Episode Details

Green colonialism has significantly affected the Indigenous Sámi people of northern Europe by placing large-scale renewable energy and conservation projects on their ancestral lands without full consent. Developments such as wind farms, mining for “green” minerals, hydroelectric dams, and protected areas often disrupt traditional livelihoods like reindeer herding, which depend on intact migration routes and ecosystems. While framed as environmentally sustainable, these projects can continue patterns of land dispossession and marginalization, sidelining Sámi knowledge, rights, and self-determination in the name of climate action. Journalists Tristen Taylor, Ingrid Gercama and Nathalie Bertrams for their investigation “Green Colonialism: How New Mines in Sweden Threaten the Saami. Image: Caption: Lars-Ánte Kuhmunen, a Sámi reindeer herder and joik singer, stands in the middle of a reindeer corral in the mountains above Rensjön, northern Sweden. Photo credit: Nathalie Bertrams. Artist: Lars-Ánte Kuhmunen Album: Birrasis Produced by: Georg Buljio Year: 2005 Used with permission.