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Last Updated on February 23, 2026 Dear reader, Across the world right now, Indigenous peoples are facing a renewed assault on their lands, rights, and ways of life. From extractive industries pushing deeper into ancestral territories, to governments rolling back hard-won protections, the threat is global—and it is growing. What makes this moment especially dangerous […]
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Kalle BenallieICT
Civil Rights activist and activist for Indigenous people Jesse Jackson died on Feb. 17. He was remembered for his close relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. and a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement.
“Jesse Jackson was a strong and powerful ally between the Black community and the Indigenous people on this land. I thought that it was very helpful to us to have a powerful ally,” founder and CEO of NDN Collective Nick Tilsen said.
Jackson, who was also a reverend, said he had Cherokee ancestry.
He aligned himself with several Indigenous groups and causes like the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance to protect a sacred site from nuclear waste dumping. He supported the Cherokee Nation to have a non-voting delegate in Congress, advocated for the release of Leonard Peltier and was at the frontlines of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016.
Jackson, 75 years old at the time, said when he visited North Dakota, he was willing to go to jail.
“With promises broken, land stolen, and sacred lands desecrated, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is standing up for their right to clean water. They have lost land for settlers to farm, more land for gold in the Black Hills, and then again even more land for the dam that was built for flood control and hydro power. When will the taking stop? When will we start treating the first peoples of this lands with the respect and honor they deserve?” Jackson said in a press release at the time.
Tilsen, Oglala Lakota, said he remembers flying with Jesse Jackson from Chicago to Bismarck, North Dakota to protest against the pipeline. Tilsen said Jackson asked him to explain the entire political history of the Lakota people during the flight.
“When we were getting ready to get off the plane, he was putting his pea coat on and he had his scarf. He kind of started punching the air like how a boxer does when he gets ready. He started saying, ‘Hey, brother Nick we don’t need no pipelines. We need lifelines. All kinds of lifelines and no kind of pipelines,’” Tilsen said.
After shaking everybody’s hand, Jackson immediately wanted to go to the frontlines.
Actor Mark Ruffalo posted on social media that Jackson “stopped a wave of violence from the militias on the hill at Standing Rock the day the camp got word they were going to move in with a violent crackdown.”
“I have never felt such hatred focused on another group of people as those men armed with weapons of war staring out of their cold eyes to the peaceful water protectors. It burned my soul,” Ruffalo said. “Jesse Jackson showed up and with him a sense of peace and calm. We will miss this man. Rest in power!”
Fredricka Hunter, who said she was a Native American outreach coordinator for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, met Jackson a couple of times. She said she was heartbroken to hear of Jackson’s death.
She recalled Jackson sitting next to Hillary and Chelsea Clinton at the Democrat National Convention in 2004 where Obama made his keynote address.
“As I watched and listened to Obama’s historic speech, I could feel the passing of the torch for Jesse Jackson to Barack Obama. Those feelings still give me the chills,” Hunter said.
Jackson alongside Indigenous rapper Litefoot called for Hip Hop duo OutKast to apologize for their 46th Annual GRAMMY performance that depicted Indigenous clothing and tipis.
Litefoot said Jackson agreed to appear as his guest at the Gathering of Nations in 2004 and mutually invite OutKast to speak on stage.
Chuck Hoskin Jr., Cherokee Nation Principal Chief, released a statement about how Jackson was a friend to the Cherokee people and how he reached out to the Cherokee Nation six years ago to discuss issues and visited leaders in 2022.
“His message to Cherokee Nation was always one of interest in our history and issues and one of encouragement for Black people and Native Americans to find common cause in the name of peace, justice, equality and prosperity,” Hoskin said.
The post Jesse Jackson was a ‘powerful ally’ to Indigenous people appeared first on ICT.
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The extreme heat, high winds, and severe dry conditions that produce towering, fast-moving flames that advance by the acre are not just becoming more common; new research shows that these factors are increasingly arising in multiple regions at the same time, creating the conditions for simultaneous wildfires around the world.
In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did nearly 50 years ago. Climate change is a major driver, accounting for about half of this increase. It’s the latest example of how humans are reshaping the nature of wildfires.
These changes have led to periods of inescapable smoke from blazes and more stress on firefighters, expanding the public health, economic, and social costs of infernos. As the climate continues to warm, these trends are likely to continue to worsen.
