NASA Hosts Native Peoples Workshop to Study Climate Change

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov

Nov. 16, 2009

RELEASE : 09-267

NASA Hosts Native Peoples Workshop to Study Climate Change

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a second national strategies workshop to
examine the impacts of climate change and extreme weather variability on
native peoples and their homelands. The workshop, which will study the
impacts from an indigenous cultural, spiritual and scientific perspective,
will take place Nov. 18 - 21 at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior
Lake, Minn.

"This workshop will bring native indigenous knowledge together with
science, education, and technologies to address the challenges of climate
and environmental change," said Nancy Maynard of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The workshop will help ensure participation by tribal colleges and
universities in the development of response and adaptation policies and
recommendations regarding climate change. The goal is to ensure the
survival of indigenous communities. The workshop is being held in
collaboration with the nation's 36 tribally-controlled colleges and
universities, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and other
partners.

"Tribal college students represent many of the future tribal leaders who
will inherit the consequences of climate change and be responsible for
implementing the adaptation strategies," said Dan Wildcat of Haskell
Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. "It is critical that they have
these kinds of opportunities to participate in key climate change
discussions and build their science, technology, engineering and math
skills."

For more information about the workshop, including registration
information, visit:

http://www.nativepeoplesnativehomelands.org

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