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Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 10:03:12 -0800
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
From: Native Americas Journal <bfw2@cornell.edu>
Subject: Earth to NASA: Native Americans Join Quest to Understand Climate
 Change

The following news article is provided from Native Americas coverage
of Global Warming and Climate Change. You can find more information
on this topic, as well as how to subscribe to Native Americas on our
website at http://www.nativeamericas.net or
http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu.
------------------------------------------------------------

Earth to NASA: Native Americans Join Quest to Understand Climate Change
By Missy Globerman/Ithaca Journal, February 5, 2000
© Copyright 2000

In an unusual marriage of interests, the federal government is
embracing the sagacious prophecy and wisdom of Native Americans to
combat some of the greatest environmental challenges of the next
millennium - climate change.

As one reflection of this partnership, Cornell University's Akwe:kon
Press has published a double issue of its widely circulated journal,
"Native Americas," with the help of a $61,000 grant from NASA's Earth
Science Enterprise Division.

Their convergence is part of a significant trend, initiated and
supported by NASA, to incorporate the longstanding,
multi-generational perspectives of people who have connected to the
earth for centuries, with NASA's data on such phenomena as ozone
depletion and rising oceans. NASA scientists, grants and technologies
are also supporting Native communities' assessments of climate impact
on their homelands.

Despite centuries of skepticism, the intersection of hard scientific
investigation and the views of Native people is clear, according to
Verna Teller, former Isleta Pueblo governor and project director for
the Native Peoples/Native Homelands Southwest initiative.

"Scientists always have been skeptical, but now we have come full
circle. The science community used to pooh-pooh our traditional
knowledge as myth or legend, unfounded and whimsical, and now they
recognize it is a reality that fits hand in glove with their science
data," she said.

Native American interest in climate change is entrenched in their
homeland roots. Through their spiritual ceremonies and code of
teachings, their words and knowledge can be seen as predictive or
reflective.

Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, tells a story of
Seneca chief Handsome Lake, who in 1799, brought to his people the
visions and revelations from his journeys. "Handsome Lake said, 'They
said the maple tree, the leader of all trees, will begin dying from
the top down and nobody will know how to deal with it,' and now the
trees are dying from acid rain and it's not just the maple trees," he
said.

Onondaga prophecy says that the acceleration of the winds and how
well people treat their children are the two indicators of the
earth's decline. "Seeing how many children are abused and homeless,
and storms are so violent, we know the earth is being impacted and it
will get worse," he said.

Though global climate changes are happening slowly, "Anyone who says
these changes are not going on has another agenda, is not observant,
or is not interested," he said.

The Onondagas are just one of many tribes whose prophecies predict
human effects on the planet. Hopi prophecy included in the journal
warns that "if you disturb things that lie deep within the Earth,
bring them up, move them around and scatter them, the whole direction
of the world is going to change. They say that if deeply embedded
material is moved out from under the Earth and put on the top,
monsters will be released. These monsters, they said, could destroy
the Earth."

"No one has a deeper connection to the land than those who use the
land at its most basic level," said Jose Barreiro, editor-in-chief of
"Native Americas."

In the double issue, economic and ecological problems resulting from
changes like melting ice from the glaciers of Alaska to decades of
drought and blizzard in the Great Plains, are investigated. The
effects for many communities will be devastating.

The symbiotic relationship developing between science and Native
peoples' experiences will connect the quantitative with the spiritual.

A change for NASA?

Though NASA is most commonly known for its study of outer space and
moon landings, studying the earth is actually one of its primary
missions. Sensors and satellites aimed at Earth have collected data
for decades to study environmental phenomena ranging from ozone
depletion to glacier movements.

"We are charged with understanding the entire earth, its components
and how those elements interact to understand natural and
human-induced changes," said Nancy Maynard, former director of
applications, commercialization and education for the Earth Science
Enterprise Division. "Looking at the earth system as a whole is the
perspective NASA shares with the Native Americans."

Maynard fostered the initial discussions between NASA and the Native
communities after Native communities were left out of workshops
sponsored by NASA to work on the U.S. National Assessment on climate
change, part of the 1990 Global Change Research Act.

The workshops united scientists from 19 federal science research
agencies - NASA included - with a variety of stakeholders who may be
particularly impacted by climate change.

"The Native perspective has a great deal of history and wisdom about
the climate changes in particular geographic areas, like their
reservations, and I felt very strongly that they be brought into the
assessment process," Maynard said.

Listening to the elders

The funding for the "Native Americas" journal was one outcome of a
larger conference in Albuquerque, N.M., in October 1998. Called
"Circles of Wisdom: Native Peoples/ Native Homelands Climate Change
Workshop," this was the first time tribal leaders, Native American
scientists, scholars, spiritual leaders and environmental managers
met with a group of government scientists to share their knowledge
and observations of climate change.

