Episode 5 – our last episode in Pull Together’s 5 part webinar series – was a great way to wrap up the ranging discussions we’ve been having over the past weeks.

Our guest speaker was Eriel Deranger of Indigenous Climate Action. For many years, Eriel has brought together resistance to tar sands and fossil fuel expansion across Turtle Island. A member of the Athabasca Chippewan First Nation, Eriel knows first-hand how devastating open-pit and in-situ tar sands mining is. She took us on a sobering tour through the impacts, from water and air pollution to the removal of boreal forests that has created a wasteland out of what was once her people’s breadbasket.

We also heard the inspiring story of how her community is fostering alternatives: from taking back the local grocery store from an exploitive monopoly, to building food sustainability through greenhouses and youth-on-the-land programs, the ACFN are devoted to transitioning from oil dependency to local resilience. It’s an inspiring story, and another example of how Indigenous Peoples are leading not on the resistance to fossil fuel expansion but also leading the way to a new, sustainable path.

Hear Eriel and share our series : then, get involved with Pull Together by setting up an online fundraiser here.

You can find the transcript of this webinar with Eriel here.