BJ McManama, from the Indigenous Environmental Network was interviewed about The Resurgence: 2019 North American Forest & Climate Movement Convergence on The Sojourner Truth Show, syndicated nationally on the Pacifica network. This was the first national announcement for the Convergence, and occurred on the International Day of Forests, March 21, 2019.
2019 is the 10th year anniversary of Global Justice Ecology Project and The Sojourner Truth Show partnering for the Earth Watch segment since the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Brenda Jo McManama has been involved with Indigenous and environmental issues for the past 20 years. For the past nine years she has and currently works with IEN in different capacities ranging from graphic design/ web administration to media coordinator. BJ was also a member of two IEN delegations who traveled to the jungles of Peru and central Mexico to meet with Indigenous community leaders. The focus of these exchanges was to share cultural information and current shared mitigation, restoration, and subsistence challenges centered on forest and aquatic regions. When not working on national and global environmental issues, BJ participates with local environmental and social justice organizations whose focuses include maintaining food security and safety, and protecting water resources and forests from encroaching extractive industries.
The Indigenous Environmental Network has brought together and organized with Indigenous Peoples and communities globally on issues related to Indigenous land rights and autonomy. Most recently IEN has focused on the impacts of energy corporations on Indigenous communities in North America; and on the impacts of land grabbing and forest carbon offsets schemes on Indigenous communities in North America and globally.
