EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 15, 2012) -- The University of Oregon will host a two-day conference on "Indigenous Peoples, Climate Change, and Environmental Knowledge" May 23 and 24. The conference includes keynote presentations and student research presentations about the impacts of climate change on indigenous and native communities. All events are free and open to the public.

According to Kathy Lynn, conference co-organizer and director of the Tribal Climate Change Project, fostering opportunities for research on issues facing indigenous communities from climate change is paramount to the efforts of the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project. 

"Indigenous communities are facing significant threats from climate change, including loss of tribal lands and cultural resources,” said Lynn. “This conference will give voice to the issues American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians are facing in the context of climate change."

A feature of the conference will be two distinguished keynote speakers on Wednesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. in the Many Nations Longhouse on the UO campus.  Daniel Wildcat, a Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, is a professor and accomplished scholar at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas.  Larry Mercullief is a member of the Aleuts of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, has served on the Alaska Native Science Commission, and has an award-winning career in research, writing, activism, education and consulting.

On Thursday, May 24, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Fir Room of the UO's Erb Memorial Union (EMU), students will present research related to climate and culture, including the ways indigenous environmental knowledge reveals information about climate change impacts and adaptation.  Presenters will also illustrate how indigenous peoples and other cultures have been affected by climate change and the challenges they have already faced in responding to climate impacts.

"This conference is an exciting opportunity both for students to showcase their innovative research and for the general public to learn about indigenous environmental knowledge and the ways in which climate change disproportionately effects native peoples in the Pacific Northwest, throughout the Americas, and worldwide," said co-organizer Mark Carey, professor of history in the UO Robert D. Clark Honors College. 

In collaboration with the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station and the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project, the UO provided scholarships to three tribal college students from Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii to present their ongoing research during this conference. 

"I am deeply impressed by the level of expertise the students in my course and the tribal college students possess," said Carey. "We are fortunate to have two exceptionally distinguished keynote speakers as part of the conference events to interact with these diverse students and the broader community.”

The conference is sponsored by the UO’s Americas in a Globalized World Initiative, the Robert D. Clark Honors College, and the Environmental Studies Program, with additional support from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, and Latin American Studies. 

This conference is the culmination of a year-long series of events at the UO on indigenous peoples in the Americas.  Sponsored by the UO Americas in a Globalized World Initiative, these various events have highlighted a diversity of indigenous issues and insights throughout the hemisphere. 

As Carlos Aguirre, a professor of history and co-director of the Americas Initiative, explains, “this conference --and the series it is part of-- exemplifies the virtues of the kind of hemispheric and inter-disciplinary scholarship that The Americas initiative is fostering. In addition, it shows that close collaboration and dialogue with our diverse communities enhance and enrich the UO’s pedagogical and academic mission.”

The climate conference is also part of the May 24 Undergraduate Research Symposium and the May 23 UO Climate Change Faculty and Student Research Symposium starting at 10 a.m. in the Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum.

A full listing of events is available at:

·         Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change Conference: http://uoclimateconference.wordpress.com/

·         UO Undergraduate Research Symposium: http://undergradsymposium.uoregon.edu/

·         Indigenous Peoples in the Americas: http://uoamericas.uoregon.edu/current-areas-of-operation/

Media Contacts:  Kathy Lynn, Adjunct Research Assistant, Environmental Studies, Kathy@uoregon.edu; Office: 541-346-5777; mobile: 541-206-3281.

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