Stories

Honor the Earth

Environmental Work for Native Communities

Based in Minnesota, Honor the Earth employs music, arts, media, and Indigenous wisdom to heighten awareness of human dependency on Earth and, in particular, the dependency of Native communities on the lands they occupy. 

Sponsored by two national Native organizations — the Indigenous Women’s Network and the Indigenous Environmental Network — Honor the Earth represents a unified Native American effort to broaden awareness of Native environmental struggles and generate political and financial support for specific initiatives and Native organizations. The combined constituency of these groups represents more than 200 grassroots Native communities across North America. Honor the Earth is the only national Native initiative working to jointly develop funding and public support for these communities.

Commitment to developing the needed financial and political resources necessary for the survival of these Native communities led Honor the Earth to transfer fiscal sponsorship to Tides in 1998. It now pursues its mission – to defend and preserve the Native way of life and Native lands for future generations — by doing its Grantmaking with Tides as well.  

Largely politically and geographically isolated, Native community organizations often operate with insufficient funding, little infrastructure or training, and without basic resources.  Through Tides, Honor the Earth has granted nearly $1.5 million to hundreds of organizations working diligently to protect their land, lives, culture, and traditions.  Tides completes all grant administration, reporting requirements, and due diligence — allowing Honor the Earth to focus directly on its mission and serving its constituency.

"We're able to promote environmental justice for Native communities using whatever strategies make sense — programs, advocacy, outreach, Grantmaking. Tides enables us to be creative and holistic in how we approach our work," said Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth. 

Honor the Earth’s Grantmaking and advocacy programs center on two areas: Environmental Justice—the defense of the homelands—and Indigenous Knowledge—proactive initiatives aimed at cultural and ecological restoration. Honor the Earth helps amplify the voice of hundreds of Native people and exposes thousands of non-Indian people to environmental justice issues faced by Native Nations.

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