The U.S. public education system was built with stolen Indigenous lands — and still survives on Indigenous resources. Using publicly available data, Grist located millions of acres of land taken from hundreds of Indigenous nations, land that provides revenue to land-grant universities through fossil fuel exploration, mining, timber harvesting, and other industries. This series explores how stolen wealth continues to transform public institutions and provides insight into the relationship between colonialism, higher education, and climate change in the Western United States. Both data and coding are publicly available to reporters and researchers to use freely.
A surprising and unique investigation linking climate and fossil fuels and colonialism in the university system. This powerful entry stands apart: well reported, and opening the dataset for other groups to do even more reporting. Good interactives and compelling storytelling.
