Native American Advocate Winona LaDuke to Speak at UNO

Omaha – Winona LaDuke, an internationally recognized Native American activist, environmentalist and economist, will speak at the 2014 University of Nebraska at Omaha’s (UNO) Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights.

LaDuke, who is of Anishinaabe descent, will speak at the Thompson Alumni Center on UNO’s Dodge Campus Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. Her presentation, “Human Rights and the Rights of Nature in an Era of Climate, Energy, Food and Water Crises,” will address these issues generally, as well as from a Native American perspective.

The event is free and open to the public.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities with advanced degrees in rural economic development, LaDuke has devoted her life to protecting the lands and ways of life of Native communities.

LaDuke was named one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under 40 years old by Time magazine in 1994 and named “Woman of the Year” in 1997 by Ms. Magazine in 1997. In 2007, LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

LaDuke is founder and co-director of Honor the Earth, a national advocacy group encouraging public support and funding for native environmental groups. With Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on issues of climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development, food systems and environmental justice.

Within the Anishinaabe tribe in northern Minnesota, LaDuke is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non-profit organizations in the country, and a leader on the issues of culturally-based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy and food systems. She also works to protect indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.

LaDuke’s other honors include the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Thomas Merton Award, the Ann Bancroft Award, the Global Green Award and the prestigious International Slow Food Award for working to protect wild rice and local biodiversity. She also served as Ralph Nader’s running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections.

In addition to numerous articles, LaDuke is the author of a number of non-fiction titles including “All Our Relations,” “The Winona LaDuke Reader,” “Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming,” “Food is Medicine: Recovering Traditional Foods to Heal the People” and her latest: “The Militarization of Indian Country.” She has also penned a work of fiction, “Last Standing Woman,” and a children's book, “In the Sugarbush.”

LaDuke’s lecture is sponsored by the UNO Religious Studies Department with the generous support of the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Fund Lecture for Human Rights Fund.

Those with special needs or assistance are encouraged to contact 402.554.2628 or stop by Arts and Sciences Hall 205.

For media inquiries, please contact Charley Reed, UNO media relations coordinator, at unonews@unomaha.edu or by phone at 402.554.2129.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha

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