Climate Action Figures

Season 3, Episode 4: MJ

• John Whidden

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Join host John Whidden in this episode of Climate Action Figures as he interviews MJ, a junior high student from Piikani Nation, about his deep connection with his family, land, and Blackfoot culture. MJ shares insights on buffalo harvesting, the school greenhouse project, and his hopes for preserving the environment and his culture.

00:00 Introduction to Climate Action Figures

00:29 QuickFix of the Week

01:19 Meet MJ: A Name with History

02:08 Living Off the Land: Hunting and Harvesting

03:11 Buffalo Harvesting Traditions

04:56 School Greenhouse and Sweet Grass Program

06:24 Cultural Significance and Future Hopes

11:26 MJ's Climate Action and Hopes for the Future

12:34 Conclusion and Farewell

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MJ:

Oki! I'm MJ, and you are tuned into Climate Action Figures.

John:

Hello, and welcome to the newest edition of Climate Action Figures. My name is John Whidden, and this week on the show you get to meet MJ. First this week's QuickFix, and we always love to hear your QuickFixes. So, uh, this is a small thing you do to make the world a better place. So send yours in to climateactionfigures@gmail.com or via social media, and we will use it on the program. Last week Linda from Edmonton sent us a couple, so we are going to share her second one today. And Linda says: in a restaurant, I now automatically say, water, please: no ice, no straw. Well, welcome. MJ,

MJ:

Hello. Yeah. I understand the no straw because I don't like use a straw in my drink. But on a hot summer day, I'll ask for extra ice.

John:

So no straw and extra ice. I like that.

MJ:

Yeah.

John:

Hey, MJ, tell us what the story of your name is. There's a neat story behind it.

MJ:

It's mostly about passed on generations. Um, it was from my great grandfather passed down to my grandpa, but my grandpa's grandpa was actually Pete Provost. And that's how my cousin got his name.

John:

Okay, so is this the same Pete that we talked about with Gracie about the, the, the guy who fought in Europe and died there and they went and did the ceremony with sweet grass?

MJ:

Yes.

John:

Wow. So that's your great-grandfather.

MJ:

Yeah.

John:

Very cool. Or maybe your great-great-grandfather. Well, that is awesome. So, uh, you like your name I bet.

MJ:

Yeah.

John:

So clearly MJ, you have a connection with your family. I understand you also have a very cool connection with the land. Can you tell us more about that?

MJ:

Mostly about like living off the land, knowing about what a culture does and taking care of like the land.

John:

So when you say living off the land, what is an example of something you you're getting good at that you can do that helps live off the land?

MJ:

Something I do to live off the land is like learning how to hunt, fish, and stuff like that.

John:

Okay. What kind of animals do you hunt?

MJ:

Uh, mostly deer and buffalo, but sometimes if I see one, I'll probably hunt a moose.

John:

How did you learn so much about living on the land and hunting and that kind of

MJ:

Mostly it is from my mom's side'cause um, that's where like most of the hunters came from.'cause my dad's side of the family, they're all just cowboys.

John:

Okay. And, uh, you must have learned some things from your dad's side though too, right?

MJ:

Yeah, learned how to farm and stuff.

John:

Now you mentioned Buffalo and someone told me that you have, some real skills with Buffalo Harvest. Tell us about that.

MJ:

I mostly like, know about what they used to do, like the buffalo harvesting, like the skinning how the natives used to like live off the land. Just the buffalo.

John:

so have you actually participated in a, in a buffalo harvest?

MJ:

Yes. Many times.

John:

Wow. So, you know, when I think about buffalo harvest and First Nations People, I think of one of the very few things, sadly, that I learned when I was in school, which was that First Nations People use every last thing when they harvest a buffalo. Is this true?

MJ:

Yes. We use everything First we skin it. Take all the insides, find what we could like, eat from that. But the, buffalo, um, skin we would use that for clothing, moccasins, and teepees.

John:

What's something that I might not know about, uh, that would be really interesting to learn, about something that's used from inside the buffalo.

MJ:

Probably the testicles.'cause like some cultures when they hunt the buffalo, they'll use that like as a kind of sauce. They'll like chop off the testicles and like rub it on the meat before they eat it.

John:

Okay. So that's like a delicacy.

MJ:

Yeah,

John:

And how about all the, the, the stringy parts, like the sinews and the tendons and things like that? What does that get used for?

MJ:

Some of that parts you can't eat so we use that on our regalias. So that's how some of the regalias are made.

John:

Now let's move on and talk a little bit about your, uh, school greenhouse sweet grass program. I understand you're quite involved in that, is that right?

MJ:

Yes.

John:

And you're a junior high student there, so what are your responsibilities?

MJ:

We like switch up the plants, we get more plants. We're doing composting. We get like different pots and stuff. We would harvest sweet grass, tobacco and stuff. Get soil from the compost, which already done, and then we'll bring that over to the greenhouse and just like plant plants.

John:

And how many students work on that on a regular basis? Is it just one class or is it students throughout the school?

