From the plains of Oklahoma to the woodlands of the Southeast, Indigenous nations are rising to defend land, water, and climate through the Rights of Nature framework—laws and cultural protocols that recognize rivers, forests, and ecosystems as living entities with the right to exist, regenerate, and thrive.

In this evening conversation, frontline Indigenous leaders will share how they are confronting fossil fuel colonialism—the pipelines, extraction projects, and corporate interests that threaten their communities—and replacing it with climate solutions grounded in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), matrilineal governance, and land rematriation.

The discussion will illuminate how Indigenous-led Rights of Nature initiatives are not symbolic, but strategic: they are powerful legal tools, rooted in ancestral law, capable of halting extractive projects, restoring ecosystems, and building climate resilience for future generations.

This gathering will also explore the deep cultural, spiritual, and community organizing work required to make these laws real, from ceremony and education to political advocacy and international solidarity.

Featured Speakers

• Casey Camp-Horinek (Ponca Nation of Oklahoma) – Elder, environmental justice leader, and traditional drumkeeper. As a board member of Movement Rights, she has been instrumental in advancing the first Rights of Nature laws in tribal nations and linking climate justice with Indigenous sovereignty at the global level.

• Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck (Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation) – Co-Founder of 7 Directions of Service, blending grassroots organizing, academic research, and legal advocacy to protect land, water, and sacred sites in the Southeast from fossil fuel infrastructure.

• Julia Horinek (Ponca Nation of Oklahoma) – Organizer with Movement Rights and a powerful Indigenous leader, carrying forward the work of community-based climate action, cultural revitalization, and environmental defense.

What to expect:

• Learn how Indigenous-led Rights of Nature laws are confronting fossil fuel expansion in the U.S.

• Hear intergenerational perspectives from seasoned leaders and emerging youth advocates.

• Connect with a growing movement that ties climate resilience to Indigenous sovereignty and cultural renewal.

• Leave with concrete strategies and opportunities for solidarity to support Indigenous-led climate action.