Credit: Pexel, public domain
Research shows that communities can mitigate the impact of climate change when they can work with scientists on adaptation planning. B. Hanson and colleagues recently extended the finding to indigenous communities on the Colorado Plateau, including members of the Navajo, Hopi and Uto Mountain Ute tribes. Their research has been published in Community Science.
To learn more about the qualities that make climate education most accessible to these groups, researchers conducted a series of listening circles, interviews with Indigenous and Westerners, as well as consultations with Westerners with extensive experience working in Indigenous communities.
They worked with members of the Native American Tribes of the Nature Conservancy, advocating for restoration and education, or nature, programs, aimed at acquiring natural resource management skills to Indigenous university students.
Several themes have appeared. Indigenous students are most likely to be hired actively for the programme and engaged in climate education when mentors are willing to learn and teach from students, and when the programme emphasizes the value of integrating traditional knowledge with Western science. Small class sizes and ample one-on-one instruction also continue to attract students.
Based on these findings, researchers have created climate modules that can be taught, for example, as part of a broader university-level environmental science curriculum, as well as part of a program, such as Nature. The module is “Menu Style”. This means instructors and students can choose from a variety of options to engaging activities.
One option is classroom lessons on issues related to the Colorado Plateau, such as water conservation and cattle management. The other includes field trips such as day trips along the Colorado River. Meanwhile, the guide will provide insight into how climate change is changing the landscape.
Indigenous students have a deep connection to the natural system and are “standardly set up to engage in environmental restoration,” the researchers wrote. This collaboratively designed program, they say, could help students achieve this potential.
Details: B. Hanson et al., Building relationships between meaningful, co-created Indigenous climate education, and community science (2025). doi:10.1029/2023CSJ000054
The story has been reissued courtesy of EOS, hosted by the American Geophysics Union. Read the original story here.
Quote: Team up to coordinate climate education for Indigenous communities (April 30, 2025) Retrieved May 1, 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-04-teaming-tailor-climime-indigenous-communities.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from fair transactions for private research or research purposes, there is no part that is reproduced without written permission. Content is provided with information only.