Wildfire smoke is already linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths in the US, and recent years have shown how this smoke can cross continents and oceans, polluting the air for people far away from the flames. East Coasters might remember how Canadian wildfires a few years ago bathed cities like New York and Philadelphia in an amber haze, triggering air quality warnings. One study found that the smoke from those fires contributed to 82,000 deaths.
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Meanwhile, the efforts to contain these devastating blazes are devouring money, time, engines, tankers, and firefighters, often beyond what local fire departments can muster on their own.
But with more wildfires burning in different parts of the world at the same time, countries will have their own blazes to deal with, and less outside help will be available.
The result is that we may see more years with multiple major blazes at the same time, and you might find it harder to find clear air to breathe for growing swaths of the year.
How more of the world is getting primed to burn at the same time
Cong Yin, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the University of California Merced, explained that research has been piling up showing that the weather conditions that favor major wildfires are becoming more common in different regions. Yin wanted to take a step back to see if there was a pattern that would emerge when he looked at the world as a whole.
Yin and his colleagues analyzed global climate and fire data between 1979 and 2024 and traced the fire weather index, a measure of fire dangers based on meteorological traits like temperature, wind, and moisture. The higher the index reaches, the greater the chances of a dangerous wildfire. The team drew on fire activity records from the Global Fire Emissions Database, which uses satellite data and ground-based measurements to track burned areas around the world. The team then counted the number of days where the fire weather index was in the 90th percentile in more than one region.
The results showed that over the study period, days with extreme fire weather conditions were increasing in places inside regions like North America, but also seeing severe fire weather line up across far-flung areas like North America and Europe. That makes it harder to coordinate firefighting efforts across borders.
We’ve seen in recent years that countries with major fires have received needed help from neighbors, and from farther away. Teams from Canada and Mexico joined the fight against the Los Angeles wildfires last year, even bringing equipment like tanker aircraft. During the wildfires in Spain last summer, the Netherlands, France, and Italy also sent firefighting aircraft. In past fire seasons, South Africa has sent firefighters to Canada. The U.S., Australia, and New Zealand have a standing firefighting cooperation agreement to share personnel and equipment between the countries.
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However, worldwide, the number of days where severe fire weather has occurred in multiple places at the same time has more than doubled over the majority of fire-prone landscapes. With more fire weather occurring at the same time, countries may not be able to lend out tools and personnel as much because they’ll need everyone on deck at home.
When Yin and his team looked closer at regions like North America, climate variability drivers like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the periodic warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean, tended to create fire weather conditions across the continent. The planet’s boreal regions — forested areas in northern latitudes — showed the highest levels of synchronized fire weather. They tend to experience extreme heat, little rain, and high winds at the same time more often. At the same time, the research identified areas where fire conditions are becoming less aligned, like Southeast Asia. The researchers think this is likely due to increasing humidity in tropical regions as temperatures rise. That can make it harder to achieve the ideal conditions for a major fire.
To figure out the role of climate change, the researchers constructed a model of a world where the climate hasn’t changed and compared it to the observed results of the world we’re currently in. They also calculated the role of natural climate drivers like the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. When they looked at the difference between the scenarios with and without warming, they found that climate change driven by humans has led to about half of the observed increase in synchronized fire weather since 1979.
Yin cautioned that there are some caveats to consider. Even when weather conditions are favorable to fire, they aren’t a guarantee that one will ignite. Fires also need fuel and a source of ignition. Without these two ingredients, even the most severe hot, dry, and windy conditions won’t lead to a blaze. “They are more difficult to predict or measure,” Yin said. “If we want to do a better job, we need to measure all these three dimensions.”
Where there’s fire, there’s smoke
You may have already experienced how wildfires have become impossible to ignore, even when they’re far away, whether you’re breathing their smoke or paying for their damages. These results show that millions more people will likely be breathing dirty air with you when a major fire season gets underway.
Robert Field, a fire researcher at Columbia University, observed that when so many fires burn at the same time, the smoke can pose an even bigger public danger than the flames. Thousands of homes may burn, but millions of people end up breathing dirty air that takes years off their lives. And when these blazes ignite, the resources for containing wildfires may end up spread thin. That could lead to longer stretches of dirty air as well as more costly damages to property, which end up getting passed onto you through higher taxes and insurance rates.
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Growing evidence points to link between autism and wildfire smoke
The increasing threat from wildfires is also taxing for firefighters, who are not just facing more dangers to their lives and limbs, but also to their mental health. Field said the study shows that everyone should start preparing for the threat of simultaneous severe fires. “I really haven’t seen a paper like this on a global scale,” said Field, who was not involved in the study. “I think it’s a prelude to what’s coming.”
