” Join youth with Indigenous elders ‘ knowledge”
In order to “establish respectful and reciprocal partnerships” with Native American tribal communities regarding the issue of” climate resilience,” the University of Oklahoma received a$ 4 million grant.
The award, which includes the Chickasaw Nation and the University of New Mexico, is part of a program funded by the National Science Foundation that “aims to improve geographical diversity in STEM areas,” according to OU News.
The project’s “interests” will be based on” society needs and interests,” and it will focus on improving Indigenous Community Resilience to Climate Change Impacts through Partnerships and Co-Development of Adaptation Planning.
Elinor Martin, a professor of meteorology at OU, stated,” We are working to establish respectful, reciprocal, and sustainable research and education partnerships. ] Tribal communities have been adapting for climate change and have been at the forefront of this for a long, long time, but they have generally not been included in the research and planning process.
Indigenous communities will be able to “evaluate how changes in water amount may change their plans for meals independence and cultural practices” through one aspect of the project.
Another purpose, according to Chickasaw Nation Land Sustainability and Services Director Jennie Mosely, is to” join youth with Indigenous elders ‘ information.” She noted that the Chickasaw had to endure “healing seasons and dangerous winters” when they were forced to relocate to the Oklahoma Territory ( nearly two hundred years ago ).
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Amelia Cook, a local teacher and PhD candidate at OU who is looking to use indigenous technology and Native American storytelling as tools to tell climate science and create community resilience, said the project curriculum “weaves up various perspectives, emphasizing the importance of understanding climate resilience from both a medical and social perspective.”
A recent report from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs points to a study from 2023 that claimed Native Americans in the position” face a 64- to 68-percent higher risk” of climate-related monsoon situations than non-Natives.
But a study from earlier this year “predicted” most of that “increased chance” comes from the development of the Indigenous people, expected to more than triple by 2100. In other words, “population raises ‘ outweighs weather adjustments’ for heavy rainfall and flash floods ‘ meaning that people development contributes more to increased exposure than weather change.”
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IMAGE: Indigenous Climate Action/X
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