Surviving Together: Food Sovereignty, Climate Justice, and the Future of Our Planet w/ Mike Prysner

Even though more than enough food is produced, 1 in 8 people across the world suffer from severe hunger. This statistic will only continue to grow as climate change drives the destruction of our planet. This session will feature the voices of leaders in the struggle for environmental justice, food sovereignty, and a future for all.

Photo credit: MIDIA NINJA

Speakers:

Kawenaʻulaokalā Kapahua, Hawaiʻi

Kawenaʻulaokalā Kapahua is an organizer and activist in the Hawaiian independence movement, as well as the labor movement and campaigns to protect and preserve Hawai'i's sacred places. He is a proud member of Hui Aloha ʻāina o Honolulu, the Hawaiian revolutionary organization that has fought U.S. occupation of Hawaiʻi since 1897. He is from the island of O'ahu. He has most recently been an organizer in the community campaign to shut down the U.S. Military's Red Hill fuel storage facility which poisoned the water of his home island in 2021.

Big Wind, Arapaho Land

Big Wind is a Two Spirit member of the Northern Arapaho tribe from the Wind River Reservation. At a young age, Big Wind recognized many injustices and degrees of oppression within their community. They became involved in youth & climate leadership at the age of 13 when they learned of environmental racism happening near their home. Since then, they have worked on numerous campaigns throughout "Indian Country" including No DAPL, and Stop Line 3, and currently is the "Organizing & Communications Associate" for the Indigenous Land Alliance of Wyoming.

Andres Gonzalez, Tovaangar/Los Angeles

Andres Gonzalez (he/him) is program manager for environmental justice at the Liberty Hill Foundation and a member of STAND-LA, an environmental justice coalition of community groups that seeks to end neighborhood drilling to protect the health and safety of Angelenos on the front lines of urban oil extraction. STAND recently won a sweeping phase-out motion in January and is currently fighting for subsequent remediation of impacted lands. Previously Andres worked in Paraguay focusing on food resilience and mining contamination with rural squatting communities, and with climate migrants and displaced minors as a paralegal at the Homestead ERC detention camp.

Toya Manchineri, Brasil

Toya Manchineri is the Coordinator of Territorial Area and Natural Resources at the Coordination of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), political advisor of the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), and president of the Manxinerune Tsihi Pukte Hajene (MATPHA) organization. A leader of the Manchineri Indigenous People from the southern region of the state of Acre, Toya has been defending Indigenous rights and fighting for climate justice for decades. He is collaborating on discussions about the role of Indigenous communities in the struggles against climate change, and participating in UN Climate Conferences.

Dr. Fernando Rafael Funes Monzote, Cuba

Dr. Fernando Rafael Funes Monzote is a farmer and distinguished agroecologist from Cuba who spent the last 20 years working to meet the challenges small-scale farmers face through large-scale agroecological approaches. Dr. Funes Monzote concluded that it’s possible to produce enough food for the Cuban population on just half of its existing agricultural lands with low environmental impacts. In collaboration with other Cuban scientists, Dr Funes Monzote developed the computerized system Energia 3.01 which enables energy balance calculations in agroecosystems, and has been applied in over 20 countries as a tool to design and manage energy efficient agroecological systems.

Moderator:

Mike Prysner, United States

Mike Prysner is the Producer of Empire Files, an investigative documentary and interview series on war and inequality from the heart of Empire.

Thumbnail photo: Midia Ninja