Transcript Alan Parker - Native Resilience power pt March 2 2015

ASSERTING NATIVE RESILIENCE :
Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations
Face the Climate Crisis
(Oregon State University Press, 2012)
Anthology edited by Zoltán Grossman and Alan Parker,
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington
Resilience #1:
Traditional
Ecological
Knowledge
“Native Science” (Greg Cajete)
Place-based knowledge (geography),
Time-tested knowledge (history)
Indigenous harvesters’ observations offer early
warning system. Western Science research
process slower to publish and react.
Early bloom signals
season change
Hanta virus origins
Resilience #2:
Indigenous sovereignty
Indigenous peoples,
cultures have survived
colonization, epidemics,
industrialization,
assimilation, pollution,
urbanization
Tribal sovereignty
offers partial shield
for testing methods
of sustainability,
building community,
unity with other peoples
Threats
to fishery
Dead Zone
From hypoxia
Skokomish flood
Declined spring snowpack
reduce summer streamflows
Earlier and quicker spring melts
create floods, throw off timing
of ecosystem relationships
Higher stream water temps,
ocean acidification,
hypoxia (oxygen starvation)
harm fish and habitat
Local emergency
planning
Tribes as models to non-Indian
neighbors (2005 tsunami alert)
Skokomish
Tribes & neighbors can only rely
on each other in an emergency—
not FEMA.
Umatilla
Local and tribal governments
sharing equipment, resources
Adapting to new foods
Prepare for new species coming into the area from the south
Tribes can trade harvestable species (basket grasses),
and advise each other on dealing with invasive species
Work with other Indigenous nations
Coast Salish Gathering of
leaders from BC and WA
Suquamish canoe family
visits Aotearoa/New Zealand
Recommendations for Native Leaders
1. Gather information on impacts in your region
2. Secure sources of fresh water for your
community
3. Secure sources of food for times of disasters
4. Prepare for impacts on plant and animal species
5. Develop relationships with your neighbors
Recommendations
page 2
• 6 Consider political alliances with city and county govt.s
• 7 Consider strategies to unite tribes and 1st Nations around
habitat protection
• 8 Consider active involvement as sovereign Indigenous
nations in “global” climate change negotiations.
• 9 Get the youth involved in education on climate change
• 10 Work with other Indigenous Nations across Pacific Rim
We are all dependent on the health of
our ecosystem, whoever we are and
whatever we do. Once people
understand this, we will all be able to
join hands in dealing with the
environmental challenges that face us.
Where we must adapt, we will be able to
do so. Where we can help Nature to
prevent human tragedies that will
otherwise occur—by curtailing
environmental damage, conserving
resources, and restoring habitat for fish
and wildlife—we will do so, together.
--Billy Frank, Jr.
(in Foreword)