News

Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change

04.10.2011

Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change is an exhibit being held at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Indian (NMAI) in Washington DC (USA) from 22 July 2011 to 2 January 2012. It is a premiere installation of Conversations with the Earth (CWE) - an indigenous-led initiative that amplifies indigenous voices in the global discourse on climate change. This exhibition — the first of its kind devoted to indigenous science — provides a Native perspective on global climate change. Through photographs, video and audio of tribal communities from the Arctic to Brazil, the environmental impact of pollution is found in the stories of imposed mitigation and its consequences on local livelihoods. On 4 October 2011, a Webcast symposium entitled "Seeking Balance: Indigenous Knowledge, Western Science and Climate Change" will be held. It will be a special day of events with CWE and indigenous partners from around the world with conversations between practitioners of both indigenous and western science seeking to address climate and environmental challenges facing the planet. The event is being co-hosted by NMAI, CWE, Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Assessment (IPCCA) and The Christensen Fund and will feature CWE's indigenous partners, climate solutions advocates and representatives from NASA and the US EPA. Conversations with the Earth offers the voices of the Earth's traditional stewards in the search for a viable response to the challenges of climate change. In the words of Inupiat leader Patricia Cochran, chair of the Indigenous Peoples Global summit on Climate Change, "We are a harbinger of what is to come, what the rest of the world can expect"