Back in October 2010, The Pachamama Alliance hosted North American indigenous leaders at a three day gathering in our office. Voices of the People, as the gathering was called, brought together Pachamama staff, board, and social justice allies to hear the original histories of colonization, displacement, genocide, boarding schools, and undermined treaties that have marked the experiences of indigenous peoples since the arrival of settlers from Europe in the 15th century.

Among those in attendance was Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), and a social change activist within the Native American community for over 30 years.

Tom Goldtooth Shares Indigenous Perspectives on Occupy

Indigenous Environmental Network Fights Against Tar Sands

A recent cause of Tom Goldtooth and IEN is the tar sands mining in Canada which not only threatens ancient forests and watersheds, but entire indigenous communities. Listen to this interview of Tom Goldtooth speaking on the tar sands mining and learn more about the effects of tar sands mining with this eye-opening Ted Talk from Garth Lenz.