Category Archives: Climate Advocacy and Climate Change
Gullah/Geechee Nation Coastal Challenge Update
On the South Carolina Coast: A Tree Saved, a Cultural Overlay Challenged, and Data Centers Given a Path Forward
Monday, September 14, 2026 brought a flood of consequential local-government action along the South Carolina coast. The outcomes were not as simple as “win” or “loss.” The Beaufort County Council did not vote on St. Helena Island’s Cultural Protection Overlay, but the latest Pine Island challenge is moving toward the Planning Commission. In Charleston County, a redesign kept the Sol Legare witness tree standing, but the approved driveway will still enter its critical root zone. In Colleton County, Council did not approve construction of a particular data center; it adopted the comprehensive-plan, zoning-text, and zoning-map changes that make future data centers much easier to permit.
Here is what happened, what did not happen, and what you can do next.
HEADS UP! Protect the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s Coast!
Two counties. Two critical meetings. One coast to defend.
Monday, September 14, 2026, is a critical day for the future of the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s coast!
While Beaufort County Council prepares to discuss yet another attempt to remove Pine Island from the Cultural Protection Overlay District protecting St. Helena Island, Colleton County Council will consider regulations that could determine whether massive data centers gain a foothold in the rural ACE Basin.
These meetings overlap. Therefore, we need the Gullah/Geechee famlee, environmental justice advocates, landowners, preservationists and everyone who values the South Carolina Lowcountry to divide forces and fill both council chambers.
We cannot sit silently while destructioneers repeatedly attempt to wear down the laws that protect our land, water, culture and quality of life.
Living Water, Living Legacy and Living Resistance: September in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
September begins with prayer, but prayer must move our feet, strengthen our voices and guide our hands into action. Throughout this month, the Gullah/Geechee Nation will be filled with opportunities to worship, celebrate, learn, remember, organize and defend the sacred Sea Island homeland.
Gullah/Geechees Flow into Living Water and Sacred Responsibility: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
This year’s World Day of Prayer observance carries particular significance for the Gullah/Geechee Nation. At Noon Eastern Time on September 1, 2026, Queen Quet, Chieftess and Head-of-State of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, will provide the keynote address for Creation Justice Ministries’ online World Day of Prayer and Season of Creation webinar. Queen Quet will share the spiritual and cultural relationship that Gullah/Geechee people have maintained with water from generation to generation.
Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week 2026: Hunnuh Mus Tek Cyare de Root fa Heal de Tree
Throughout the Gullah/Geechee Nation stretching from Jacksonville, North Carolina down to Jacksonville, Florida and inland to the St. Johns River, lies a rich cultural legacy that has endured for centuries. Every year during late July and early August, communities across the region come together to celebrate Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week.
Gullah/Geechee Musical Environmental Journeys
Whenever I have an opportunity to stand on the shoreline of the Gullah/Geechee Nation my spirit gets renewed. It is not only the warm Sea Island breeze laced in salt with its unique smell, it is also the rustle in the trees and the sway of the salt marsh that a dancer like me finds kinship with. I can hear an ancestral choir singing to a polyrhythmic beat that tends to be punctuated by the rhythms of crashing waves or the ripples in the river. Tenk GAWD fa de Sea Islands!
Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend een de Gullah/Geechee Epicenter een July!
Jayn we een de Gullah/Geechee epicenta fa “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend 2026!” Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and de Gullah/Geechee Famlee culturally invites you to the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation for “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend.” We will gather on the grounds of Penn Center on historic St. Helena Island for two days of powerful cultural reconnection, reflection, and celebration—all under the guiding theme: “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree!”
Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Tekin Cyare of de Root
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation launched her 30th anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour” in February 2026. She has traversed numerous cities during the first two months of the tour and will continue the journey to additional states in April. She invites everyone to join her in person as she embodies the slogan that she was given in a vision thirty years ago: “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree.”
QUEEN QUET OF THE GULLAH/GEECHEE NATION CONTINUES 30TH ANNIVERSARY “SAVE THE SEA ISLANDS TOUR” WITH COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON EVENT
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, will make her next official stop on her 30th Anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour,” themed “Hunnuh Mus Tek Cyare de Root fa Heal de Tree.” This powerful cultural and environmental justice tour continues with a special collaborative gathering hosted by the College of Charleston’s Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 6 pm in the College of Charleston’s School of Sciences and Mathematics Building at 202 Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston, SC.
Gullah/Geechee CREATE Celebrates Culture, Creativity, and Coastal Stewardship on Historic St. Helena Island
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, under the leadership of Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, proudly continues its cultural and environmental work through Gullah/Geechee CREATE, an innovative program in collaboration with South Carolina Sea Grant that merges art, environmental stewardship, and cultural education in the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.