Changes We Have Seen: Traditional Knowledge Proceedings from the 2008 SACNAS National Conference The 2008 SACNAS National Conference was one of the largest International Polar Year focused events in the world. Not only was the “International Polar Year: Global Change in Our Communities” meeting a unique and powerful opportunity to support the best and brightest minority science students, but it was also an important dialogue among Native elders, traditional knowledge holders, polar science researchers, and scientists of all disciplines regarding the health of the poles, polar peoples, global climate concerns, and the ways that we can all make positive contributions to the sustainability of the planet. Changes We Have Seen captures some of the most important dialogue on traditional knowledge and climate change from this historic conference.

Download publication chapters:

• Preface & Chapter One (PDF): Stories from a Changing Planet – POLAR-PALOOZA (pg 1-31)
• Chapter Two (PDF): Why is Indigenous Local and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Important to Western Science? (pgs 32-65)
• Chapter Three (PDF): Bicultural Science Education for Science Teachers (pgs 66-89)
• Chapter Four (PDF): How to Become a Community Climate Change Activist (pgs 90-113)
• Chapter Five (PDF): Closing Remarks (pgs 114-119)
• Chapter Six (PDF): Participant Biographies (pgs 120-127)
• Chapter Seven (PDF): Internet Resources (pgs 128-136)

There are countless internet sites regarding traditional knowledge and climate change. Below are a few recommended resources.

Climate Change
• EPA Climate Change: provides comprehensive information on the issue of climate change and global warming
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.
• International Polar Year: The internet home of the collaborative international effort to promote understanding of and research at the Earth’s poles.
• Nature Reports on Climate Change: an online resource from Nature providing in-depth reporting, comment, and analysis on climate science.
• POLAR PALOOZA: a multimedia project featuring videos, podcasts, and blogs of polar scientists and Alaska Natives.
• Union of Concerned Scientists: nonprofit science advocacy group based in the U.S., the website contains access to numerous reports and policy decisions.


Indigenous Knowledge Resources/Databases (International)
• Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Information Network: a mechanism to exchange information about experiences and projects and to increase collaboration among indigenous groups working on common causes related tobiodiversity, use and conservation.
• Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network: A comprehensive website that provides information/Web sites about global indigenous communities, traditional ecological knowledge, climate change, organizations, policy, and publications.
• Native Web: An international, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to using telecommunications, including computer technology and the Internet, to disseminate information from and about indigenous nations, peoples, and organizations around the world.
• WWW Virtual Library – American Indians: An index of indigenous knowledge resources on the internet.
• Indigenous Knowledge in Africa: A project of the United Nations Environment Program that aims to inform the global scientific community about the relevance of indigenous knowledge.
• Taiwan’s Traditional Knowledge: An extensive website about Tawain’s indigenous communities including information about ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and ethnozoology.


Traditional Knowledge – Best Practices
• AAAS Project on Traditional Ecological Knowledge: In October 2002, the Science & Human Rights Program launched a new project exploring the intersection between traditional knowledge, intellectual property, and human rights. The goals of the project include: exploring the role of the public domain as it applies to TK, examining issues affecting TK relating to the current intellectual property regime, and identifying and applying intellectual property options available to traditional knowledge holders.
• Database of Best Practices on Indigenous Knowledge: UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) extensive database to encourage researchers and policy-makers to incorporate indigenous knowledge into their project proposals, feasibility studies, implementation plans and project assessments, and to take indigenous knowledge and practices into account in all activities affecting local communities.
• Farmer’s Rights: A series of resource pages for decision makers and practitioners advocating for sustainable farming practices that honor indigenous methods, biodiversity, and food security.


Native American Community and Environmental Activism
• Circles of Wisdom – Native Peoples – Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop (PDF): Final Report.
• Energy Justice Network: the grassroots energy agenda, supporting communities threatened by polluting energy and waste technologies.
• Indigenous Environmental Network: Native peoples of the Americas organization for education, coalition building, and action.
• Inuit Circumpolar Conference: the international organization representing approximately 160,000 Inuit living in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Chukotka, Russia.
• The National Congress of American Indians: provides national leadership on issues facing tribal communities throughout the U.S.
• The National Tribal and Environmental Council: Dedicated to working with and assisting tribes in the protection and preservation of the reservation environment.
• National Wildlife Federation – Tribes, Climate Change and Solutions: works with tribal partners to collaborate on climate change solutions. Partnerships with tribes on climate change include meetings and workshops, policy development, natural resource management planning and monitoring, and the formation of an Intertribal Climate Coalition.
• NativeEnergy: a climate solutions company in the US carbon market, offering services that reduce carbon emissions to fight, global warming.
• Northwest Indian Applied Research Institute: Housed at Evergreen State College, the Institute expands the services which the college can offer the tribes, enabling Evergreen to assist local tribes to meet their economic, governance and resource goals.


Educational Programs Supporting Traditional Knowledge
• United Nations University: The United Nations University (UNU) is in the process of establishing a Traditional Knowledge Institute (TK Institute) in Australia. The UNU TK Institute aims to promote and strengthen research on traditional knowledge (TK) of indigenous and local communities conducted from a global perspective, grounded in local experience.
The following colleges and universities offer opportunities to study traditional knowledge:
• College of the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin
• Evergreen State College
• Flathead Valley Community College in Montana
• Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas, American Indian Studies
• Institute of American Indian Arts, New Mexico
• Little Big Horn Community College, Montana
• Northern Arizona University offers coursework and has anthropology and environmental programs where one could study TEK
• Northwest Indian College, Washington
• Oregon State University
• Salish Kootenai College, Montana
• State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
• University of Alaska, Fairbanks offers coursework
• University of British Columbia offers coursework
• University of Kansas offers coursework
• University of Montana offers coursework
• University of New Mexico offers coursework
• University of Washington, Graduate Program in Environmental Anthropology