Winona LaDuke’s fight for Indigenous rights and a green future

Each week, One Earth is proud to feature a Climate Hero from around the globe, working to create a world where humanity and nature can thrive together.

Acclaimed activist, economist, writer, and environmental leader Winona LaDuke has dedicated her life to Indigenous land rights, cultural preservation, and sustainable development. Now, through Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm, she is blending traditional knowledge with regenerative agriculture to foster a more sustainable future.

Growing up between cultures and finding her roots

Winona, meaning “first daughter” in the Dakota language, was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Ashland, Oregon. Her father was from the White Earth Ojibwe Nation in Minnesota, while her mother’s family were Jewish immigrants from Europe. Though she was enrolled in the Ojibwe Nation at a young age, she did not grow up on the White Earth Reservation. It was only during her time at Harvard University, where she studied economics, that she became deeply involved in Indigenous activism.

Returning to White Earth and becoming an advocate

After graduating, LaDuke moved to the White Earth Reservation to work as a high school principal. Feeling like an outsider at first, she immersed herself in local issues, earning a Master's in Community Economic Development from Antioch University. Her thesis focused on the reservation’s subsistence economy, which sparked her lifelong mission to strengthen Indigenous self-sufficiency.

Fighting for land rights and tribal sovereignty

In 1985, LaDuke co-founded the Indigenous Women's Network (IWN), an organization advocating for Native women, families, and communities. She worked to expose the historical forced sterilization of Indigenous women, and later became involved in a lawsuit seeking to reclaim land promised to the White Earth Ojibwe in an 1867 treaty.

Despite losing the case after four years of litigation, LaDuke remained committed to land justice. She founded the White Earth Land Restoration Project (WELRP), an organization dedicated to buying back lost reservation lands, fostering sustainable development, and providing economic opportunities for Indigenous people. Today, it is one of the largest Native-led nonprofits in the United States.

Scaling Indigenous-led regenerative agriculture

To expand sustainable food and fiber production, LaDuke established the Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute (AAI). The institute works to revive agro-biodiversity by restoring traditional farming practices and local food systems, particularly hemp cultivation. Through this initiative, she launched Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm, a small, tribal-owned farm that grows fiber hemp for textiles and eco-friendly building materials.

Hemp as a pathway to a green economy

Known as a cornerstone of the “New Green Revolution,” hemp has the power to transform industries by replacing fossil fuel-heavy materials with renewable, carbon-sequestering alternatives. It also provides Indigenous communities with sustainable job opportunities, allowing them to work on their own land while following traditional ecological wisdom.

“If we build a society based on honoring the Earth, we build a society which is sustainable and has the capacity to support all life forms.” —Winona LaDuke

A lifelong commitment to climate action and Indigenous rights

Beyond her work in agriculture, LaDuke has played a key role in national politics and environmental activism. She ran for Vice President on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000 alongside Ralph Nader. 

LaDuke’s work proves that protecting Indigenous culture and healing the planet can go hand in hand—and can even be economically viable.