Shasta Tribe finally reclaims ancestral lands long buried by Klamath River Reservoir
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a historic effort, the Shasta Indian Nation stands to regain nearly 2,800 acres of ancestral grounds buried by the Copco I dam on the Klamath River. This important return coincides with California Governor Gavin Newsom's apology to the state's tribes, Read More...
Native Nations without reliable internet take broadband networks into their own hands
A major chunk of the Hopi Reservation's dry mesas in northeast Arizona is underserved by internet service. Hopi Telecommunications, which provides internet and telephone services in the area, is dealing with the restrictions of an out-of-date copper wire network. The company's service order Read More...
Words matter: US finally drops racist slur from the names of federal sites
A racist and misogynist slur used to refer to Native American women will be removed from the names of hundreds of islands, lakes, rivers, mountains, and other geographic features throughout the United States. Words matter After a ten-month-long process, the United States Department of Interior Read More...
Mining companies decide against mining Brazil’s Indigenous areas
An important part of the growing movement for the rights of nature is empowering indigenous peoples to steward their lands. Indigenous forests sequester twice as much carbon as those on private or public lands, and these often have the highest levels of biodiversity. The trend now includes 130 Read More...
Canada pledges to compensate First Nations children billions of dollars
Indigenous community advocates in Canada are finally celebrating a historic win—the Canadian government has reached Agreements-in-Principle to financially compensate Indigenous children who suffered discrimination and injustice. On Tuesday, the federal government released a statement that Read More...
Canada finally allows Indigenous peoples to officially reclaim their names
Canada is coming to grips with the horrific discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools that contain the remains of children—some as young as three years old. The exposure of these mass graves puts a spotlight on the country’s terrible colonial past and has Read More...
Indigenous leader from Ecuador saves 500,000 acres from oil extraction
Dating back to 1989, the Goldman Environmental Prize is an annual award recognizing grassroots activism across six geographical regions around the globe. Among this year’s prize winners is Nemonte Nequimo, an indigenous leader from the Ecuadorean Amazon who last year made headlines for her Read More...
Indigenous people in Brazil win historic lawsuit after 24 years in court
During the 1980s, the Ashaninka tribe of Brazil had seen large swaths of its land being devastated by deforestation at the hands of lumber companies seeking to exploit the indigenous reserve for resources such as mahogany and cedar wood. Seeking justice, the tribe managed in 1996 to take the Read More...