Barreiro attended the conference since he was astounded that NASA was
seriously interested in exchanging ideas with the Native communities.
Since Barreiro is of Cuban origin and a member of the Taino tribe,
his relationship with Native elders is an essential part of his
background, both personal and academic.

"Native people, especially the elders, have a type of intelligence
that is beyond intuitive, and their prophecies speak to the urgency
of the current climate changes," he said.

In Central New York, Lyons said the Onondaga Nation faces challenges
from the effects of warmer weather, lack of water and even the
creeping northward of non-native animals and insects. He reports from
other tribes that there are more drastic effects, like changes in
bird and fish migratory patterns that can leave a village in Alaska
with no food or economic sustenance. "We believe the earth has a
point of no return, no recovery, and we are pushing humanity to that
point. The earth many recover from all of this damage, but there will
be no human beings left," Lyons said.

Because of these types of changes, recent generations of Native
people have shifted from their prior silence or unwillingness to
share their knowledge with people outside their communities. "It is
so important to preserve indigenous cultures and languages that
embody this knowledge, especially since we have lived in these places
for thousands of years and are intimately associated with the land,"
Lyons said.

Though the Native's history is intertwined with violence and
antagonism, "Once the elders began to die, there was a realization
that they needed to share some of this irreplacable knowledge with
somebody," Barreiro said.

The frustration experienced by Barreiro, among other academics, is
the lack of authenticity of many who have tried to emulate the
knowledge of the elders. "Though there is some sham around the
community, the deep culture people in this hemisphere have a type of
intelligence that transcends what Western civilization believes about
the forces of nature," he said.

Maynard said NASA scientists, with few exceptions, "are very open to
any evidence or possibilities to explain climate change, though it is
not standard science, and perhaps scientists need to be more open to
non-traditional sources of information."

NASA's grant will allow Akwe:kon to print and distribute 35,000
copies of the journal, while their normal distribution is between
6,000 and 7,000 copies. The double issue on climate change will be
distributed to every Native school in the U.S., as well as to
universities, public libraries and Congress.

By bringing together writers and thinkers who are fully involved in
Native life, but also investigate and think critically about current
important issues to indigenous people, "'Native Americas' is an
important, and useful, tool to create a bridge between academic type
knowledge and Native peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere,"
Barreiro said.

Maynard believes the first steps to institutionalizing the need for
the Native American perspective in decision- and policy-making
regarding environmental change have been taken since the Albuquerque
conference.

Effects of climate change

NASA is also providing the funds for two three-year impact
assessments, one in the Southwest U.S. and one in the Northern Great
Plains, of climate change on native people and their homelands.

Teller said the research project, based at the University of New
Mexico, will investigate how NASA's environmental data can help
tribes in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California examine the
impacts of global warming in particular.

She said areas of concern for the tribes include lessened tourism and
negative health effects as the climate changes. For Native people in
her region, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is of primary concern. The
potentially deadly virus, she said, is spread by deer mice and is
contracted by ingesting some kinds of nuts and berries in the wild
that her people may eat. With an increase in rainfall, there are more
deer mice - and a greater chance to contract the hanta virus.

"Our people live off the land, and are dying from this virus, and we
are very concerned about what the future may hold," she said.

NASA is also helping Native researchers examine the reintroduction of
ancient agricultural practices of the Pueblo people used in the 14th
and 15th centuries. Water conservation and water retention were
identified as important issues for the future of the region. Ancient
farming techniques like terrace gardens and mulch made of pebbles may
be useful in severe drought conditions, she said.

Tribes in Teller's region are already improving their land use
planning and management using NASA technology like remote sensing and
university resources for global information systems and global
positioning systems. "These tools are incredibly useful for us, and
now, Natives are learning how to use these technologies through our
tribal colleges to continue this work into the future," she said.

In addition to sustaining their coverage of climate change issues in
upcoming journals, "there is a tremendous need to sustain the
dialogue between the scientists and Native people, to have an ongoing
relationship," Barreiro said.

--30--

------------------------------------------------------------

"Nowhere else will you be able to find such powerful-knowledge filled writing."
-Wilma Mankiller, Editorial Board Member of Native Americas Journal

Native Americas Journal
Akwe:kon Press
American Indian Program
Cornell University
450 Caldwell Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-2602

Tel.    (607) 255-4308
Subs.   (800) 9-NATIVE
Fax.    (607) 255-0185
Email.  nativeamericas@cornell.edu

Native Americas Journal
        http://www.nativeamericas.net
        http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu

American Indian Program, Cornell University
        http://www.aip.cornell.edu

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