
- Ta’Kaiya Blaney singing Womens Warrior song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeNJnItj5rs
- Peace River Rising: The link between violence against Indigenous women and violence against the land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GbGL7dmEwA
- Why is 92% of England Off Limits to the General Public?:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsmOaZmyqiQ&t=258s
- Rob Hopkins Podcast: https://www.robhopkins.net/podcast/
Books
- In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott
- The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us by Nick Hayes
- Who Owns England? by Guy Shrubsole
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability by Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman
- The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh
Articles
- https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk
- Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. “Amitav Ghosh: European Colonialism helped create a planet in crisis.” The Guardian, January 14, 2022.https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/14/amitav-ghosh-european-colonialism-helped-create-a-planet-in-crisis
- Norgaard, Kari Marie. “The Politics of Fire and the Social Impacts of Fire Exclusion on the Klamath.” Humboldt Journal of Social Relations 36, (2014): 73-97.
- Kuehn, Bridget M. “Nourishing Native American Communities by Increasing Access to Traditional Foods.” Circulation 140 (November 2019): pp. 1679-1680.
- Schlosberg, David and Carruthers, David. “Indigenous Struggles, Environmental Justice, and Community Capabilities”. Global Environmental Politics Volume 10, no. 4 (November 2010): 12-35.
Pearl, Alexander M. “Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, and the Global Climate Crisis.” Wake Forest Law Review 53, no.4 (2018): 713-738.
