Happiness and Well-Being

“Shawna is a leader in tribal sovereignty efforts and has been chosen to represent Alaska Native peoples at statewide, national and international meetings to testify and speak out in support of environmental justice struggles. She should represent her region because she is a very powerful young Indigenous leader, extremely connected with the Alaska Native communities, and causes for environmental justice."

Shawna works on behalf of Alaska Native tribes to achieve environmental justice and created an Alaska Native Environmental Justice Task Force to share information, coordinate community capacity building activities, and develop common strategies. She works with Alaska Native communities around the state on issues including right-to-food, children and women’s environmental health.

Shawna’s work in sustainable development and/or environmental justice:

From July 2000 for two years, I worked as lead organizer for Alaska Community Action on Toxics’ (ACAT) Northern Contaminants and Health Program. In 2002, I became ACAT’s Environmental Justice Coordinator. I worked to garner support for the U.N. treaty to eliminate twelve of the most deadly chemicals worldwide (the Stockholm Convention). I am also helping to establish programs in hospitals and clinics throughout Alaska for safe disposal of medical waste. I am working to establish an Alaska Native Environmental Justice Task Force to address oil and gas issues, mining, solid waste, military contamination, contamination of traditional foods and health concerns for future generations, and state/federal actions which negatively effect tribes.

In what ways have you taken leadership in your community? In what ways do you support other women working alongside you?

I work on behalf of our communities through organizing and providing testimony at hearings on a local as well as international level. I have been asked to represent our tribal communities at meetings of the national Tribal Science Council and at the United Nations on issues of health and safety of traditional foods. I support women through my work with the Alaska Native Environmental Justice Task Force, in providing opportunities for women to meet and develop training programs together.

What tools or programs do you envision as needed to strengthen the efforts of grassroots women working to protect the environment?

I think it is important to strengthen and support leadership skills and development for women through training programs for women in rural villages in Alaska. I am interested in creating opportunities for women in the villages that I work with to connect with each other concerning issues of environmental justice so that they don't have to struggle in isolation. In my work at Alaska Community Action on Toxics, we are looking at ways to respond to women’s concerns about the links between reproductive health and exposure to toxic chemicals--the issues of the safety of breast milk, fertility, child development. We are planning to create study and action groups with women to address these concerns.