Break In Case of Emergency Emergency Marker 6: Centre Indigenous Rights & Leadership (w/ Janelle Lapointe, Serena Mendizabal & Seth Klein)
Dec 3, 2025
Seth Klein, a climate policy analyst and author; Serena Mendizabal, director of an Indigenous-led climate nonprofit; Janelle Lapointe, a grassroots organizer and community advisor. They discuss centring Indigenous title and leadership in climate responses. Topics include Indigenous-led energy and food sovereignty, cultural and language revitalization, barriers from extractivism, and the gap between government rhetoric and true consent.
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Community Wind Project Sparked Broader Renewal
- Stellat'en First Nation built a community wind project, greenhouse and language programs as holistic climate responses.
- Janelle Lapointe described youth and elders walking the land to design wind turbines and expanded year-round food growing.
Longhouse Microgrid And Seed Sanctuary
- Sacred Earth implemented energy-efficiency retrofits, a 24 kW solar hybrid microgrid and seed storage at Sour Springs Longhouse.
- Serena Mendizabal explained the project was community-defined to support ceremony, seed sovereignty and food security.
Land Defense Produces Major Emissions Reductions
- Indigenous land defenders have already prevented large emissions: land-back movements disrupted an amount equating to a quarter of U.S.-Canada annual emissions over a decade.
- Serena cites the Oil Change/Indigenous Climate Action study showing this measurable impact.