Honoring the Earth: Preserving and Protecting Water and a Way of Life

Honoring the Earth: Preserving and Protecting Water and a Way of Life

Thursday, Feb. 18, 5pm CT 

Mining and oil pipeline proposals across the Midwest pose grave threats to places of deep cultural, economic and spiritual significance to regional Tribal Nations. The Menominee Tribe is fighting the proposed Back Forty gold mine, on the border of Michigan and Wisconsin, which is a direct threat to the Tribe's heritage. The Bay Mills Indian Community seeks to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline that currently runs along the lake bottom in the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Community leaders will share stories of their historic connection and continued reliance on the area, as well as the strategies that they are using to protect cultural resources.

Presented in collaboration with Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, Collective Communities: Actions on Environmental Crises at Weinberg/Newton Gallery will run Feb. 3 through March 27, 2021. 

Through artwork and programming, Collective Communities presents the work of artist collaboratives, collectives, and cooperatives that are concerned primarily with ecologies in crisis. Presented virtually at weinbergnewtowngallery.com, as well through installations viewable from the gallery’s storefront windows at 688 N. Milwaukee Ave, Collective Communities will feature new work by Deep Time Chicago artist collective, Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Karrabing Film Collective.

A related virtual programming series will introduce Earthjustice’s legal work centered in communities across the Midwest. The series will feature Earthjustice attorneys, public interest partners and community leaders in conversation about how tey are working together to fight for the health and safety of frontline communities. 

The programming series will be free and accessible to the public with registration, available at https://earthjustice.org/events/collective-communities-actions-on-environmental-crises.