Seminoles Leading the Charge for a Better World

So far this Earth Month, we have explored Seminole perspectives to a shifting Everglades environment, as well as given a sneak peek to the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum’s incredible Earth Day the Native Way event. Today, we are looking at Seminoles in Action – and highlighting how the Seminole Tribe of Florida and today’s Seminole climate activists are working to protect and restore their homelands.

Seminoles have long been strong advocates for Everglades and environmental protection and restoration. They have also had a front row seat for the massive changes seen in the ecosystem in the last century. The people who are leaders in climate action for the Seminole Tribe of Florida have long heard the impacts of climate change passed down from their elders and relatives.

Thus, it is increasingly important that we uplift and highlight their voices in the conversation surrounding climate change in Florida. With them, they bring centuries of ancestral knowledge, as well as an intimate perspective of these changes and the long ranging impacts of unchecked progress. The individuals highlighted in this post are not the sum of all those in the Seminole community fighting climate change and prioritizing climate action. We encourage you to seek out other Seminole and Indigenous climate leaders, both working within the Seminole Tribe of Florida and independently and support their monumental efforts to affect change and restore the Everglades environment.

Why is Climate Action important to the Seminole Tribe of Florida?

Just earlier this year on February 25, 2025 WEDU PBS produced a documentary titled “Good Natured” which tackled the heavy topic of climate change in the Florida ecosystem. In it, three Tribal members were featured discussing climate change and their ancestral lands, and how they are working to combat these rapid changes. All three also work within STOF’s climate team in different capacities.

Joseph John, a STOF Program Analyst, shared his own perspective of why climate action is a priority, and especially a priority for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. “Theres no other place like this here in the world. There’s no other Everglades in the world. Maintaining and taking care of the landscape that took care of us historically, you know that is important to us.” He would continue by highlighting the need for Seminoles in this climate work, sharing that “We have always remained here, as indigenous people to this land. So, we have a great holistic understanding of how the environment works.”

Cody Motlow, who has long worked to bring awareness to climate change and environmental issues within the Tribe, was also featured in the film. She is part of STOF’s Climate Resiliency Program, and also volunteers on the Tribe’s Food Sovereignty Committee, a multi-departmental Climate Action Planning Committee. Motlow, who is the Sustainability Coordinator for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, sees climate action as incredibly personal. “The land and me are one. We are not separate, and I think most indigenous people think that way too,” she shared.

Moving Forward while Looking Back

Something precious that those within the Seminole Tribe have is a wealth of ancestral knowledge. Joseph John shared that he learned to fish on the reservation from his grandfather, and his perspective informed his view of how things have shifted and changed.

“I remember growing up and being able to fish on the canals and pull out native fish and eat them, but now most of its invasive species,” John continued that “My grandpa… he would talk about you know we used to be able to walk up to the bank and fish, and you know harvest anything that’s at the water’s edge…..I can’t even image a life like that, because how the structure of how the waterways have been has been permanent in my lifetime, so I can’t even imagine what it would look like back then. You know, you feel for the environment because you know, some of those things are lost and they’ll never be regained.”

In a conversation with Cody Motlow in 2022 as part of the Climate Resiliency Program, Samuel Tommie shared that his perspective on climate change is one that has been passed down through the generations. Tommie has been a climate activist and artist for over three decades and is dedicated to educating and bringing awareness to climate change.

“Things like over-development in Florida should be reconsidered. Florida is very fragile and a piece of creation that should be respected. I feel that overdevelopment is the opposite of respect to the creation, and that is my message. That is the message from my parents. My grandparents. Your grandparents. I’m not here to change your mind. I’m here to say I believe in Creator. I love how he operates. I love how he does things and if things don’t change, things will change on their own beyond our own power.”

Krystle Bowers, the STOF Environmental Protection Office Assistant Director, also cautions that unfortunately, some change is irreversible. “You see how everything is interconnected when you’re in nature more. Maybe people don’t understand how much people impact the environment. Even though we can go out to a forest and level it down pretty quickly, they don’t see how long it takes for a tree to grow, or a plant to grow,” Bowers explains “Once you go out and you see how much has disappeared and not come back, I think you really start to appreciate it more and fear what else could be lost.”

Food Sovereignty

Cody Motlow has long been a proponent of food sovereignty, which aligns with her role as Sustainability Coordinator and a major goal of the climate team overall. In a Seminole Tribune article from 2021, Motlow discussed what food sovereignty means to her. She shared “You know, it’s all about reclaiming. I feel like it’s about reclaiming our land, our culture, our ancestral ways of diets. That all ties back into climate change and taking care of the land and putting time and money back into our own people instead of relying on big corporations. To me, it’s all about just taking it back and being in control, the way it was supposed to be.”

