Dear friends,
Brothers and sisters, indigenous peoples, members of social and environmental organizations, people who are concern of pollution issues, climate changes, sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity on Earth.
In early August Aborigen-Forum, which unites experts, leaders and organizations of the indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of Russia, appealed to Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, requesting him to refuse buying any products of Nornickel company until it conducts a full and independent assessment of the environmental damage in Taymyr Peninsula and Murmansk region; compensates for the damage done to the natural habitat of indigenous peoples; re-cultivates contaminated lands in the Taymyr Peninsula and Murmansk region; revises its policies on indigenous peoples, which must be created in adherence to the guidelines laid out by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and should include the need to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before the approval of any industrial projects on their traditional territories.
However, we understand that it is difficult for us alone to attract attention of Elon Musk. Therefore, we are kindly asking you, all those who are not indifferent to the future of our planet and care for the environment, to support us in this endeavour. We ask for very little. We would appreciate if you write some simple hashtags to bring this matter to light.
#AnswerUsElonMusk
#NonickelfromNornickel
#DefendIndigenousArctic
We urge you to take a photo with these hashtags or make up with your own hashtags and leave the call to Elon Musk – #AnswerUsElonMusk – and post a photo or video on your social networks. Insert these hashtags into your message and let us show that there are many of us concerned about the wellbeing of our planet. Let’s bring our message to Elon Musk and address him whether Tesla is willing to buy products from companies that destroy the environment?
The Nornickel company is one of the world’s leaders in environmental pollution. It operates in the fragile Arctic which is particularly vulnerable to pollution. If Nornickel, our own government, and Russian oligarchs who make billions of dollars by exploiting our traditional lands, violating indigenous peoples’ rights and destroying our culture and way of life, do not hear us, then we would like to appeal to the leaders of the coming technological revolution, who will soon replace the current industrial corporations that pollute the planet.
Let us show solidarity; we all live on the same planet – Earth. The industrial revolution in certain countries – even though it is a green revolution – should not come again at the cost of the exploitation of resources, destruction of nature and violation of the rights of indigenous peoples in other countries. We must unite to create our common future together.
Kind regards,
Gennady Schukin
Executive Secretary,
Aborigen Forum
Hello Indigenous Russia,
I am a student studying in a business school in New York. I am currently working on a project where I am investigating Nornickel’s cynical behavior in the Russian Arctic, which is how I landed on your website.
I would love to get in touch with you to ask you some questions to help spread the word about everything happening in the Taymyr Peninsula and Murmansk Region.
The ultimate goal for my project is to convince my class that we need to act to save you. I was thinking that a 1-2 minute video of one of Russia’s indigenous people, in traditional clothing and preferably in English, talking about Nornickel’s cynicism on the environment and the town would make the class emotional and therefore want to act. The winning project will get published!
Please let me know if you want to ‘work’ with me.
Best regards,
Max