The College of Letters & Science Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities presents Winona LaDuke.

In “The Next Energy Economy: Grassroots Strategies to Mitigate Global Climate Change, and How We Move Ahead,” learn how local projects on indigenous lands are helping establish the next energy economy. From solar to wind to localized food production, the White Earth reservation is moving ahead in creating a more sustainable future.

Winona LaDuke is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two-time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party.

As Program Director of Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based nonprofit organizations in the country, and a leader in the issues of culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy and food systems. In this work, she also continues national and international work to protect indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and is presently an advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board member of the Christensen Fund. The author of five books, including “Recovering the Sacred,” “All our Relations,” and a novel – “Last Standing Woman,” she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.

This event is held in UWM Merrill Hall, Room 131.