Nature Is a Sacred Thing to Love and To Respect, Not to Destroy.
Determined to save the sacred land they have inhabited for years, the people of Ponca tribe strive to save their environment from industrial pollution.
By Mirna Fahmy
Ponca Tribe Face Environmental Disaster.
Ponca tribe, an indigenous population of the United States, in Oklahoma, is encountering severe health and environmental challenges primarily due to pollution from nearby industrial activities, particularly related to fossil fuels and carbon emissions. Some tribe members have described this situation as a form of environmental racism, leading to what they refer to as “environmental genocide.”
Source: Cultural Survival
Bowing Down to Empower?
In Ponca City, Oklahoma, the cancer death rate is notably high, with a reported 178.8 deaths per 100,000 people recorded from 2018 to 2022. This statistic is significantly above the Healthy People 2030 objective of 122.7 deaths per 100,000. For decades, the city has been home to corporations, factories, and oil refineries that contaminate the environment with toxic chemicals. In addition to an unusually high occurrence of cancer-related deaths, the pollution also kills the fish in the Arkansas River, an important food source for the Ponca people.
Source: State Cancer Profiles and Cultural Survival
Pulling Each Other Up.
The Ponca Tribe has proceeded with federal lawsuits in 2007 against both the Continental Carbon Co., owned by the Koo family of Taiwan, for carbon black emissions from its Ponca City-based factory; as well as the federal government for a lack of accountability for the pollution affecting the Ponca Tribe, which began around the time of Oklahoma became a state d in 1907.
Source: ICT News
Small Country, Big Victory.
Despite the call-ups and lawsuits, there have been no efforts to clean up the polluted river, even though it was crystal clear that the fish were being poisoned.. Not to mention, the healthcare systems are very limited. In response to these challenges, the Ponca Nation has taken steps to assert their rights through the “rights of nature” legal framework, which seeks to grant legal rights to natural entities such as rivers and forests. This approach aligns with Indigenous perspectives on environmental stewardship and aims to provide stronger protections against industrial pollution.
Source: Cultural Survival
Coming Full Circle: The Legacy of Women in Sports.
Narrating the destruction of natural habitat that the carbon companies have caused the land, Water Has a Memory, a documentary highlighting the intersection of environmental degradation and social injustice, shows the urgent need for systemic change to address the harmful effect of pollution on the Ponca Tribe’s health and land. The ongoing impacts of carbon emissions and industrial waste not only threaten their physical well-being, but also their cultural and spiritual connection to the land.
Source: Inside Climate News
“Man laws don’t have any relationship to the womb mother moving the rhythms of life.”
– Casey Camp-Horinek, Matriarch and Environmental Ambassador for the Ponca Nation
About the Author
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