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Indigenous Response to Environmental and Climate Issues

Wisdom of the Elders Radio is producing it’s next series of American Indian public radio programs. Employing a higher level of multimedia journalism – high definition audio and video, science journalism, and new media web content – release is anticipated to be in 2014. We are accepting input regarding scientific and cultural content from tribes, tribal colleges, science universities and federal agencies.

Native people are the first and most severely impacted by a shifting climate and degrading ecosystems. This impact is compounded by the fact that many Indigenous communities have few economic resources to mitigate the harmful effects of a changing climate. Indigenous communities from around the world are demonstrating resilience and resourcefulness combining both contemporary and traditional ecological knowledge to preserve threatened ways of life.

These are some of the challenges facing Native peoples that will be featured in the radio series:

Tribes of the Pacific Northwest are facing severe salmon shortages in part due to a combination of higher winter stream flows and rising ocean temperatures.

The Athabascan Nations of central Alaska are losing one of their primary food sources, the caribou, as temperature changes lead to shifts in migration patterns.

The Blackfeet tribe of Montana could lose their water supply due to increased glacial melt from temperature changes.

The Inupiat of Northwest Alaska are some of the first “Climate Refugees” of the United States. Due to rising sea levels, their land and homes are being washed away, forcing them to relocate.

Wisdom of the Elders Radio Series Four: Indigenous Response to Environmental and Climate Issues features:

  • Tribes of the Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii responding sustainably to unprecedented environmental degradation and climate change.
  • Native elders, scientists, youth, educators and cultural leaders.
  • Traditional, contemporary and science-based knowledge, as well as oral history and cultural arts.
  • The foundation of a student-centered, culturally tailored multimedia STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curriculum, The Wisdom Project, a Native youth leadership initiative.

To learn more or to get involved in this exciting new series, contact:

Wisdom Radio
radio@wisdomoftheelders.org
503-775-4014