Honor The Earth welcomes new Co-Executive Director Krystal Two Bulls, new team members
Organization expanding its scope on its 30th anniversary.
December 21, 2022 – Honor the Earth is pleased to announce three new team members who will join the nonprofit, Indigenous-led environmental justice organization in January 2023, as it begins its 30th anniversary year in its new office in Ponsford, Minnesota. Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne ) has been named Honor the Earth Co-Executive Director, alongside Founder and Executive Director Winona LaDuke. Nadya Tannous (Palestinian)also will join as Director of Operations.
“We are excited to welcome Krystal and Nadya to our growing team as we head into our 30th year at Honor the Earth!” said LaDuke. “Honor the Earth is preparing for a return to national work supporting Indigenous peoples and the protection of our Mother Earth. To do this, we need to increase our staff and ability to actualize our vision. In the upcoming year, we will begin that process. We are grateful to create space in our organization, gathering these three new employees from the LANDBACK Campaign at NDN COLLECTIVE, whose mission readily aligns with Honors. Together they bring years of experience and knowledge in organizing and social justice issues that range from protecting environmental rights and lands of Indigenous people to Landback and educational initiatives. They will help lead us forward with our other staff and allied partners as we move toward a Just Transition in the rapidly growing Green economy during a time of climate crisis.”
“I am honored to be stepping into the Co-Executive Director role to learn from Winona’s years of experience and to add capacity to an organization I have always had deep respect for. It is a really exciting time for Nadya and I to join Honor the Earth at the beginning of the 30th Anniversary year. It is an even more important time during a climate crisis to double down on our national organizing and invest in communities and solutions towards a just transition,” said Krystal Two Bulls.
Honor the Earth recently released a two-year 2021-22 Annual Report, detailing a story of resilience after a battle against the Line 3 tar sands pipeline and growing scope of work to bring Indigenous leadership to addressing the climate crisis.
Krystal Two Bulls, Co-Executive Director of Honor the Earth, is an Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne organizer and the former Director of the NDN Collective’s Landback Campaign. She is a grassroots organizer with experience on the frontlines with campaign development and management around social, racial and environmental justice. Krystal’s identity as a Native American veteran is central to her organizing and storytelling. At the heart of Krystal’s work is Sovereignty, LANDBACK, cross movement relationship building and a deep commitment to her People. In healing from her experience as a veteran, Krystal has dedicated herself to embodying what she views as the essential quality of a warrior: a commitment to the well-being of not only her People and their relationship to the land, but that of all Peoples.
Nadya Tannous (She/Her) is a passionate community organizer, born and raised in the Bay Area (Ohlone Territory), with a focus on political education, cross-movement relationship building, and returning land to the people and people returning to the land. Nadya holds an MSc in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from UC Santa Cruz. Nadya also speaks three languages: English, Spanish & Arabic.
Demetrius Johnson (he/him) is Diné from a community near Ganado, Arizona named Tółaní. Demetrius is also a long-standing lead organizer for The Red Nation and has been a part of many campaigns and frontlines advocating for the liberation of Indigenous, LGBTQ2+, and working-class people. Demetrius has studied Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on Power Systems which was heavily inspired and motivated by the lack of reliable and accessible electrical infrastructure within the Navajo Nation and other Indigenous communities. Demetrius owes his political development to strong and inspiring Indigenous women and queer people.