Explore upcoming events and gatherings that move our work, relationships, and shared vision of Global Climate Reparations forward.
MAR
5
2026
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SAT, MARCH 28, 2026 AT 12:00pM PT
Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley
Pause in a shared moment of remembrance and renewal on the last day of the Bioneers Conference.
Through prayer, libation, and the calling of ancestors’ names, this water ceremony, led by Taproot Earth’s Vision & Strategy Partner, Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., honors water as life, memory, and movement. See full event details.
This water ceremony invites participants into a brief but powerful act of gratitude and reflection rooted in Taproot Earth’s Gathering of Waters practice. It offers a living glimpse of the traditions and teachings that will be explored more deeply in the Water, Spirit, Power panel later in the day.
During the ceremony, participants will be invited to call the name of an ancestor who carried love, courage, rigor, or joy into their lives. As each name is spoken, libations will be poured from vessels of glass, shell, and wood, returning gratitude to the waters that sustain life.
In this shared moment of remembrance, water becomes both witness and teacher, reminding us that the work of climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and Black liberation flows through memory, relationship, and collective care. All are welcome to gather in this moment of reflection and return to the waters together.
MAR
5
2026
SAT, MARCH 28, 2026 FROM 3:00 TO 4:15PM PT
The Magnes MUSEUM at UC Berkeley
What becomes possible when movements for climate justice listen deeply to the wisdom of water, spirit, and the earth? A 75-minute panel at the Bioneers Conference. Hosted by Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., Taproot Earth, with Phoenix Rose, Ifa spiritual leader (Louisiana); Nadia Akawa, Indigenous Amazonian medicine woman (Brazil); and Mama Iya Ada, former Co-Executive Director of SpiritHouse (North Carolina). See full panel details.
Join in on a story-filled and soul-stirring session that shares how Taproot Earth, a climate justice organization headquartered in the U.S. South, has woven cultural and spiritual practice into global efforts to advance democracy, equity, and repair. Indigenous women from Amazonia, East Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S. South, and Appalachia gather to reflect on lessons of power and the sacred instruction to live in right relationship with the Earth.
Through inspiring water journeys that gathered waters from the Nile, Mississippi, and Amazon Rivers and carried them back to East Africa, where the oldest human bones are found, this panel will explore how ceremony, memory, and movement-building come together as necessary elements in the work for frontline community self-governance, Indigenous sovereignty, and Black liberation.
Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. (MODERATOR)
Vision & Initiatives Partner, Taproot Earth, Louisiana
Colette Pichon Battle is an award-winning lawyer and climate justice organizer. She is a trusted voice in the climate justice and Black liberation movements, and her work focuses on creating spaces for frontline communities to gather and advance climate strategies that help us steward the water, energy, and land. A generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, she is a 2019 Obama Fellow and is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the 2023 Heinz Award for the Environment, the 2022 Catalyst Award from Rachel’s Network, and the 2022 William O. Douglas Award. Colette is the co-founder and Vision & Initiatives Partner for Taproot Earth and is a former corporate lawyer. Internationally, Colette has gained recognition for her outstanding use of the legal and judicial process to achieve environmental goals.
After 17 years of work leading the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy’s development of programming focused on equitable climate resilience in the Gulf South, in 2022, she expanded her vision into Taproot Earth, inspired by her learnings with GCCLP and movement partners across the South. When not working to save the world, you can find Colette spending her free time in rural Louisiana, amongst the land, waters, and people who have poured love and nourishment into her from birth.
Phoenix Rose
Ifa Spiritual Leader, Louisiana
Phoenix Rose is a New Orleans based artist, beauty professional, and an Ìyánifá, a priest in the Yorùbá Ifá-Òrìṣà tradition. A first generation Jamaican-American born in Michigan and raised between the Midwest and North Louisiana, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to creative and spiritual practice. Phoenix is the owner and lead artist of Phoenix Rose Artistry LLC and has worked for more than 16 years as a makeup artist and 18 years as a hair artist across film, editorial, commercial, theater, opera, live events, music, bridal, and education. She is also a beauty coach and a trained performer with a background in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, ballroom, and hip hop.
In addition to her work in the beauty industry, she is also a singer and songwriter who performs under the name Huebian. Her work bridges art, spirituality, and cultural expression through music, ritual practice, and storytelling. Phoenix studied marketing at Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts. She is the mother of one and currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mama Iya Ada
Former Co-Executive Director, SpiritHouse, North Carolina
Mama Iya Ada is the daughter of Ronald and Elmira and the mother of Heather and Paul. She was raised on Connecticut concrete and sand, Black soul, and Campbell’s pork and beans. She is a practical nurse who specialized in pediatric and psychiatric nursing, but found a much stronger calling working with teens and their families in drop-out, drug and pregnancy prevention. Building community in Durham, North Carolina, since embracing it as home in 1998, Iya Ada has been a part of the SpiritHouse family since 2002 working with fellow artists, cultural workers and community members to assess, express and address their own needs. She is a gifted healer, story weaver and cultural alchemist, as well as the co-author and producer of SpiritHouse Inc’s original production “Collective Sun Reshape the Mourning. She recently transitioned from Co-Director of SpiritHouse and now acts as an elder advisor.
In addition to her work with SpiritHouse Nia has served as the Senior Advisor for Forward Justice Law Policy and Strategy Center based in Durham North Carolina since 2017. She has had several professional development opportunities including receiving training through Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD) directors track in 2011 and 2013 and Generative Somatics Somatics and Trauma in 2012.
Nadia Akawa
Indigenous Amazonian Medicine Woman, Brazil
Nádia Akawã is an Indigenous leader of the Tupinambá people of Olivença in Southern Bahia, Brazil. A healer, educator, mother, and grandmother, she works with forest medicines and traditional herbal knowledge to care for her community and support women through natural gynecology practices.
Her work is rooted in the Atlantic Forest biome, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. Nádia is an advocate for the protection of Indigenous territories threatened by real estate development and mining, fighting for the relationship between land, healing traditions, and the survival of Indigenous communities.
