James Walkingstick is a senior at Harvard University, studying Social Anthropology with a secondary in Ethnicity, Migration, Rights. James joined Miami Waterkeeper as an intern in January 2023, and has completed work with various members of the Waterkeeper Alliance, including the London Waterkeeper, Tar Creekkeeper, Grand Riverkeeper and Waiwai Ola Waterkeepers Hawaiian Islands. He is from Grand Lake O' the Cherokees in Northeast Oklahoma, an area that faces tremendous sedimentary and aquatic pollution from an abandoned lead mine at America's "First and Worst" Superfund Site, Tar Creek.
Over the past 4 years, James has served as an Executive Board Member of Local Environmental Action Demanded, Inc., a nonprofit that advocates for the cleanup of the Tar Creek Superfund Site and environmental protection in Northeast Oklahoma. In 2019, James was selected as a recipient of the United Nations Youth Scholarship by the International Committee for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and represented his region at the United Nations. During 2020, James led efforts with the United Nations Global Indigenous Youth Caucus to translate COVID guidelines into Indigenous languages and to provide PPE to tribal communities. In 2021 and 2022, James served as sustainability intern for the London Waterkeeper, advocating for flood alleviating wetlands in urban London, and as development intern for the Quechua Initiative on Global Indigeneity at Harvard, an effort that emphasizes Indigenous representation and knowledge within academia.
In his free time you may find him sampling coffee shops, trying new recipes or digging into a good book.