It’s clear then that we can’t simply rely on firefighting to cope with this problem.
Many of the ways we measure fire risk today systematically underrate the actual threats that you might face, especially as average temperatures continue to rise and as communities sprawl into fire-prone landscapes.
Getting an accurate assessment of wildfire risk is critical, even if it is inconvenient for your property values. We also need to invest more in managing the landscape through measures like controlled burns, which can worsen air quality but prevent even worse breathing problems down the line.
And of course, we need to reduce our impact on the global climate by curbing our emissions of greenhouse gases. But until then, keep an eye on the forecast and the air-quality index, and keep an N95 mask close.
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Scientists have found another alarming pattern in wildfires on Feb 22, 2026.
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Two months after being arrested, this Indigenous climate leader remains imprisoned in Russia
(ictnews.org)
This story was originally published by Grist.
Anita Hofschneider
Grist
A Russian court is continuing to hold an international advocate for Indigenous peoples on terrorism charges despite international calls to release her immediately.
Daria Egereva, who is Indigenous Selkup from Russia, is co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, which represents Indigenous peoples’ perspectives at United Nations gatherings. She was arrested by Russian authorities on Dec. 17, just weeks after returning from the COP30 climate conference in Belém, where she advocated for greater participation of Indigenous women in climate negotiations.
Last week, the Basmanny court, a district court in Moscow, held a hearing where it decided to continue holding Egereva until at least March 15. Egereva is one of two Indigenous advocates jailed and could face up to 20 years in prison. The name of the second Indigenous advocate jailed has not yet been made public, according to one of Egereva’s attorneys. Egereva’s court hearing was also closed to the public, and court documents with details about the charges are sealed. The Basmanny District Court of Moscow did not respond to an email seeking comment.
“The detention of Daria Egereva raises concerns about arbitrary detention and the application of counterterrorism legislation against those exercising their fundamental freedoms,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. He declined to say whether the U.N. is working diplomatically to release her.
“People must never face criminal prosecution for engaging in advocacy or exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression,” Al-Kheetan said. “Egereva and all those detained for exercising their human rights must be released immediately.”
In addition to her leadership of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change since 2023 and participation in multiple climate change conference gatherings, Egereva worked on climate policy as a member of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, and participated in the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Arrest and persecution of U.N. advocates are common across the globe. Every year, Al-Kheetan’s office publishes a report of alleged intimidation and reprisals against people who participate in the U.N. system. The report covering incidents from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025 described dozens of examples across 32 different countries, including China, Israel, and Thailand. The report emphasizes that its data is not comprehensive; some incidents were excluded because of concern that those named might face further persecution.
Russia, in particular, has been criticized by the U.N. for its treatment of Indigenous advocates. “We are concerned by reports that Indigenous activists in Russia have faced detention for their human rights work,” Al-Kheetan said.
In October 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Council urged the country to uphold international human rights law, calling out its designation of 55 Indigenous organizations and other groups as “extremist.” Among the groups considered extremist by the Russian government are the Aborigen Forum network and the Centre for the Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North, both groups of Indigenous rights advocates that Egereva was involved with before they were shut down by Russian authorities.
Prior to last week’s hearing, nearly three dozen Indigenous organizations and U.N. forums signed a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting her release. “Her work contributed to constructive, respectful, and peaceful dialogue between Indigenous peoples and state delegations,” the letter said. “Her role was strictly coordinative and facilitative in nature, supporting orderly engagement within official negotiation processes.”
The letter’s signatories included groups like the Indigenous Peoples Rights International, which recently spoke out on Indigenous peoples facing arbitrary arrests as they defend their territories and called for better monitoring and reporting on their detentions and criminalizations. “We monitor carbon and restored forests — but not the Indigenous defenders who are killed, jailed, or criminalized,” said the organization’s executive director, Joan Carling, at the U.N. Environment Assembly in December. One tally by the organization Global Witness estimated more than 700 Indigenous environmental defenders “were killed or disappeared” according to data collected between 2012 and 2024.
Under Putin, Russia has outwardly supported Indigenous peoples by creating an official Day of Indigenous Minorities. But according to the International Working Group of Indigenous Affairs, Putin’s government has also eroded Indigenous rights by eliminating official recognition of some Indigenous territories, shutting down Indigenous organizations, and driving activists to seek asylum abroad.
