Lally has a master’s degree in social change and sociology and says it’s up to this generation to break the world of its destructive dependency on oil.

“If we don’t do something, we won’t have a world. It’s up to us, we have to speak up. We have to have patience for the process and disrupt the momentum that’s pushing us to the edge,” he said.

The camp seemed a perfect place to try to build Native American trust at the same time, according to Lally.

“They are the First Nation defenders. That’s why a lot of us are here, to try to heal those wounds. We have to deal with it and address it,” he said.

Jakob Halldor, 27, a red-haired native of Iceland and now of Colorado, camped nearby and said he is part of a growing number of young people, many from the mostly white festival-awareness culture, who want respect for all life.

“We’re here supporting people who are protecting water. We need to bridge the ethnicity groups, or we won’t be able to,” he said.

In the next tent down, Dan Isler, of Illinois, looks like the former U.S. Army infantry man he once was, with a tour in Iraq under his belt.