Massive storms and eradicate temperature shifts are just two sometimes devastating symptoms of climate issues we face. What’s also clear is that it’s going to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to mitigate climate change and adapt to sustain life.
We meet an emerging Indigenous leader immersed in that work.
Bazile Panek is a proud young member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The 22-year-old is determined to honor his ancestors and advocate for Indigenous rights. His commitment to the environment is woven into that determination.
Panek’s Ojibwe name — Minogiizhigaabo — seems to spell out his mission.
“My name that was given to me when I was super young … Standing In The Good Sky. I’m from Red Cliff, which is the place of the Great Red Cliffs and I belong to the Eagle Clan,” Panek explains.
I met Panek in Ashland in far northern Wisconsin. He grew up 30 miles north of here along Lake Superior.
“The reservation is pretty small. But we have a casino, you know. We have a few different youth buildings and a lot of tribal services, like a tribal court system. The tribe has built housing for tribal families. We have a big clinic, a really nice clinic, and powwow grounds,” Panek says.
His childhood memories include lots of time in nature.
“There’s is a big ravine that I remember going to go explore. There were streams down there — trying to build bridges across it. We also did a lot of harvesting maple sap to make it into syrup and sugar,” Panek says. “Also wild-ricing,”
Tribal ceremonies and rituals became part of his life from the very beginning.
“Frequently we went to a Big Drum ceremony. Certain songs are sung in a specific order. They’re kind of our responsibility to honor different spirits through those songs and there’s dancing going on too, and prayers. My dad has a spot on the Drum where is was doing the singing part of that,” Panek says. "That’s kind of my foundation is the culture and the ceremony.
That foundation includes viewing the world’s resources from rocks and trees to plants and animals as relatives.
“When you’re viewing from an Ojibwe lens, there’s a huge responsibility because we know that they help care for us, in turn we have to care for them,” Panek says.
Panek gained pivotal experience in college when he dove into Native American studies and sustainability at Northern Michigan University.
He became president of its Native American Student Association. The organization had been struggling — membership was low and its officers uninspired. Panek says he turned to the Ojibwe’s traditional approach to governance. It followed an equitable framework. Its leadership is referred to as “Ogimaag.”
“After implementation of that structure, I think it increased member count. A lot more people on the leadership board were participating, taking on roles … I wanted them to feel empowered and I think that happened. I think it was a big success,” Panek says.
Since graduating, Panek helped coordinate tribal climate adaptation projects with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Last year a national organization, the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, created a position for him, “To be an Indigenous consultant for them to help put together the next Status of Tribes and Climate Change Report,” Panek says.
It’s his job to compile the Indigenous knowledge of climate change adaptation throughout the country, and share it with tribal and non-tribal people.
“Indigenous people have had tens of thousands of year of experience with the environment and we’ve been through a climate change or two being here since the last ice age. So I think Indigenous knowledge is needed and people are realizing that,” Panek says. “Western science alone, I think, is not going to be able to solve climate change."
Panek considers it an honor to be part of what he says is a generation of change makers.
“Kind of the chosen ones in way, we’re at this precipice of climate change affecting us right now and there’s a lot of inspiring young leaders coming up that are getting into these positions and careers, or becoming educated and advocating for Indigenous rights,” he says.
When we met, Panek was preparing to speak at the UWM Field Station. A small cohort would spend the summer there as part of an intensive land restoration training program.
"I’ll definitely be discussing Indigenous perspectives on the environment, but a good way I frame that sometimes is through the language, like asabikeshiinh," Panek says.
The Ojibwe word for spider, but more literally, the net maker.
“Because it has the ability to make these intricate, beautiful nets for itself. I think that allows you to take a step back and look at things differently,” Panek adds, “from a place of respect.
Panek met with the land restoration cohort late last week. The group reports being moved by his sharing of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
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