In this For the Wild podcast episode, host Ayana Young speaks with Kandi Mossett, an Indigenous (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) woman who is the current Lead Organizer on the Extreme Energy & Just Transition Campaign at Indigenous Environmental Network. Mossett’s work is centered on raising awareness about the countless negative social and environmental impacts of hydraulic fracking. Mossett has witnessed these impacts herself and describes the changes she has seen within her own community in North Dakota since the oil industry was established there. She recounts stories of friends and loved ones dying due to acts of violence, as well as increases in asthma and upper respiratory conditions because of the natural gas flares that have continued for over a decade. The influx of oil rig workers in the community has made rent prices unaffordable, resulting in many local people being displaced, including elders. Mossett emphasizes the ways in which these systems of industry and government are broken and how they must be restructured on a foundation of trust, strength, and equality for true change to occur. She calls for everyone to think about the big picture and for each individual to consider what type of impact they want to leave on this world.
