Outstanding Native Women
Colleen Swan, (b. 1959), Environmentalist
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K.B. Schaller
Colleen Swan has placed herself on the frontline to save her village, Kivalina, Alaska. Her efforts became the focus of the documentary movie Kivalina v Exxon. The fim premiered at the Whistle Film Festival and won Best Documentary Award. She is also a member of the Epiphany Episcopal Church and part of the Swan Sisters Gospel Singers.
• Placed herself on the frontline to save her village
• Focus of documentary movie, Kivalina v. Exxon
Colleen Swan was born and reared in Kivalina, Alaska a largely Inupiat community. She is a Kivalina City Council member, serves on the Northwest Arctic Borough Economic Development Commission and for 18 years was Tribal administrator.
She is a member of the federally recognized Alaska Native Village of Kivalina whose population numbered only 374 persons according to the 2010 census and 96.3 percent of them are Alaska Natives who depend on ocean life for three-quarters of their food supply. Kivalina is also the only community in the Northwest Arctic Region where people hunt the bowhead whale.
Because sea ice forms later and later each year, there is a growing concern that erosion due to seasonal fall storms has increased the risk of flooding and placed Kivalina among the most eroded of Alaska's villages.
Swan and others blame greenhouse gases emitted from oil, power, and coal companies for climate changes that have caused erosion and other issues that have forced the community, since 1992, to plan to relocate to the mainland. Such a move could cost as much as $400 million which the tiny community cannot afford, and Kivalina wants the companies to pay.
In an interview on Climate Guest, Swan expressed flooding concerns and that an oil spill anywhere in the Arctic would disrupt sea mammal migrations and adversely affect the food source of all people who live on ocean wildlife.
In 2007, Swan, as tribal administrator and Enoch Adams, Jr., vice-mayor and chairman of Kivalina Relocation Planning Committee (KRPC) made a presentation for both the Native Village of Kivalina and the City of Kivalina to the Alaska Climate Impact Assessment Commission.
Among other concerns, the presentation cited that over the years, erosion activities have caused the shrinking of the village that resulted in overcrowding, water and sewer concerns and negative impact on economic development opportunities.
In 2008 the residents filed a federal lawsuit, Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., et al., in San Francisco against the companies. It was dismissed in October 2010, and appealed to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2009. In September 2012, the panel of appeals judges decided not to reinstate the case.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kivalina_v._ExxonMobil_Corp. - cite_note-9thcir-7 The city then appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court justices decided not to hear the case, in effect, it ended the legal claim of the City of Kivalina.
In 2011, Swan, who placed herself on the frontline to save her village, became the focus of the documentary movie Kivalina v Exxon. In it, Canadian film director Ben Addelman captured the tiny village's struggle against giant oil and gas companies. The film premiered at the Whistler Film Festival and won Best Documentary Award.
Colleen Swan's viewpoints on Kivalina's struggles have appeared in the Center on Race, Poverty and Environment newsletter, blogs, and other media outlets.
Swan is a member of Kivalina's Epiphany Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church Women, and is a volunteer of Kivalina Search and Rescue. She is also a member of Swan Sisters Gospel Singers whose recordings include Silver Trumpet, He's Coming Back Again, and Send Your Best Angel.
A version of this article appears in 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World, Winner, 2014 International Book Award, Women's Issues category, by KB Schaller
Sources:
About Me website, Colleen Swan
Colleen Swan-Kivalina, AK/MyLife.com
Center on Race, Poverty and Environment Newsletter
RE-LOCATE KIVALINA website
Shearer, Christine and Swan, Colleen Drilling in the Arctic: Perspectives from an Alaska Native, October 7, 2011
Kivalina Website
Wikipedia, Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp.
KB Schaller (Cherokee/Seminole heritage) is a journalist, researcher, novelist and illustrator. Her books are available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and other bookstores. She lives in South Florida.
Contact: soaring-eagles@msn.com. Website: http://KBSchaller.com/
Editor's Note:
The article that appeared in the July-August 2015 issue of this publication entitled "A spiritual and diplomatic leader: Viola Jimulla" was printed in error. It was neither written by K.B. Schaller nor does it appear in her bio collection, 100+ Native American Women, as indicated. We regret this mistake and we're still trying to figure out how this happened. We can say that the column that appears above is indeed the work of our friend and columnist, K.B. Schaller, and does appear in her book 100+ Native American Women.