MJ:

It is students, um, throughout the high school and junior high.

John:

And what makes you so interested and excited about working with this greenhouse and the sweet grass project?

MJ:

Because I mostly like, like nature. I don't like staying indoors. I like learning about the plants and stuff like that.

John:

And is it part of your, your studies in school, like is it part of a course that you take or is it outside school time? How does that work?

MJ:

It's a part of our school. At the end of the school day there's a thing called options. You could pick an option and I mostly go with this with outdoor ed'cause that's when we like, go outside, learn about the, trees and stuff.

John:

Now, how is your, Blackfoot culture and language and ceremony important in the greenhouse and sweet grass growing and tobacco growing?

MJ:

Um, mostly it's about like our language and like our beliefs, with the sweet grass and the smudge, that's like something we use a lot. Wake up early, smudge, smudge the house. Smudge for all those in need, smudge the land and that's where the sweet grass, use it for our prayers, like burn it up and um, the tobacco. We'll make bundles with the tobacco. Pray with them and then we would give them to an elder. We'll pray with them, bless them, and then we'll take it back. Say one final prayer with that. You'll open that bundle. Or you could shut it and you could leave it shut. We'll put it on top of a mountain in the soil, or we'll put it in the water and also the water is one of the strongest prayers, ever'cause we like came from the water. We lived nine months in the water before we were born.

John:

Wow. Well, thanks for explaining that all to us. So, MJ, when you are, uh, doing a ceremony or watching a ceremony, participating in a ceremony, and you know, the sweet grass or the tobacco has been grown in your greenhouse, how does that make you feel?

MJ:

It makes me feel proud because, um, we are carrying on our culture. Something that I'm afraid to see in the future is the Blackfoot culture dying down and stuff just, that's something what's really sad, most people nowadays call themselves Blackfoot, but they don't even know the culture. I go to the city, I see someone who's, um, from here in Piikani. I would tell them just,"Oki!" That means hi in Blackfoot, they wouldn't even understand what that means. That just makes me sad.

John:

Hmm. Well that's great that you're concerned about it. Uh, and it's also kind of hopeful that a, a junior high student actually is concerned about the Blackfoot culture, so that must bode well for the future of, of the culture.

MJ:

Yeah.

John:

One more question about the greenhouse for you and the and the sweet grass program there. If there was no limit at all, and you could spend any amount of money on this program and the greenhouse and the things you grow, what would you dream up for it?

MJ:

Firstly, I'll like make it bigger and get like a better heating system due to the winter.'cause the one we had that's like 15 years old. Need to get a new one. So that's something I'd do. Definitely expand it and buy more plants, not just, um, like plants you can't eat like sage and stuff. I'll buy that but I'll also buy like plants, so like, carrots, potatoes, onions, stuff like that. And also like fruits and vegetables. I'd like to buy those so when it comes to like lunch, cause we have lunch ladies and stuff, I like to do that so we could easily like have our own food and stuff.

John:

Wow. That sounds, uh, like a very cool program you've developed there. When you speak about the future, you seem to have a pretty amazing wisdom for a guy of your age. you've talked about the, the greenhouse and the sweet grass program. You've talked about your culture. What else would you like to see happen in the future?

MJ:

With the Arctic and stuff like polar bears going extinct, that just breaks my heart'cause most people don't even care anymore. Especially like celebrities, like do all this stuff. It's something would just break my heart, seeing like animals going extinct, deforestation, soil turning into dust in like a month, it's something that just feels sad.

John:

So you would try to get rid of that somehow.

MJ:

Yeah.

John:

Do you see yourself maybe in the future having some way, some part to play in, in helping that not to happen?

MJ:

Yeah, most likely, um, teaching younger generations when I grow old, teaching them about like the soil, about like even, um, if they're not Native or anything, I'll still teach them about like the soil and stuff like that to make sure in the future all the soil doesn't go extinct.'Cause if the soil dies, we all die.

John:

That's very true. And now you've talked about a lot of cool things that you're doing. MJ, have you picked one for your climate action today?

MJ:

Um, me, I like ride my bikes and anytime I see garbage on the ground it kind of pisses me off so I'll pick that up. I'll take like garbage bag, throw it in the back of the truck and then almost like drive around picking up cans and stuff. Just like taking care of the land.

John:

Well, good on you for doing that. And, uh, you know, when you, when you get annoyed at people for leaving garbage or you, you were just talking about, you know, extinction of species and problems with the soil, in all that craziness, what gives you hope?

MJ:

People like young generations are like, some of them like farming and stuff like that. That makes me excited. Like we still have hope. And also, like for our native generation, like young dancers'cause there's dancers that I see a year old to 10 years old. There's like lots of'em. So that gives me hope that our culture isn't dying down and people still know what they're doing.

John:

Well, that's great to hear and thank you so much for joining us today, MJ.

MJ:

Yep.

John:

And thank you dear listener and viewer. We will be back next week, same time, same place to hear from one last Piikani climate action figure. Until then.

MJ:

Go figures!