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[?]
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Hello, good day, everyone.
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I'm from the Shinnecock Nation.
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Tabutni to the Cahuilla peoples,
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whose land we gather on today.
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I was taught that water is alive.
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It can hear,
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it holds memories.
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And so I brought a water vessel
up with me today,
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because I want it to hold the memories
of our conversation today.
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Who gets legal rights?
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History has shown us
some people but not others.
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In the United States,
Indigenous peoples like myself
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were not citizens
under the law until 1924.
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My Shinnecock ancestors, pictured here,
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were not citizens under the law.
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Then why do we claim to be nations
governed by the rule of law
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if some people are protected,
but not others?
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Because it remains one
of the best ways to fight injustice.
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And, as Indigenous people,
we know injustice.
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A dear friend, mentor, water walker,
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Nokomis, Grandmother
Josephine Mandamin-ba,
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she told me of a prophecy
that comes from her people,
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the Anishinaabe of the Midewiwin Society.
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And in that prophecy,
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she told me that it tells
of a day that will come
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where an ounce of water
costs more than an ounce of gold.
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When she told me that prophecy,
I sat for a moment,
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and I thought about all of the injustices
we see in our world today,
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the water crises we see
in our world today,
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and I said, "Nokomis, Grandmother,
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I feel like we are already
in that time of prophecy."
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And she looked back at me directly,
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and she said,
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"So what are you going to do about it?"
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That's why I'm here with you today,
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because I believe
that one of the many solutions
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to solving the many water injustices
we see in our world today
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is recognizing that water
is a living relation
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and granting it the legal
personhood it deserves.
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So to do so, we need to transform
the way in which we value water.
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We have to start to think
about how do we connect to water.
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Usually, someone might ask you,
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"What is water?"
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and you would respond
with "Rain, ocean, lake, river,
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H20, liquid."
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You might even understand
the sacred essentiality of water
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and say that water is life.
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But what if I asked you, instead,
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"Who is water?"
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In the same way that I might ask you,
"Who is your grandmother?"
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"Who is your sister?"
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That type of orientation
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fundamentally transforms the way
in which we think about water,
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transforms the way
in which we make decisions
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about how we might protect water,
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protect it in the way that you
would protect your grandmother,
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your mother, your sister, your aunties.
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That is the type of transformation
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that we need if we are going to address
the many water crises we see
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in our world today,
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these harrowing water crises
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that have streamed
across our digital devices
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in countdowns to Day Zero,
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the point at which municipal
water supplies are shut off.
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Places like Cape Town, South Africa,
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where in 2018,
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residents were limited
to two-minute showers
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and 23 gallons of water
per day per person,
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or just this past summer,
where the mismanagement of water
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led the streets of Chennai
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to be lined with thousands
of plastic water jugs
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as residents waited hours
for water tankers
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to deliver water,
first by rail, then by truck,
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to meet their daily needs.
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Or even here in the United States,
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one of the most developed
nations in the world.
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Today, Flint, Michigan
still does not have clean water.
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But you are likely unfamiliar
with these water crises,
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such as Neskantaga First Nation
in Northern Ontario, Canada,
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where residents have been
on a boil water advisory since 1995.
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Or Grassy Narrows First Nation,
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which for decades has been dealing
with water contamination
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from the paper mill industry
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and where a recent study found
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that nearly 90 percent
of the Indigenous population
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has some form of mercury poisoning,
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causing severe health complications.
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Or even among the Navajo Nation.
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Pictured here is the Animas River
on an early morning in 2015,
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prior to the Gold King Mine spill.
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After the spill leaked millions
of hazardous mine waste
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into the river system,
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this was it later that day.
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Today, the Navajo Nation
and the [unclear] People
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and the river itself are still
trying to recover from contamination.
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Or even right here
in Palm Springs, California,
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where the Agua Caliente Band
of Cahuilla Indians
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has been fighting for decades
to protect groundwater from exploitation
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so that future generations
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can not only live but thrive
in their homelands,
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as they have since time immemorial.
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You see, a recent study
by DIGDEEP and the US Water Alliance
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found that race, in the United States,
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is the strongest predictor
of water and sanitation access,
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and that for us,
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as Native American people,
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we are the group most likely
to have access issues
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as it comes to water and sanitation.
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So, as an Indigenous
legal scholar and scientist,
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I believe that many
of these water injustices
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are the result of the Western
legal system's failure to recognize
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the legal personhood of water.
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And so we must ask ourselves --
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who is justice for?
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Humanity alone?
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We've granted legal personhood
to corporations.
