Tuesday evening, the third annual Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Conference begins at the University of Oregon. 63 undergraduate students conducted research and will be presenting their findings.
Rising temperatures and ocean water levels are threatening Native American traditions in the Northwest. The conference will look at how indigenous sovereignty and culture are affected by climate change.
This year, student from three UO Honors College and environmental studies courses partnered with members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Burns Paiute Tribe to get an indigenous perspective.
Kathy Lynn, Director of the Tribal Climate Change Project says research stretched across the continent:
Lynn: “One class in particular in the Honors College focused on doing research on the Northern Paiute. In the other two classes, it’s been a really really wide range of tribes here in the Northwest to tribes in the arctic, native Hawaiian communities, and also indigenous populations in Latin America and South America.”
The keynote speaker is Patricia Cochran, executive director of the Alaska Native Science Commission.
The event begins at 5:00 in the Global Scholars Hall on the UO campus. It continues all day Wednesday