“Ms. Egereva’s activities were exclusively professional, nonviolent, and institutional in nature, firmly grounded in dialogue and cooperation, and conducted in full accordance with officially recognized procedures,” the letter from Indigenous groups to Putin continued. “Her detention undermines confidence that Indigenous Peoples are able to fully participate in recognized international and United Nations processes without fear of retribution.”
The post Two months after being arrested, this Indigenous climate leader remains imprisoned in Russia appeared first on ICT.
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This story was originally published by Mother Jones.
Bianca Sonnenberg as told to Artis Curiskis
Mother Jones
Bianca Sonnenberg’s uniform has become her security blanket. Before ICE arrived in Minneapolis, she would change when she finished her route. Recently, she’s hoped her identity as a US Postal Service worker would protect her from getting targeted by ICE operations. She’s Native American, and over the last few months, she’s heard about ICE detaining Indigenous people in Minneapolis and around the country. It terrifies her.
White House border czar Tom Homanannounced Feb. 12that the Department of Homeland Security will end Operation Metro Surge after months of chaos resulting in DHS claims of more than 4,000 arrests, the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, and immense community resistance.
Sonnenberg spoke toReveal about the big and small changes she and her colleagues witnessed along their routes in South Minneapolis during the disruptive operation. She spoke from her personal perspective and not as a representative of the USPS.
Her story has been edited and condensed for clarity.
As mail carriers**,** when we’re on our route for a long time, you start to know your community, so you memorize names. And a co-worker was like, “Alex Pretti’s on my route.”
And so I was like, “Oh my gosh.” He was like, “Yeah, they got a little memorial out there. I feel so bad. He has packages today.”
That almost made tears come to my eyes. It’s so sad how you’re here one second and you’re just gone the next. And you don’t think about that when you are ordering a package. You don’t think, “Oh, I’m not gonna be here to get my package.”
It’s really sad that he was taken and he did nothing wrong. I’ve seen the videos, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t reach for any gun and all the stuff that they’re trying to make him seem like. First of all, they were calling him an assassin…but then it’s, “We gotta go through a full investigation.” How can you say that?
I feel grateful that I got this privilege of being a federal employee. In the daytime, I can go to the store; I can move about my community and not feel like they’re gonna bother me, per se. But I wear my uniform home because I’m too scared not to. I could be targeted.
My mindset is let me get what I need from the store or whatnot before I come home. Because God forbid somebody pulls the Uber driver over and I don’t have my uniform on. I run into the store before I get home, and there’s an operation on the block that I wasn’t paying attention to. I get caught up and they slam me around a little. I’m fragile. I’m 49 years old. I can get bruised. I bruise easily. I don’t want to go through that.
It’s crazy, because I always say I only fear God, but they have definitely triggered something in me to be more protective of myself and of my surroundings and the people that I care about, including other people on my route.
I’ve been around them for over a decade. Most of them have all been on my route the whole time. So we’re a big village.
Our supervisor let us know (on January 24) that ICE had killed somebody close to the route. She said it happened in front of Glam Doll Donuts. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s my block.”
You could see the yellow tape and the community coming from every direction. I’m hearing the flash-bangs and I’m seeing the smoke.
As I’m delivering, I got a few people saying: “You shouldn’t be at work! You shouldn’t be here! You know that they’re shooting tear gas on the other side of the block.” And I’m like: “Yeah, I know, but I gotta keep doing my job. I may have medicine. I don’t know what I have in my packages.” But that’s my job.
So I go into an apartment building. There are a lot of customers in the hallway, and they’re watching through the windows. I’m like: “You guys gotta stay in here and be safe. That’s tear gas. You don’t wanna breathe that in.” So everybody stayed in the apartment building. I said, “I’m gonna keep going and get this next building done.”
As I went outside, going from one building to the next is about 50 feet, that tear gas got into me. And I’m breathing in and it kind of felt like glass shards in my nose and my throat. I didn’t want to cough right away to breathe it in more, so I just hurried up and got into the next building.
And then just kind of breathed a little bit and I was like, “Oh, man, is this what I’m gonna do?” I was just in shock that this was really happening. There’s some people who probably would say: “Oh, this is a dangerous environment. Let me get off the street. Let me just take care of myself.”
I didn’t feel like that. I felt like a medic in the war. I just gotta make sure all my people are okay. I had to make sure everybody on my route was okay.
In my head, I’m always thinking, this is somebody’s medicine or something that they need. If I don’t get it to ’em today, they’re gonna have to wait till Monday. And that’s just me doing my part that I could at that moment.
The post I’m a Minneapolis postal worker. This is what I saw. appeared first on ICT.
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