Diné CARE

Diné CARE has developed an indigenous method of environmental protection and alternative development strategies for use in various issue-specific projects. These initiatives use information and communication technology (ICT), face-to-face exchanges, and the media as tools for mobilising the Navajo community toward environmental sustainability. Participation is a core strategic commitment.

To foster local involvement, the organisation trains dispersed communities of activists to use satellite communications, mobile phones, email, and other tools to access information and coordinate action. Organisers have developed a culturally appropriate method for educating Native communities, as well as area non-Native communities, who are faced with devastating environmental impacts. Local people involved in protecting their communities become partners in Diné CARE's mission, by taking the leadership role in defending their land, proposing alternatives (by writing letters, holding rallies, and creating media), and voicing the belief that traditional beliefs and practices are relevant for the problems facing today's world.

To cite a few project examples, one initiative focuses on empowering communities to speak out about threats posed by the further development of coal-fired power generation. A June 2005 Shiprock Rally featuring traditional music invited Navajo citizens and activists to learn about and express concern about air pollution. This rally generated preparatory and follow-up exchange through a weblog that centres on the proposed building of a new power plant in the Four Corners of New Mexico. As part of this initiative, which is conducted in partnership with the San Juan Citizens Alliance, a 55-minute film entitled "Progress at What Cost?" was created to show the pollutants and poisons emerging from the power plant's smoke stacks. Intended for educational use in the classroom context, this free film features the words of Navajo activists and citizens.

Other projects rely on the use of more advanced technology to gather data about the impact of development projects on the Navajo Nation (NN). For instance, Diné CARE is using geographical information systems (GIS) technology to document the ways in which many Navajo people continue to be adversely affected by mining and testing activities. This data is intended to support calls for retribution for damage caused by the opening of hundreds of uranium mines in the NN from the 1940's through the 1970s. "In a patriotic fervor, uranium ore was intensively mined and resulted in Diné (Navajo) men and their families to be exposed to lethal doses of radiation without knowledge or consent." Further, the organisation is concerned about the testing, in Nevada, of hundreds of atmospheric nuclear bombs from the early 1950s to the early 1960s. "Though the Navajo Nation was 'downwind' of these tests, the NN was excluded from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act [RECA]." The thought is that improved information created by GIS will enable greater public participation and involve concerned individuals in efforts to file for relief under the proposed RECA regulations. (A dedicated page on the Diné CARE website provides concrete guidance for those seeking relief.)

Similarly, as part of the Sanostee project, Diné CARE has introduced GIS technology to the Navajo community to plan for forest restoration. The goal is to document precisely the condition of the forest and to offer the community a plan for commercial logging alternatives. GIS is being used to store images of maps in computers, allowing organisers to overlay a large number of variables to explore various causes and treatments of forest damage. According to Diné CARE, when completed, the land cover map will be more detailed and updated then what the NN Forestry Department is currently using. This map will be central to advocacy efforts on the part of the people of Sanostee who are challenging Department's assessment of the forest's condition.

Environment, Health.

"Diné" is the word by which the Navajo people refer to themselves; it means, roughly, "the people" and suggests the people-oriented focus of this group's efforts. Organisers explain, "The reality is that our people are doing this work because we have no choice anymore. Many of our traditional people are being discriminated against and exploited on their own lands, simply because their ways are not "progressive" or centered around Anglo notions of economic development. As a consequence, they have become more aware of the injustices, technologies and ways of thinking that are directly impacting their families, their clans, their communities and the lands upon which they depend. It has become a struggle for the survival of the People as a whole."