As the environmental protection manager for the Chickasaw Nation Department of Community Services, Kelsey Norton focuses on the everyday ways ordinary people can have an impact on sustainability.
Norton’s relationship with sustainability can be tied to her love of the land, her Chickasaw heritage and her dreams for future generations.
Norton, who grew up in Byars, Oklahoma, spent a lot of time outdoors as a child. Even now, as an adult, it is special to her, both as a person and as a Chickasaw citizen.
“It is important to be mindful when you are outside,” Norton said. “I think a lot about my ancestors who, for them, it was their everyday. They lived in harmony and connection with the things around them.”
This connection with the outside world and her own heritage led her to focus on sustainability.
Norton has been with the Chickasaw Nation for four years. Before that, she was a stay-at-home mom and college student. While it wasn’t always easy, Norton’s resilience and determination helped her push through, and she finished her degree in environmental sustainability from the University of Oklahoma.
Norton’s original plan was to study law, but after taking a class in environmental law, she switched her major to sustainability, although she said law school remains a long-term goal.
In her role at the Chickasaw Nation, Norton oversees the development and management of grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which focuses on collecting water and air quality data.
This information is important because, as Norton said, they are collecting data in a sovereign manner.
“We are collecting our own data, and it’s for us to use,” Norton said. “It isn’t information from the state or other entities telling us what our data is. Resources are entrusted to us, and it is important that we have the capabilities to take care of them ourselves.”
Norton said it is easy for people to become disconnected from their natural resources, but having their own data can help.
“It’s important for people to access their data about their local water,” Norton said. “They need to be informed and connected to what’s around them.”
In addition to working with grants, she also oversees the Chickasaw Nation ReUse Center.
Norton appreciates the way the ReUse Center encourages both practical and affordable uses of sustainability.
“The ReUse Center helps keep items out of the landfill,” Norton said. “It helps us redistribute good, working items to the community free of charge.”
In addition to its primary function, the ReUse Center also provides an entry point for individuals to start caring for the environment.
“It’s easy to get bogged down in the nitty-gritty of doing everything perfect and sustainable,” Norton said. “But you have to find a balance and try your best. You can pick one thing and have a goal of improving upon it.”
Norton said she loves overseeing the ReUse Center because it can be a good way to start sustainable practices.
Another way Norton positively affects the environment and the world is by engaging in outreach with children.
Her office plans an environmental camp each year for children and sets up booths at different Chickasaw Nation events to promote its services. These outreach efforts encourage sustainability practices from a young age, but they also introduce children to possible careers and opportunities in environmental professions. This work is a combination of experience and education.
Norton understands the importance of camps as children develop their interests and goals, noting her own experience at a “court camp” when she was young. She learned many things related to law at the camp, which eventually led her to the field of environmental sustainability. She credits this opportunity with sparking her interest in law, which she is still considering pursuing. Norton said she hopes allowing these children to have robust experiences and engagement with environmental sciences will help them become leaders in that field.
“The children are our future,” Norton said. “They are the people who will take over everything that we do.”
Norton said she loves working with children, but she also loves being a mother to her daughters. She has one daughter, with a second on the way. She said her Chickasaw heritage comes from her mother’s side, so the matriarchal aspects of her culture are very important to her.
“Matriarchy is really important to me,” Norton said. “And so is teaching my daughter about the very special role women play in our society, both traditionally and today.”
But for Norton, it all ties back to sustainability and stewardship for the environment, including the lessons she teaches her own daughter.
“These beliefs that we have about water and about taking care of the land — these things that we do — they’re connected to who we are and where we came from,” Norton said.
Through Norton’s work, as well as her life as a mother, she is building on the lessons of the past to help create a better future.
Individuals can be a part of these sustainability efforts by donating items to the ReUse Center or taking home gently used items they find there. The ReUse Center is located at 2205 N. Broadway Ave., Ada, Oklahoma. The ReUse Center is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and to Chickasaw citizens from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month. Donations are accepted from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
In addition to utilizing the ReUse Center, people can also take part in the Chickasaw Nation’s Earth Day Recycling Event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the Chickasaw Nation Community Center, located at 700 N. Mississippi Ave., Ada, Oklahoma. Accepted recycling items for the event include e-waste, tires, paper (five-box limit) which will be shredded on-site, cardboard, aluminum, tin cans, plastics labeled #1-2 and televisions.