Livestreams are back! Now as UPEC monthly EnviroNews

UPEC Livestreams return on Thursday November 9, 2023 at 6:00pm EST. We’re pleased to announce a new monthly email newsletter from UPEC and Citizens for a Safe and Clean Lake Superior (CSCLS), EnviroNews, where we’ll highlight some of the most important environmental issues for the UP and the Great Lakes.

Along with our informative articles, we’ll be hosting monthly livestreams to bring you updates from organizations working to protect our land and water. In addition to updates from UPEC, the Mining Action Group, and CSCLS, we’re pleased to host Haze Harrison and Joseph Mogul from the Talong mine campaign from Honor the Earth, Tom Anderson from the Tamarack Water Alliance, and Chris Baldwin, mining lawyer and former mining engineer.

Join Evan Zimmermann, UPEC and Jane Fitkin, CSCLS on Facebook or Zoom live on Thursday or catch up time on UPEC’s Facebook Live page. Stick around for questions and answers for all of our presenters, and keep up to date on the latest news on the UP environment every month.

Watch on Facebook Live

https://www.facebook.com/upenvironment/live

Join the conversation on Zoom:

Zoom Meeting ID: 822 2967 2245 Passcode: 2023

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82229672245?pwd=QXRnWnY0bjV2NmROOERQdzRDWkQ2dz09

Our Guests:

Haze Harrison, Talon Communications Organizer

Haze, she/they, has been fighting extractive industry on Anishinaabe and Dakota lands since she moved to Minnesota in 2017. She is now working with Honor the Earth to resist destruction of the Great Lakes region by Talon Metals, Rio Tinto, and other mineral prospecting profiteers. As a descendant of white settlers on Turtle Island, she considers it her responsibility to develop a relationship with the land and water and to join in the fight to protect them for future generations.

Joseph Mogul, Talon Campaign Organizer

Joseph, he/him, is a recent Macalester college graduate and an organizer who currently resides in the Twin Cities (Dakota territory). He is an Anti-Zionist Jew and committed advocate for decolonial movements across the globe. He is a Twin-Cities based organizer at Honor the Earth and his current work revolves around opposing false climate solutions, including nickel-sulfide mines in Anishinaabe territory, while simultaneously working towards a transition based on repairing relationships with land and water.

Tom Anderson, The Tamarack Water Alliance

Tamarack Water Alliance is a group of local residents and landowners working together with others from across Minnesota to protect water and community health from the dangers of sulfide mining near beloved lakes and wild rice beds, at the headwaters of the Kettle River and the Mississippi River watershed.

A proposal by Talon Metals to mine nickel near Tamarack in Aitkin County threatens the health of our communities. This kind of sulfide mining, especially in water-rich environments, has never been done without severe impacts to water and to the health of those who live downstream. Mining here is also a threat to environmental justice and the long-term economic security of nearby native and rural communities.

Chris Baldwin, Mining Lawyer, Former Mining Engineer

As a mining engineer and graduate from the Colorado School of Mines, I dedicated my career to extracting minerals to support a modern society. Now my engineering and operating experience in 12 different open pit and underground salt, iron, uranium, and gold mines across the U.S. over the past 45 years, tells me Minnesotans should be deeply concerned about the long-term impacts for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) watershed if the sulfide-copper and nickel minerals of the geologic Duluth Complex of northern Minnesota are mined according to the proposed Twin Metals mine plan.

Ever wonder when oil will run out? (October 18, 2022)

Roger Blanchard, LSSU

With the war in Ukraine leading to a Western boycott of Russian oil and reduced production outlook from OPEC+ nations, the world may face increased price and production volatility in the near term. But what about the future — how long will it be before the world is running on empty?

Oil supply expert Roger Blanchard provides us with an overview of our present global oil supply situation. Is America’s much vaunted talk about energy independence real? Professor Blanchard’s presentation will be an eye opener as we find out about our energy picture while making us ever more aware of the need for alternative energy sources. The publication this year of a five-part series in Resilience online magazine of “The Status of Global Oil Production” (https://www.resilience.org/resilience-author/roger-blanchard/) is the basis of our speaker’s presentation.

Roger Blanchard is the author of The Future of Global Oil Production: Facts, Figures, Trends and Projections, by Region. He has studied oil supply issues for over 30 years. He is a professor of chemistry at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, formerly teaching at Northern Kentucky University.

You can view Roger's PowerPoint presentation below.

blanchard_upec_presentation.pdf

Download PDF • 3.02MB

Michigan’s wolf management plan: What do tribes think? (July 22, 2022)

Nichole Biber, LTBB (Waganakising) Odawa Tribal Citizen; and Erin Johnston, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has put forth an updated plan for wolf management. Although the DNR currently is unable to implement the plan due to a federal court order, should the order be lifted the proposed wolf management plan would dictate how wolves would be treated in Michigan. The plan allows for a significant number of wolves to be killed in order to satisfy hunters’ desire for trophies.

How do tribes view the plan? On the next UPEC Livestream, we will have two tribal members, Nichole Biber and Erin Johnston, who can explain what the wolf means to them. Has the DNR consulted with tribes? Have their views been incorporated into the management plan? In ceding territory to the US government in the 1800s. tribes signed the documents with the provision that hunting and fishing rights in the ceded territories would be open to them. How does this play into wolf hunting?

Our guests

Dr. Nichole Biber, Elementary School Librarian, LTBB (Waganakising) Odawa Tribal Citizen. Nichole volunteers with the Anishinaabek Caucus, serving as the lead for the Wolf Preservation Team. Through a narrative of collective survival, she strives to communicate how Wolves are necessary to both the science of ecological balance, and to the continuation of Indigenous spiritual teachings that identify Ma’iingan, Wolf, as brother.

Erin Johnston, Wildlife Biologist/Wildlife & Habitat Section Lead, KBIC. Erin is responsible for management and oversight of projects and surveys related to wildlife, habitat, and wetlands within the L’Anse Indian Reservation. Current projects and long-term monitoring efforts focus on bats, waterfowl, herptafauna, and wolves. The Wildlife Program continues to grow and diversify as we build capacity and strengthen partnerships. Erin’s professional affiliations include the Michigan Wetland Association, Intertribal Chronic Wasting Disease Working Group, and Partners for Watershed Restoration.