Since before Nevada became Nevada, Indigenous communities have been the heralders of climate change, predicting that the current way of viewing and treating our environment would lead to devastating consequences for all those who rely upon it.
Today, Indigenous communities are at the frontlines of the climate crisis, disproportionately suffering for pollution we did not emit by entities and individuals to whom we did not willingly cede land. International conglomerates dig up our graves to develop lithium. The Air Force drops bombs on our relatives, the bighorn sheep, to train for war. Mining companies pollute our water sources to break open pits that process gold. Even during yet another pandemic more fatal to Indigenous communities, recreationists crossed sovereign borders to party and litter in Pyramid Lake. It’s not only U.S. politics that are broken, but the American relationship to the land, and to its original stewards. Hence, a climate emergency of epic proportions.
There is much we must do to address these issues, and Native communities, too, are at the frontlines of battling corporate greed, unnecessary development and the destruction of our ancestral lands. But this week, we have a different opportunity. We can tackle climate change, not piece-by-piece, but through significant investments that maybe can begin to heal the land, the air, and our waters from the pollution that’s been spilled over all particles of this planet.
On Nov. 5, the House passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF), getting one step closer to passing the Build Back Better Act (BBBA). Together, these bills represent unprecedented investments in community resilience, clean energy and clean transportation development and incentives, water protections, and new energy workforce development. The BIF had already been passed by the Senate, and while it included funding to improve broadband and other infrastructure on tribal nations, the BBBA goes further in committing to climate action. And through the Justice40 initiative, some semblance of justice can begin to be restored, to Indigenous nations and other affected communities that have been sacrificed to contamination and now stand to receive a portion of the benefits.
These investments are called historic, because never before would America have put down so much money to stem its own environmental degradation.
We are encouraged by these historic investments. They include funding that Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., has advocated for wildfire mitigation and response, as well as funding Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.,supported to move us toward more efficient public transportation. This alone will not be enough to turn back the tide completely, but it’s a start.
We cannot help but think that if Indigenous communities had been listened to, had been respected, perhaps we would not find ourselves here. Across the country, we are already leading climate solutions, training renewable workers on our nations, investing in community solar projects, and fighting for the elimination of fossil fuels. Yet here we are.
It is past time for the United States to pass meaningful climate legislation, and heed what tribal communities have long been saying: This land is not your land — we are this land. What we do to our environment, we do to us. And we are paying for it.
Now it is time for both the Senate and the House to act, and act quickly, to make the Build Back Better Act law and begin repairing what has been torn.
Taylor Patterson is executive director of Native Voters Alliance - Nevada.