On Capitol Hill, the House Subcommittee on the Environment heard testimony Thursday on the role of fossil fuel subsidies in preventing action on the climate crisis. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg spoke of a widening gap between what countries are doing and what actually needs to be done in order to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Native American lawyer and environmental activist Tara Houska said Indigenous people should be front and center in any debate over the climate.

Tara Houska: “The reality is, is that we’re just 5% of the population globally, Indigenous people, and we hold 80% of its biodiversity. We’re the last holders of the sacred places all over Mother Earth. Despite this, our voices are almost entirely absent from the table of solving climate crisis. … We have to protect communities that are at risk, like my own. We are the people who are impacted first and worst by climate crisis, yet we are the people who often contribute the least to climate crisis.”