Racial ethnicity is the most significant predictor of a person living near contaminated air, water, or soil in the United States. The City of Seattle’s Environmental Justice (EJ) Fund was created in 2017 to support projects that advance climate justice and respond to climate change, led by and in service to communities most affected by environmental inequities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders. This story is part of a series highlighting the incredible work of community organizations supported by the EJ Fund.
Before a heatwave after July Fourth, I sat down with Kim Camara, executive director of Windz of Change Alliance, at a coffee shop in West Seattle. We started off discussing how the past week felt like a blur with work, the summer heat, and the recent holiday. It was nice to catch up informally, but the grueling heat loomed as we began discussing Indigenous-led environmental justice.
Windz of Change Alliance is an inter-tribal organization working to strengthen “Indigenous Peoples, Sacred Places, Spaces, and Presence through cultural arts, education, and eco-cultural systems environmental stewardship.” Based out of West Seattle, Windz of Change is made up of an urban inter-tribal team representing 11 tribal affiliations that range from Coast Salish to the Southwest region of the United States.
“We are tribal facilitated, run, and represented, while being welcoming and inclusive of anyone who wants to partner alongside us to build community, relationships, action, and awareness,” Camara said.
In June, Windz of Change brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous locals at Camp Long – a 60-acre old growth urban forest in West Seattle – to learn about Indigenous heritage, traditional stewardship, urban forests, and environmental justice issues at their workshop called, “Indigenous Trees Teachings: Coastal Peoples Eco-Cultural Stewardship.” Windz of Change works with Elders and Culture Keepers to restore access to First Peoples lands and strengthen the visibility of Indigenous Peoples who have been historically marginalized by colonial westward expansion.
The workshop included a forest walking tour, Tribal food, and presentations on the Western Red Cedar and other native trees, Coastal carving cultural practices, and Indigenous restoration efforts. The June workshop kicked off Windz of Change’s year-long program, “Interweaving Indigenous Tree Elders & All Relations Past Future Forward,” which the Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) awarded an EJ Fund grant in 2023.
Remaining workshops include a partnership with local carvers, Micah McCarty of Makah Tribe and Jimmy Price of Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. McCarty and Price will install seven pieces of Red Cedar carved art, including a mask and two canoe paddles, that will eventually be displayed at Camp Long and inside the park’s lodge. Windz of Change is also commissioning a painting by John Halliday, Muckleshoot, “Duwamish,” Warm Springs, Yakama for the lodge meeting room.
“By bringing tribal art that reflects Coast Salish descendants of lands upon which Camp Long sits, we can respectfully restore and offer increased awareness opportunities for diverse communities about First Peoples who have been here since time immemorial,” Camara said.
Highlighting Coast Salish art and teachings is not only a way to restore and continue cultural practices, it’s a way to call attention to decline of Indigenous trees and connections between nature, culture, and health of inter-tribal relations.
The Western Red Cedar, a coniferous tree native to the Pacific Northwest, prefers to grow in an ecological community with other trees, waterways, plants, animals, and mycelium. In a collective, the Red Cedar thrives, becomes more resilient, and provides nourishment for other forest dwellers – but alone, its chances of survival are slim. Western Red Cedar has been facing rapid decline in recent years due to drought, urban development, and logging.
“When you cut down all the trees and plants that provide medicine and food, that not only affects the landscape, but it impacts the people,” Camara said. Parallels between trees and humans are clear – neither can survive alone, and both need community to be resilient.
The work of Windz of Change reminds us that the climate crisis is not separate from the fight of the Coast Salish and other tribes for land rights and stewardship accessibility. Exploitation and overuse of Earth’s natural resources contribute to climate change. Climate change further restricts lands, waters, traditional resources, and cultural practices for Indigenous tribes based in the United States, Canada, and across the globe.
As Camara put it, “solutions-based healing led by Indigenous voices” is the key to addressing environmental inequities and injustice.
Jazzmin (she/her) is a Climate and Environmental Justice Intern at OSE. She is leading the Environmental Justice Fund Storytelling Series and is working to bring greater awareness to the critical environmental justice work happening in Seattle. Jazzmin is a recent graduate from the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington where her graduate research focused on community engagement, marine renewable energy, and environmental justice.