PORT TOWNSEND — Lummi Nation tribal members with the House of Tears Carvers will stage an event in Port Townsend on Sunday, prior to taking a totem pole on a national tour.
The public is invited to the event in the north parking lot at QUUF, 2333 San Juan Ave., at about 11:30 a.m.
The House of Tears carvers are taking a totem pole to the Clean Energy Justice Convergence in Pittsburgh, Pa., as a call to action at the Sept. 21-23 gathering hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, according to Debra Ellers, co-founder of the orca advocacy group North Olympic Orca Pod.
The carvers will bring an honor pole dedicated to Chief Tsilixw (Bill James), hereditary chief of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) people, according to the East Shore Unitarian Church.
It is the latest of more than a dozen journeys made by the Lummi Nation over the past 20 years to educate and advocate with the alliance of Earth, Sky and Water protectors, one of which was the trek to take the Shared Responsibility totem carved by Jewell James to Washington, D.C., in 2021.
“This journey builds upon, strengthens and reaffirms the growing indigenous-led climate justice movements that began with a successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuel projects in the Pacific Northwest,” Ellers said in a press release.
”This journey is dedicated to communities in Appalachia and around the world who are on the front lines of fossil fuel-based energy extraction and environmental devastation, and to the growing movement of Earth, Sky and Water protectors working to advance truly clean energy solutions and hasten a just transition away from fossil fuels and false solutions,” she said in the release.
The Alliance of Earth, Sky and Water protectors include the House of Tears Carvers of Lummi nation, sulkadub strategies, the Natural History Museum, Sacred Trust, e3c, Arm in Arm, Catskill Mountainkeeper, se’si’le Foundation, Tiny House Warriors, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, Earthball of Orcas island and the New Old Time Chautauqua.
More information can be found on the Facebook page, Our Shared Responsibility: A Totem Pole Journey .
