Codie Horse-Topetchy Named 2025-26 UNITY Earth Ambassador
UNITY is proud to announce Codie Horse-Topetchy as one of its 2025 Earth Ambassadors, a title awarded to Native youth demonstrating exceptional commitment to environmental stewardship and Indigenous community empowerment. A member of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Otoe-Missouria Tribes of Oklahoma, Codie is a 22-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma whose vision for environmental justice is deeply rooted in cultural tradition and intergenerational knowledge.
“For me, to be an environmental ambassador is to carry myself in the way my Kiowa, Comanche, and Otoe ancestors once did,” Codie shared. “They lived in reciprocity with the land and all other beings here on Earth… My father and grandfather both worked with buffalo their whole lives and now I am following in their footsteps.”
Codie’s leadership reflects not only her academic and advocacy accomplishments but also her connection to ceremony, land, and the stories of her people. She recently gained national recognition through her award-winning research project, “Flood Impacts and Risks to the Otoe-Missouria Tribe,” which placed first in a University of Oklahoma postdoctoral research competition. The project addresses flood threats to Otoe-Missouria ceremonial grounds by integrating GIS mapping, hydrology, and traditional ecological knowledge to create a predictive flood response tool.
Her advocacy doesn’t stop in the classroom. Codie has presented at the National Tribal & Indigenous Climate Change Conference, worked with tribal elders to document disappearing medicinal plants, and spoken out against local pollution from oil, gas, and mining operations impacting Native communities. “On the Otoe reservation, my family’s water comes out of the faucet brown—you would think it was tea,” she said. “Our medicinal plants are disappearing, and the air quality is causing sickness. Extraction industries surround us, and I feel inherently responsible to help mitigate change.”
Codie’s response to these environmental injustices is rooted in Indigenous resilience and healing. She is the founder of Dáui T’á:gyàà—Good Medicine—a land-based learning initiative that empowers Indigenous girls and young women through cultural reclamation and ecological stewardship. The program provides immersive workshops in traditional medicine gardening, buffalo harvesting, and foraging, and creates a supportive space for cultural reconnection and mental wellness.
“I believe that culture and land can be healing,” Codie explained. “By creating this space for women, it helps them mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I also plan to invite our female elders to programming to create intergenerational learning. That’s part of the medicine too.”
As a Kiowa language student working toward teacher certification, Codie exemplifies how cultural revitalization and environmental advocacy go hand in hand. Her community-based leadership has been praised by elders and peers alike. “She is keen to help others learn our traditional ways,” her nominator, Nancy Tsoodle-Moser, wrote. “Codie is on the path to create positive space for young women of all Tribes.”
Codie joins a growing legacy of UNITY Earth Ambassadors—young leaders across Indian Country committed to protecting sacred homelands and advocating for climate justice. As part of this intergenerational movement, Codie will collaborate with fellow Ambassadors to address urgent environmental challenges and inspire grassroots advocacy nationwide.
In her own words: “I must speak for those who cannot speak for themselves… the trees, our waterways, the plants—all of our non-human kin. It is our obligation to protect them because they all provide for us without asking for anything in return.”
Through her voice, actions, and cultural leadership, Codie Horse-Topetchy is carrying forward that obligation with honor, strength, and vision for a better future.