Oil and gas companies emit thousands of metric tons of methane each year on the Navajo Nation. A new animated video by the Navajo Methane Coalition details how this pollution harms Diné communities just as the Trump Administration has halted enforcement of existing methane rules. KUNM spoke with Ali Tsosie-Harvey and Cheyenne Antonio, who are members of the organization Diné CARE, which sponsored the video, about how this project is bringing awareness of the methane problem happening on tribal lands.
CHEYENNE ANTONIO: Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gasses, and it is very dangerous. It is a greenhouse gas that warms the planet, and we see the impacts in hotter temperatures. It's really tough right now, especially now that it's over 100 degrees. Just to think of the impact now of over 400,000 oil and gas wells, and there's usually a map out there of the Four Corners region and just thousands of dots, and they're all oil and gas wells, and so if we think of the emissions from abandoned wells. Of course, they're not all operating, but there are major projects like there are gas plants all across the four corners. Everyone is developing, and so there's no watch right now on how much we're emitting methane, which is the concern, right? That's the concern. And we really have been pushing the Navajo Nation and trying to support Navajo Nation EPA toxic air programs. And so, methane is a big concern for all of us, and it's scary because with the drier climate that we're seeing and experiencing, we're also seeing limited rainfall. Our lakes are drying, our rivers are drying up, and so you can kind of feel it.
KUNM: How did this animation come to be Cheyenne?
ANTONIO: I guess like a long term goal of the Navajo Methane Coalition is figuring out how we educate and also share knowledge in our language in the Diné Bizaad and also in English. Not only for Diné CARE but across the board for the Diné community. For anyone who would find that link useful in sharing knowledge on the importance of what is methane, what does it look like? But also, just seeing the accessibility in our language, that was a collective goal that we wanted to see. So I'm glad that we were able to collectively come together and finally release this long term project.
KUNM: Ali, what was the inspiration behind it?
ALI TSOSIE-HARVEY: We really wanted to develop something that would be able to really that our elders, specifically who live in these areas, to understand why it's important to learn about methane. As Chey said, methane is causing climate change. It's one of the main contributors to climate change, it being way more potent than carbon dioxide, and roughly responsible for 30% of the current global warming that's happening right now. Just a couple weeks ago the Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency for drought, and so this issue is super important because it is impacting our people right now. It's impacting our water systems right now. It's impacting our farmers, our animals, our plants. It's a real issue that is really important to really get out there. Our hope is also to use this as a tool to educate our tribal leaders,because we had a win. The Navajo Nation Council unanimously adopted the Minor Source Program Regulations, and so we're just hoping you know this is carrying on the momentum, the work that has already gotten us this far, to continue for us to have stronger protections to protect everyone involved. You know we do this work because we love our people, we love our land and we love our communities, and so this work is really near and dear to our heart.
KUNM: So there are a lot of nonprofits attached to this, including Earthworks, Diné Care, and Naeva. Ali, is this something these organizers are interested in doing more of in regard to funding creatives that want to make media that brings awareness to Indigenous issues?
TSOSIE-HARVEY: All of the partners within the Navajo Methane Coalition, all you know, we want to see this out there. We want to continue to create animation videos that are in our own language that helps people understand these issues. The whole thought process behind it was that we wanted to make it really accessible to people, and even just the imagery that we use is just so culturally specific, whether it's culturally specific to the landscape, right, that we're trying to let people see, but also to really see the real dangers behind it. I feel like an animation video can be enjoyed by all audiences, whether it's children, adults, or elders. And so that's our hope for people to really see it.
The Navajo Methane animated short will screen Thursday August 6th at the Jean Cocteau Cinema in Santa Fe and on August 13 in Shiprock.
Support for this coverage comes from W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
