Sarah Agnes James (born 1946) is a native Neets'aii Gwich'in from

Arctic Village, Alaska Arctic Village (''Vashrąįį K'ǫǫ'' in Gwich'in) is an unincorporated Native American village and a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 152 ...

, USA, and a board member of the ''International Indian Treaty Council''. She was awarded the

Goldman Environmental Prize The Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. ...

in 2002,Goldman Environmental Prize
"Sarah James"
(Retrieved on November 29, 2007) together with

Jonathon Solomon Jonathon Solomon (March 10, 1932 – July 13, 2006) was a native Gwich'in from Fort Yukon, Alaska, USA, and a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Porcupine Caribou Agreement between Canada and U.S. He served as the Traditional Ch ...

and Norma Kassi. They received the prize for their efforts to protect the

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR or Arctic Refuge) is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States on traditional Gwich'in lands. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest national wildlife ...

(ANWR) from plans of oil exploration and drilling. Oil and gas exploration would disturb the life cycle of the

Porcupine caribou The Porcupine caribou ''(Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus'') is a herd or ecotype of barren-ground caribou, the subspecies of the reindeer or caribou found in Alaska, United States, and Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Canada. A recent revisio ...

, which has been a foundation for the Gwich'in culture since approximately 18,000 BC.

Politics and lobbying

In November 1969, James joined a group of indigenous students led by Mohawk activist Richard Oakes that occupied the former prison island Alcatraz in San Francisco, CA. In the 1990s James visited communities in South American countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala), speaking for the underprivileged. She also appeared on television programs (CNN, MacNeil-Lehrer, CBS). And she traveled to Washington, trying to clear up concepts that they believe petroleum companies misrepresent, and speaking for preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Bert Gildart
"The power of one in a remote land"
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (Retrieved on December 30, 2007)

Honors and awards

In 1993, she was awarded the Alston Bannerman Fellowship. In 2001 she received the "Leadership for a Changing World" grant awarded for outstanding but little known leaders. In 2002 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for "grassroots environmentalists along with Jonathon Solomon Sr., and Norma Kassi. She also received the National Conservation Land Trust Award in 2002. In 2004, she received the "Ecotrust Award for Indigenous Leadership", and in 2006 she earned the Alaska Conservation Foundation "Celia Hunter Award for Outstanding Conservations".

References

1946 births Living people 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans Alaskan Athabaskan people Alaska Native activists American environmentalists American women environmentalists Goldman Environmental Prize awardees Gwich'in people Native American environmentalists Native American women in politics Women in Alaska politics {{environmentalist-stub