Native American Activist and Environmentalist Winona LaDuke Will Speak at Grinnell College Wednesday, Sept. 25

Winona LaDuke—an activist of Anishinaabe descent, known internationally for her work and writing on environmental and social justice issues—will speak at Grinnell College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25. Her talk, on "Building a Just and Sustainable Future: Indigenous Strategies, Women's Voices," will take place in Room 101 of the Joe Rosenfield '25 Center. The event is open to the public at no charge.

Winona LaDuke is a leader in protecting the lands and life ways of Native communities. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch universities, with advanced degrees in rural economic development, she is founder and co-director of Honor the Earth, a national advocacy organization encouraging public support and funding for native environmental groups. With Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on issues related to climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development and environmental justice.

In her own community in northern Minnesota, she is founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based non-profit organizations in the U.S., and a leader on environmental and food issues. In this work, LaDuke also works to protect indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.

LaDuke served as Ralph Nader's vice presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. She has received a number of honors, including the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Thomas Merton Award, and the prestigious International Slow Food Award for working to protect local biodiversity. In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

LaDuke is the author of a number of non-fiction books, including All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, Recovering Traditional Foods to Heal the People and her latest, The Militarization of Indian Country. She also has written a novel, Last Standing Woman, and a children's book, In the Sugarbush.

LaDuke's talk at Grinnell is sponsored by the college's program in Peace and Conflict Studies; the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights; the Environmental Studies concentration; Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies; and Grinnell College's Center for the Humanities.

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