“The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth,” by The Red Nation, is a 150-page culmination of honest history and directions to help pull the people of the world out of a constant cycle of despair about the future of our planet. Centering of indigenous people will directly challenge imperialism, capitalism, and climate change that has placed us on our current path.

Split into three sections, The Red Deal states that Indigenous, Black, people of color, women, trans folks, migrants and working people are suppressed by the economic system that brought us into life-altering climate change. Saving our planet will not be accomplished by individual divestments from fossil fuels or plastics, but rather through people power.

With less than a decade before we reach the critical 1.5-degree mark, as explained by the COP26 summit, the only solution we have to alter the future for our taxed planet is Land Back. Indigenous people have knowledge passed down from generation to generation on how to care for the natural world without wastefulness. Indigenous people understand that what created this crisis cannot solve it.

“We are more defined by our dreams of liberation and freedom and we refuse to be defined by trauma and violence narratives, as hapless subjects rather than agents of change,” The Red Nation said. “Liberation and freedom, no less and no more, [define] healing for us.”

Indigenous people of Turtle Island were the caretakers of a balance between the environment and their people. European powers, starting in 1492 with the arrival of the sadist-inquisitor Christopher Columbus, sought to transport the treasures of the Americas back to their homeland in Europe. These external forces altered the course of history forever, causing generational trauma to millions of lives.

Gold wasn’t the only valuable resource the colonial powers found in the Americas. The land was filled with people who had perfected harmony with nature with no concept of land ownership. Land Back is the only way to heal our planet and fix the countless evils of history.

Ideas and concepts without action are next to useless. The Red Deal provides readers with informational bullet points in the third and final section about how to combat climate change. Indigenous people are not extinct; they are alive despite their erasure by mainstream society.

Released in 2021, the book offers hope of an alternative future in a time of climate negativity. Systems of power wish to place blame on the individuals rather than the source of the pollution industry.

To fix our climate crisis, the solution lies in the power of people. This book is a tool and resource for people who have 0 knowledge on how to get started in deconstruction.

I give this book a 10/10. I would recommend it to anyone who spends time on social media or has any worries about the future of our planet. The language of the book is easily read as it’s not written by an academic, but rather a collection of people trying to help provide information to anyone. This retelling of indigenous experiences is written in a manner that makes it easy to read and understand for conversations.

If you would like to read this book, it can be bought online or checked out from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at West Texas A&M University, in the Nathaniel and Helen Neal Multicultural Suite.