Featured speaker Elaine Alexie is a filmmaker and environmental and indigenous rights activist. For her, climate change isn't an academic issue - it's a reality impacting her home community. Alexie is a member of the Gwichin nation, a Native tribe from the Arctic. Raised in a traditional lifestyle based on hunting and fishing, Alexie is acutely aware of the connection between humans and ecological systems. Warming temperatures have weakened sea ice and made seal hunting more difficult; forced caribou herds to shift their migratory patterns, confusing hunters; caused fish to change their spawning behavior; and led to more frequent forest fires.
But Alexie doesn't merely warn about the threats of global warming. She's a community organizer, convinced that by working together we can halt the earth's overheating. Although only 25 years old, Alexie has distinguished herself as a leader. In 2001 she was awarded the Northern Conservation Award. She sits on the board of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation of Canada, and was one of the key organizers of the 2002 "Walk to Washington DC" campaign.
In addition to Alexie's talk, Madison poets Jammie Davis and Nydia Rojas will read from their work, and Girl Neighborhood Power will perform African drumming and dancing. There will also be refreshments and door prizes. To cover event costs, a $5 donation is requested at the door.
Elaine Alexie will also speak on Monday, March 7, at 4:30 pm in Room 175 of Science Hall on the UW campus (550 N Park St), as part of the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Forum.
More information can be found on the websites of Madison Women for Peace and the WI Coordinating Council on Nicaragua. Elaine Alexie is on a national speaking tour sponsored by Global Exchange, an international human rights organization.