2021 EarthAction Project & Campaign Report
The following projects and campaigns were made possible with your support. Thank You.
2020 Action: Every month, 2020 Action educated and mobilized thousands of US citizens and encouraged them to communicate with US policymakers on critically important peace and environmental issues. Each month, 2020 produced a timely Action Alert with meaningful actions for citizens to take to protect our environment and security—usually to contact a policymaker facing a critical decision. For details, read 2020’s 2020 Action Report at 2020Action.org. 2020 Action just completed its 35th year!
Strategies to Boost Fair Climate Action in the 2020-2030 Decades: EarthAction sponsored a Side Event at COP 26 UN Climate Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, November 2021. We collaborated with The Group of Governance on Climate Change - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. They presented an equity-based analysis of the current NDCs; Climate Scorecard reported on efforts to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, and the Asociación Proteger described real cases of community driven improvement of housing and schools, based on local resources.
The American Friends of the Palestinian House of Friendship: EarthAction helped to raise over $100,000 to support the Palestinian House of Friendship (PHF) in Nablus, Palestine and their programs including: Summer Camps; a Skate Park; after school programs and e-learning for kids who were unable to go to school due to COVID; Girl Scouts (160 members) who served elders, needy families, and orphans in the community; an older women’s chorus and the formation of a younger women’s chorus called Zunnar; the Open Gate Music Studio that produced recordings throughout the year; the creation of a Little Free Library in Nablus; a cultural folklore festival in Asira with music, dance, and hand-crafts displayed which more than 2,000 people attended; and a new program called, “The Green Hands Initiative,” where children learn to love the land and to plant vegetables and fruits.
Support for Indigenous Peoples: In 2021, in collaboration with the Save Our Spirits (S.O.S.) Fund, EarthAction provided over $60,000 in much-needed support for indigenous and ancestral communities around the world. These projects included the following:
The Elders Project (TEP) in Colombia: We continued to work with and to provide assistance to the traditional authorities (Mamos) of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (SNSM) in Colombia. Rick Harlow, the Project Director, traveled to Colombia in August to distribute a new book of Kogui wisdom, published with TEP funding, to the pueblos of the SNSM. Rick returns to Colombia in December to coordinate the next Black Line Journey for the Kogui, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamos pueblos. These activities are of great help to the Elders in their efforts to strengthen their spiritual traditional practices.
TEP has also been working with the Hopi Elders. In October Rick traveled to Arizona to assist the Hopi in realizing a 1,300 mile pilgrimage to 11 sacred sites that define their ancestral territorial boundaries. TEP will continue working with the Hopi in 2022 as they realize another pilgrimage next summer.
The Lalakea Foundation: We provided a grant to their Nā Wāhine ʻĀpapalani, Hawaiian women cultural practitioners who have been conducting ritual and ceremony on Maunakea for many years. They are dedicated to honoring the sacred Piko O Wākea through prayer, chant and ceremony that acknowledge Nā Kānaka o ka Mauna, Deities of the Mountain, and form connectivity with the sacred through space and time. Due to COVID, this project was extended into 2021.
Hopi Community: We provided support to several Hopi communities for their COVID-19 Emergency Response Hopi Contact Tracing Projects. They trained people within the community to carry out contact tracing in a number of Hopi villages that were being hard-hit by the pandemic.
Q’eros Ceremonial Terrace Project in Ecuador: Through the Wiraqocha Foundation, Fredy Flores Machaca & Hannah Rae, received a grant on February 1, 2021 to design and build a terrace as the first phase of creating a museum and center for the preservation of the Q’eros culture. The terrace will be a sacred place for the Q’eros to gather for communal ceremonies.
Restoring Ancestral Connection to the Environment— a Community-Led Project of the Moken People of Koh Surin. The Global Purpose Group, founded and directed by Bodhi Garrett, was the sponsor of this project. In February 2021 they received an S.O.S grant to provide cultural and ecological preservation, education for children, meaningful income for adults, and community empowerment for the Moken community at Koh Surin National Park. The islands are located in the Andaman Sea of Thailand.
Kaibeto Navajo COVID Relief: On the Dine' Nation, Sharon Claw-Watson organized a team of 12 volunteers (Kaibeto Covid Relief Team) that served the communities of Kaibeto, Inscription House, Shonto, Redlake (Tonalea), Navajo Mountain and Rocky Ridge on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. Our S.O.S. grant helped these communities to receive needed supplies including fresh food, healing herbs, water, medicines, vitamins, and boxes of food to keep the people in these communities, especially the elderly, healthy and safe from exposures to infection. Many of the volunteers used their own vehicles, traveling long rough unpaved roads to deliver supplies. Our grant provided food and needed supplies to 50 to 100 families for one to two months and paid for gas for the delivery vehicles.
Panina Makahiki/Closing Makahiki Ceremony 2021 in Hawaii: the project sponsor, Kohe Mālamalama O Kanaloa-Protect Kahoʻolawe Fund (PKF), received a grant for a closing ceremony in a series of ceremonies called, Makahiki Kaho‘olawe, that brought together their kūpuna (elders), kamaliʻi (children), kumu (experts/teachers) and ʻohana (families) from each island of Hawaiʻi to aide in their re-greening on the island and to secure blessings for Kahoʻolawe for the new year.
The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines received a grant to assist them with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic including the distribution of food relief consisting of rice, sugar, salt and cooking oil to a total of 500 families of indigenous people among the Ayangan tribe in the province of Ifugao. They also shared information on COVID-19 and held discussions on food security during the relief distribution in communities and conducted psycho-social sessions among vulnerable groups such as farmers, elders, youth, and informal workers.
Grass-Roots Organization for Women (GROW) Ghana: We provided support for Community-based Initiatives to address the impact of the Corona-19 virus in rural indigenous and local communities. They strengthened their outreach to prevent the spread of infection and addressed emerging public health issues that impacted vulnerable populations in rural areas who lacked access to essential services. This project went from June 2020 through May 2021.
NEW PROJECT Indigenous Solidarity Fund (ISF) In May 2021, EarthAction became the sponsor of ISF whose mission is to support elders, leaders, and wisdom-keepers of indigenous groups in Colombia and the Americas in their efforts to preserve and share their cultures and traditional practices. Click here to view a video made in 2021 by ISF Project Director Jesse Stammel of an urgent message from the revered Grandfather, Wisdom Keeper, Land Protector and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Werjayo Berito Kuwaru'wa of the U'Wa people in Colombia
Other Campaigns
Throughout 2021, EarthAction engaged in many other global campaigns for peace, justice and the environment through our website and social media. These included: the global launch of the Green Grids Initiative at the Climate Summit in Glasgow; COVAX, the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines; the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; The launch of the Youth Elders Fusion Initiative; For details visit: www.earthaction.org.
THANK YOU
EarthAction thanks all our Partner Organizations, members, donors and Board members for their ongoing participation and support. Special thanks to the Thomas D. Hormel Trust, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation, the Whatcom Community Foundation and the Save Our Spirits Fund.
Click here if you would like to make a donation to support our ongoing work.
