The kickoff date highlights the importance of the need to honor King Jr.’s “courage to act in times of crisis,” she said. Johnston’s upstart, grassroots campaign highlights New Mexico’s global role in the climate crisis, as the state is home to the Permian Basin, which attained notoriety in 2019 as the top oil producer in the world. A perceived lack of leadership on the urgency of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the oil industry led Johnston to challenge Egolf. “With all due respect, we no longer have time for leaders who take oil industry money, who write laws for them and obstruct laws that would hold them accountable. We need protectors of the earth, protectors of the people,” said the 30-year-old PhD student and Stanford University graduate. Born in Santa Fe and raised in Taos, New Mexico, Johnston was a notable figure during the 2016-2017 Oceti Sakowin resistance to Dakota Access Pipeline construction across unceded treaty territory near Standing Rock, in which opponents coining their description as water protectors supported tribal governments’ legal challenge to project parent company Energy Transfer Partners and associates. She graduated with honors in environmental sciences from Stanford, earned an education degree from the University of New Mexico, and now is pursuing a PhD with a focus on sustainable food systems.
NATIVE SUN NEWS TODAY
Support Native media!
Read the rest of the story on Native Sun News Today: A ‘Fast for the Future’
Join the Conversation