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In the US, the Supreme Court
found in "Citizens United"
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that a corporation was a person
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with similar protections
under the Constitution,
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such as freedom of speech,
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and applied similar reasoning
in "Hobby Lobby,"
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finding that a corporation
had the right to freedom of religion
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in defense against the implementation
of the Affordable Care Act
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for its employees.
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Now, these are controversial cases,
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and as a Shinnecock woman
and a legal scholar,
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they make me question
the moral compass of the Western world,
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where you can grant legal
personhood to a corporation
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but not nature.
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You see, legal personhood
grants us the ability
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to be visible in a court of law,
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and to have our voices heard
as a person protected under the law.
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And so if you can grant that
to a corporation,
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why not the Great Lakes?
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Why not the Mississippi River?
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Why not the many waterways
across our planet
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that we all depend on to survive?
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We know we are in a global climate crisis,
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but globally, our waters
are also threatened,
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and we are facing a global water crisis,
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and if we want to address
these crises in our lifetime,
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we need to change.
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We need to fundamentally transform
the way in which we value water.
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And this is not something new
for us as Indigenous peoples.
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Our Indigenous legal systems
have a foundational principle
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of understanding our nonhuman relations
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as being living and protected
under our laws.
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And even for the Western world,
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environmental legal theorists
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have argued for the rights of nature
since the 1970s.
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But we need to do better.
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We need to change.
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And we need to grant
legal personhood to water,
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because it affords the following
rights and protections.
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It grants water the right to exist,
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flourish, and naturally evolve,
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and most of all,
it protects the water from us,
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from human beings that would do it harm,
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from human-caused climate-change impacts,
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from pollutants,
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and from man-made contamination.
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Moreover, it reverses
the accepted hierarchy
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of humanity's domination over nature.
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As human beings on this planet,
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we are not superior
to other beings on this planet.
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We are not superior to the water itself.
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We have to learn
how to be good stewards again.
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We often imagine that the world
is filled with infinite water.
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In fact, it's not.
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This planet, o ye, Mother Earth,
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has very finite freshwater resources.
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Currently, nearly two billion people
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live in countries experiencing
high water stress.
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It is also estimated that by 2030,
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up to 700 million people
could be displaced, worldwide,
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due to water scarcity.
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We have to address this crisis.
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And so it's time for us to change.
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We have to transform
the way in which we value water.
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And we can do that.
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We can learn to be good stewards again.
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We can create laws through which
we grant legal personhood to water.
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We can start to honor
the original treaties
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between Indigenous peoples
and non-Indigenous peoples
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for water protection.
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We can appoint guardians for the water
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that ensure the water's rights
are always protected.
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We can also develop
water-quality standards
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that have a holistic approach,
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that ensure the well-being of the water
before our human needs.
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And moreover, we can work to dismantle
exclusive property ownership over water.
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And there are amazing successful examples
of this around the world.
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The Whanganui River
and Mount Tongariro in New Zealand
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and the Ganges River in India
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were both granted
legal personhood in 2017.
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And even this year,
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the residents of the city of Toledo
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recognized the legal
personality of Lake Erie.
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And right here in California,
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the Yurok Tribe granted legal personhood
to the Klamath River.
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You see, I imagine a world
where we value water
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as a living relation,
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where we work to restore
our connection to water.
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As women, we are water carriers.
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We nurture water
in our wombs for nine months.
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It's the first medicine
that each of us as human beings
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is exposed to.
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See, we are all born as human beings
with a natal connection to water,
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but somewhere along the way,
we lost that connection,
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and we have to work to restore it.
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Because I imagine a world
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in which water is healthy
and ecosystems are thriving.
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I imagine a world
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where each of us takes up
our right of responsibility
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as water citizens
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and protects water.
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So, in the words of Nokomis,
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what are you going to do about it?
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What are you going to do for the water?
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Well, you can call your local politician.
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You can go to a town meeting.
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You can advocate for granting
legal personhood to water.
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You can be like the residents
of the city of Toledo
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and build from the grass roots,
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and craft your own legislation
if the politicians won't write it,
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recognizing legal personality of water.
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You can learn about the Indigenous lands
and waters that you now occupy
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and the Indigenous legal systems
that still govern them.
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And most of all, you can connect to water.
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You can restore that connection.
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Go to the water closest to your home,
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and find out why it is threatened.
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But most of all, if you do anything,
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I ask that you make a promise to yourself,
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that each day, you will ask,
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"What have I done for the water today?"
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If we are able to fulfill that promise,
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I believe we can create a bold
and brilliant world
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where future generations are able to form
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the same relationship to water
that we have been privileged to have,
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where all communities
of human and nonhuman relations
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have water to live,
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because water is life.
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Tabutni. Thank you.
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(Applause)