Returning Indigenous ancestors home to New Zealand/Aotearoa

In Benin, indigenous beliefs, knowledge, and traditional governance systems are helping communities protect biodiversity and adapt to climate change. Vodun, a spiritual practice that protects fragile and vital ecosystems, has enabled the preservation of more than 1,200 acres of mangroves over the last decade.

Multiple Native American tribal nations are incorporating traditional sweat lodge ceremonies into substance use disorder treatment programs. Participants attend sweat lodge sessions, either as part of court-ordered programs or voluntarily, where they engage in culturally relevant, spiritual practices. Many of the court-ordered clients consistently choose to return to sweat lodges beyond their required attendance, sometimes even preferring them to traditional AA/NA meetings.

Indigenous communities confronting poverty, loss of traditional land, and marginalization in Malaysia are finding support through PACOS Trust, a faith-based group focused on community organizing. By providing structured leadership training, advocacy skills, and livelihood development initiatives, PACOS empowers young Indigenous leaders to address pressing issues in the community, advocate for land rights, and preserve their cultural practices.

Abatangamuco est un groupe d’hommes burundais qui utilisent les représentations théâtrales, les témoignages personnels, et les consultations individuelles pour changer les idées culturelles sur les violences domestiques. Avec plus de 8 000 hommes dans neuf provinces, le mouvement s'appuie sur les relations communautaires et les gouvernements locaux.

To the Gwich’in Athabascan people living inside the Arctic Circle in Alaska, the decades-long fight against oil drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) represents more than an environmental struggle: It has sparked a spiritual and cultural renaissance among indigenous people whose customs had been discouraged since colonial days. Young Gwich’in have worked to revive their language, self-sufficiency, and traditional arts and crafts. The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened their commit to respond to threats to their way of life.

Cut Bank, Montana has incorporated education about Native Americans in all grade levels with a special emphasis on and participation by Blackfeet Nation students because of the reservation's proximity. This effort is also state legislature: the Indian Education For All (IEFA) law was passed in 1999 and funds schools conducting the curriculum. Cut Bank School is special because of how Blackfeet Nation students contribute to the teaching, but students are also learning by reading stories about American Indians, learning words and phrases, talking about the first Thanksgiving, and playing traditional music.

In Detroit, Michigan, residents reduce the effects of gentrification through physical activity and shared storytelling. The non-profit Pedal to Porch encourages residents to bike to their neighbors’ homes and record their memories. The effort helps retain some of the identity in Detroit’s changing communities and establishes new connections for the city to grow. Founder Cornetta Lane notes, “communities are more likely to bounce back from social and natural disasters when they know each other.”

In the face of terror and war, art and history needed protection. A group of professors, activists, archeologists, and historians created a network to preserve and protect art and history in Syria.

Is there a way to frame conversations so that people actually listen to one another? Ask Big Questions fosters large group questions and discussions about social problems on university campuses to inspire young people.

Honor the Earth is an anti-data center coalition monitoring the construction of hyperscale data centers in or near indigenous land. Through their efforts, town halls, doorknocking, attending tribal council meetings and more, they’ve formed a community with people in agriculture and beyond, working to push back against data center construction and enact protections for communities. As a result of their efforts, the Tulsa City Council signed a 9-month moratorium on data centers, and the Seminole Nation also unanimously passed its own moratorium.