Rosario Dawson, Tara Houska discuss revolution, community and Earth at SXSW 2024

Womanhood, community and connection with the earth took center stage at a powerful South by Southwest conversation with actress Rosario Dawson, filmmaker Gingger Shankar, land defender Tara Houska and One Earth co-founder Justin Winters.

Here are some key takeaways from the Sunday afternoon panel:

1. Eyes on Native women

All four women are involved in an organization called Little Indian Girl, which "is a women, LGBTQIA2S+, and globally Indigenous-led collective of artists, activists, and community leaders committed to using storytelling — in all its forms — as a method of social change," according to its website.

One of the group's films, "Promises of Our Grandmothers," focuses on Houska's Giniw Collective and their fight against the Line 3 pipeline at the Dakotas' Standing Rock Reservation. Shankar said that media presence such as the documentary is not for fame, but for safety, as women often disappear when working as activists.

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2. The Earth as a solution to modern problems

The women on the panel said society is greatly disconnected from the earth. For example, young people don't realize that the lemons they see growing on trees are what make the lemon juice they purchase at the store.

Houska even said she's reminded men in corporate boardrooms of this very idea by pointing them to the walls made of stone, the windows made of sand, their clothes made of fiber and the very water they drink.

Winters added that in a world increasingly turning to technology, there are still many "justice, equity and nature-based solutions" to modern problems. Technology, meanwhile, is often why society ends up in trouble in the first place, both she and Houska said.

"The planet is at the center of the solution and the power to heal so many other things that are wrong with us right now," Winters said.

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3. The fight against climate change

Winters shared that her nonprofit One Earth has created a plan to combat climate change, which starts with three pillars: energy transition, nature conservation and regenerative agriculture.

Energy transition aims to "provide 100% renewable energy access for all." Nature conservation aims to "protect, restore and connect 50% of lands and oceans." Finally, regenerative agriculture is for the "shift to net-zero food and fiber systems."

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4. Much needed resources from women working on the ground

Dawson, who moderated the session, noted that the philanthropic system is broken. It gatekeeps resources from people who need it.

Shankar agreed, stating that people need to resource women working on the ground instead of resourcing people in boardrooms to talk about what women need on the ground.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Rosario Dawson, Tara Houska talk connection with Earth at SXSW 2024