Book #8: As Long as Grass Grows
Learning from Indigenous leaders in their fights for environmental justice.
Hi friends! I’m Jess and this is Book Club for the Planet, an online community for us to read about the climate crisis in community.
Meeting for this book is Sunday, October 24 at 1 pm EST.
There is so much that climate justice groups can learn from the successes and struggles of Indigenous environmental justice movements, and I’m so excited to dig into As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes), a lecturer of American Indian studies at California State University San Marcos. As Long as Grass Grows will give us a grounding in the history of Indigenous resistance to government and corporate incursions on their lands, treaty violations, and protection of sacred sites, as well as a decolonization framework beyond Western conceptions of environmental justice. I also chose for us to read this book at this time so it would intersect with Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States (October 11) and before American Thanksgiving in late November. I’m excited to dig in with you all!
As for our book club meet-ups, everyone is welcome to join, whether you’ve finished the book or not, and to engage in whatever way feels right to you. Maybe you’re coming to connect with others and work through these questions with a sympathetic sounding board, or maybe you’re coming to learn in a listen-only mode. You are welcome here! Our meetings last for about 90 minutes, but it’s totally ok to come for the first 45 minutes or an hour if that works for you.
For those who are new to our meetings, here’s how it works:
A few days before our meeting, I send out a separate Mailchimp newsletter with a Zoom registration link. Please register so I can plan appropriately for the size of our expected group. If you have unsubscribed to that newsletter (life happens and my email inbox perpetually has over 5,000 unread emails in it, so I get it!), please also make sure to unsubscribe to this Substack as well so I don’t accidentally re-subscribe you to the Mailchimp newsletter when I’m updating the lists every other month.
That’s it, for now! Happy reading!