Learning With Indigenous Communities to Advance Health Equity

Tribal Nations, stewards of natural resources, can lead the way to a more sustainable and healthy future. 

 A Tlingit Nation member welcomes an audience to a community house. The Tlingit, people native to Sitka, infuse traditions and leadership training through educational and environmental programs.

For generations, Indigenous peoples have known that our health is intertwined with the health of our Earth. It's a worldview that recognizes that being healthy means we need to care for our natural resources that sustain life.

In contrast, Western mindsets tend to view the natural world as an inventory of useful commodities—separate from, and existing only in service to, humanity. Overusing, polluting, and extracting without considering the long-term impacts has created conditions that fuel health inequities in our country: contaminated drinking water, food scarcity, air pollution, and extreme heat are contributing to poor health and driving up disease.

Transforming our relationship with nature is key to building a sustainable, equitable, and healthy future for all. Indigenous values, practices, and policies can show us the way to heal and reclaim the health of our Earth and humanity.

Here are just some examples of Indigenous leadership in practice:

Cindy Howe is bringing running water to the Navajo Nation.

Tó éí  ííńá át’é. In the Navajo language, that means water is life. Water is as sacred as earth, fire, and air. It cannot be taken for granted on the Navajo Nation lands in northwest New Mexico, where one-third of the tribe lacks running water at home.

The Navajo Nation is confronting major drought due to a severe underinvestment in infrastructure driven by structural racism and mismanagement of the Colorado river by government agencies. Cindy Howe, the director of DIGDEEP's  Navajo Water Project, is leading a team to address the immediate need to increase access to water. DIGDEEP's solar-powered water system draws water from a buried 1,200-gallon tank to provide for a family’s basic needs.

“My hope is that one day the homes of every Navajo person will be hooked up to a water system, with indoor plumbing, a really nice shower, a commode, and a sink,” says Howe. “That is what I wish for my tribe and indeed for all in America.”

Charlie Four Bear helped his community to heal and reclaim their pride.

Horses have long been integral to many Native cultures, a source of both abundance and spiritual connection. Indigenous peoples have many stories to tell about how horses entered their lives and a rich tradition of art that honors the animal as a fellow creature of the Earth. For Charlie Four Bear, an elder on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana, horses also became a way to reach young people who felt disconnected from their roots. It's a feeling many Native young people share as a result of our country’s colonial history and assimilation policies that have led to the erasure of Indigenous culture. 

Charlie Four Bear created a Youth Mentor Equine Program to rekindle a sense of identity. It taught boys and girls how to forge a relationship with horses. Sadly, Charlie Four Bear passed away in 2017, at the age of 59, but his efforts remain an inspiration. He was a muse in Take Us to a Better Place, an RWJF-developed book that asks readers to imagine a world where health is not a privilege, but a right.

Tribal nations are leading the way to a more sustainable and healthy future.

In many Indigenous cultures, rivers are sacred and living beings; they are seen as perennial and life-sustaining resources. In modern society, too often rivers are treated as a commodity and are used for electrical dams and agriculture, creating unprecedented droughts.

New Zealand is showing how things can be done differently, thanks to legislation championed by the Māori peoples and passed by parliament. Through those efforts, the Whanganui River was granted “personhood,” recognizing its right to be healthy and protected from harm. In 2020, tribal leaders from Arizona traveled to New Zealand to immerse themselves in the culture and customs of their Indigenous relatives and draw blessings from the Whanganui. In connecting with the spiritual authority of the waters, the visitors deepened their understanding that rivers can only be reinvigorated by changing the ways in which we relate to them.