Protecting The Environment of Indigenous Peoples (IP)

October 14, 2013
Hosted by Audrey E. Kitagawa

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Guest Information

Episode Description

A Pit River/Wintu and Neets’aii Gwich’in Athabascan from the Arctic Village in Alaska, Faith Gemmill, is the Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL). In 2002 a group of Alaskan Indigenous Peoples representing each region in Alaska created REDOIL to share their knowledge and strategies with each other to address the detrimental impact of the oil and gas development in Alaska. She shares the importance of protecting the lands of the IP from environmental degradation through fossil fuel extraction, pollution, and the exploitation and commodification of ancestral lands. These once pristine lands have been seriously and irreparably impacted, and are contributing to the extreme climate change conditions in Alaska and elsewhere. The health, culture and survival of the Gwich’in Nation are threatened as their precious Porcupine Caribou Herd, located within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, face radical depletion.

Our Sacred Journey

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Our Sacred Journey will inspire others to share their love, compassion and kindness as a powerful way of actualizing the reality of the Divine in our daily lives. Our fascinating guests are global citizens who live and manifest their values, principles and ideals. You’ll hear the broad spectrum of life experiences that moved these passionate, courageous people through the hallways of such global institutions as the United Nations, to the villages in developing countries. We will discuss what it means to live as global citizens from the foundation of our inner spirituality, values and beliefs. Our potential to create a harmonious, cooperative present and future arising out of our own creativity and commitment to make valuable contributions to humanity will weave a beautiful tapestry of our sacred journey together.

Audrey E. Kitagawa

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Audrey E. Kitagawa, is a cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California, and a graduate of Boston College Law School. She practiced law in Honolulu for twenty years. At the time of her retirement in 1996, Ms. Kitagawa had a Martindale-Hubbel AV rating, (i.e. highest rating for professional and ethical excellence in the legal profession). She is President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, a nondenominational, ecumenical, spiritual community with broad global outreach. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the United Nations, and the former Vice President/Trustee of Council For A Parliament of The World’s Religions, one of the world’s largest conveners of communities of faith. She is currently a Founding Trustee of the New York City Peace Museum.

She has been enstooled into the royal family as the Nekoso Hemaa (i.e.Queen Mother of Development), of Ajiyamanti in Ghana, West Africa, and has a school named after her in her African name, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School. She has published articles in World Affairs, The Journal of International Issues. She has authored chapters for three books, and has been listed in Who's Who of American Law, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii.

Episode Directory

December 2013

November 2013

October 2013

  • 10/28/2013: Building Bridges of Understanding Through Interfaith Dialogue Listen Now
  • 10/21/2013: Numen: The Nature of Plants Listen Now
  • 10/14/2013: Protecting The Environment of Indigenous Peoples (IP) Listen Now
  • 10/7/2013: The Power of Compassion In Personal Transformation Listen Now


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