In Northern Minnesota, over eleven hundred glassy lakes create a vast inland sea. The water is so clean that canoers can drink straight from the lakes. What will it take to protect this beautiful and life-giving landscape from human threat?

In this episode, we are transported to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota. Kim Blaeser, former Wisconsin Poet Laureate, reads her poem “Eloquence of Earth.” And she speaks about how the threat to this water is a threat to Anishinaabe people. Becky Rom, national chair of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, grew up navigating these waters. Today she’s fighting to protect the landscape she holds dear from sulfide-ore copper mining.

Take Action:

• In April of 2021, Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced The Boundary Waters Protection and Pollution Prevention Act. Find your local congressperson here, regardless of the state you live in, and urge them to support this legislation. Here’s a script you can take pointers from.
• You can find more of Kim’s poetry and writing on her website
• You can support the grassroots movement and the work Becky is doing at savetheboundarywaters.org.
• Join efforts to put pressure on world leaders, at COP26 and beyond:
  • Support SheChangesClimate, which is trying to get more women in top-level leadership at COP26 and other delegations around the world.
  • Check out Greenpeace’s campaign: you can get involved with a local volunteer group in the UK or sign the Greenpeace petition.

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