A community garden was planted on the Big Cypress Reservation in February 2023, in an effort to support the needs of the community on reservation. Marty Bowers, who had the initial idea for the garden, worked for years to support the dream. “I’ve had this vision since 2018 of a thriving garden and community members with their hands in the dirt,” said Bowers, a Big Cypress resident. “We have the capability to feed our tribe.” Initiatives like this, and others like the recent Garden Club on the Hollywood Reservation, support these continued efforts in food sovereignty.

Alice Jimmie, Billie Cypress, Lena Cypress and Kiki Roberts (L-R) make seed bombs out of clay, soil, wildflower seeds and nutrients during the 2023 opening of the Big Cypress Community Garden.

What is the Seminole Tribe of Florida doing for the Future?

In the recent documentary, Motlow explains that her idea of climate action looks even further into the future. “Most indigenous tribes when we plan for the future we think of the next seven generations,” Motlow explains “So it’s not about what we are doing now for ourselves, it’s to make sure that we always prosper, and we keep going.”

Bowers shares that the community is always at the heart of their efforts, driving both their goals in the short term but also long-term concerns about habitability of the reservation lands, food sustainability, and other climate issues. “We do a lot of community events and outreach to educate community members and learn from community members as well. Also, to affect the policy of the tribe, to try to be more forward thinking in how climate change will affect our reservations,” Bowers explains.

On a larger stage, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has also identified the need to have a bigger voice in the conversation about climate change, environmental impacts, and the plans moving forward to mitigate them. The Seminole Tribe of Florida joined the Southwest Florida Regional Resiliency Compact in a leadership role in 2021. Actions like this, and others like attending the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Leadership Summit, ensure the Seminole Tribe of Florida is a continued voice in climate action in the state.

The Seminole Tribe is also active in the Western Everglades Restoration Project, which seeks to “improve the quantity, quality, timing and distribution of water in the Western Everglades in the effort to re-establish ecological connectivity, reduce the severity and frequency of wildfires, and restore low nutrient conditions.” In February 2024, Tina Marie Osceola (STOF-THPO) attended the Everglades Coalition annual gathering, in order to discuss Everglades restoration. She stated that “We have to take a step back and understand this is about legacy. What we do with the state today will matter in 100 years when none of us will be here.”

Emerging Youth Leaders

A vital part of the Seminole response to climate change is the action taken by Seminole youth. Just recently in our Women’s History Month Series, we highlighted two youth climate activists who are working to make a difference in Florida: Cheyenne Kippenberger and Valholly Frank. But they are not the only young Seminoles fired up and wanting to affect change in the climate sphere.

In November 29, 2023 the Hoporenkv Native American Podcast hosted an episode titled “Young Native Leaders on Climate Change.” In it, they invited two guests from the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s then-HERO (now EPO) department, Krystle Bowers and Cody Motlow. They also featured three young Seminole climate action leaders: Billie Cypress, Durante Blais-Billie, and Helesi Two Shoes.

During the discussion, many of the young leaders highlighted similar points to their older counterparts; being indigenous, you do not have the luxury of ignoring the issue. From a young age, they recognized that if the Everglades and the individual are one piece of the puzzle. Durante Blais-Billie is a strong voice in the Seminole and Indigenous climate action sphere. They attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2022 as part of the Weaving our Paths delegation.

“The earliest manifestation of connecting to environmental work, is as early as I could conceptualize the Everglades as a place. In our youth we are all told ‘The Everglades saved us. We owe so much to this land. It is our medicine, its our food, it’s our shelter. And it’s an active part in our survival during the wars, and even today,” said Durante. “So, I think as early as I could conceptualize that, is as early as I have been involved in environmental work. To me, just existing here as an indigenous person, and knowing your indigenous identity, and even practicing your culture, that is environmental work to me.”

Billie Cypress, another emerging Seminole youth climate leader, bluntly continued that “If we let this happen, and we don’t take care of our home. It’s a disaster…. having an indigenous identity does not exist without having a relationship with the land.”

Author Bio

Originally from Washington state, Deanna Butler received her BA in Archaeological Sciences from the University of Washington in 2014. Deanna moved to Florida in 2016. Soon, she began working for the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office. Deanna was the THPO’s Archaeological Collections Assistant from 2017-2021. While at the THPO, Deanna worked to preserve, support, and process the Tribe’s archaeological collection. She often wrote the popular Artifact of the Month series and worked on many community and educational outreach programs. She lives in Lakeland, FL with her husband, two sons, and dog.