Environmental Violence, When environmentally harmful activities lead to rape, and social degradation

By: Genevieve Finn

Question 1: Do you know where your oil and gas comes from? Many Americans would immediately reply, "The Middle East,", but in fact, there are 500,000 gas wells active in the United States, and 20% of those are located on public or Native American land. Question 2: Do you know how energy companies get that oil and gas? The answer to that question is the keyword, "fracking".

Fracking is a method of oil extraction that involves literally smashing the rock with millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals to unlock oil and gas. In 90% of the 100,000 US oil and gas locations, fracking is the main method of extraction. This is an environmentally destructive practice because it releases toxic chemicals such as methane gas that can contaminate important groundwater. Fracking has even been referred to as "raping the Earth" by writer Peter Rugh of Vice. These poisonous chemicals can have a huge impact on ecosystems and communities near drilling sites, especially if these communities are on Indian land where people and livestock depend on fresh groundwater for drinking, cooking, and washing. The chemicals released by fracking can also cause air pollution, gas explosions, and infrastructure degradation.

In addition to the negative environmental impact, research has found that fracking can also bring a slew of social issues and conflicts. At every new fracking site, a rush of workers and fortune seekers arrive to work the land. Data shows that this population explosion is linked to a huge rise in STDs, drug use, and addictionally, suicide, and domestic violence. This correlation is seen prevalent in Native American communities in places such as Alberta, Canada, and states that have high indigenous populations such as Montana and North Dakota. Studies even show that Native American women are two and ahlf more likely to experience assault than any other race. There are reports of reservation women, generally between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, being forcibly taken to temporary workers housing in desolate areas called "man-camps" by the local communities and being raped or assaulted. It is evident that this pressing crisis must be fixed immediately, not just for the sake of indigenous women as an important piece of American culture, but for the sake of women in general in the fight against violence.

Kahea Pacheco of Women's Earth Alliance has a solution. Women's Earth Alliance is an organization that unites women and gives them the resources to stand up for themselves and their environment. As an indigenous woman herself, Kahea feels passionately about this issue and has made it her mission to educate and support Native American communities in combatting the social issues that result from fracking. "Whether it be coming up with workshops they can use for community education, coming up with activism strategies, working with Women's Earth Alliances team of pro-bono attorneys ... to help to strategize legal advocacy tools," Women's Earth Alliance is an important ally to indigenous communities who need help mobilizing to fight for their homes. Already indigenous people have begun to push back against fracking on their own. For example, Native American groups in Idaho, Oregon and Montana have come together to blockade the roads used by mega load trucks –the trucks that carry supplies to the drill sites— to put a stop to bringing fracking materials onto reservation land and force them to reroute their course. Kahea recommends going to marches and rallies across the country such as Honor the Earth in North Dakota and Minnesota (where they ride along pipeline routes on horses advocating their cause) to provide solidarity and celebrate "healing the land". You can also donate to Women's Earth Alliance and learn more about this initiative on Women's Earth Alliance's website.

To conclude, Kahea summarized her feelings toward gas and oil companies' fracking activities at the expense of the land and the Native American people. "All the economic wealth in the world will be nothing if we do not have the environment we need to survive in." As consumers ourselves, it is our responsibility to get educated and take action for our world and the people we share it with.