University Of Arizona Launches Indigenous Resilience Center To Work With Tribes On Sustainability
Karletta Chief, an associate professor and Extension specialist in the UArizona Department of Environmental Science, pounds a soil sample tube into the Hogback irrigation canal near Waterflow, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation in 2017. Soil sampling was done to measure arsenic and lead in the sediment to better understand the impact of the Gold King Mine Spill of 2015 on the Navajo Nation. Chief, who is Diné, will lead the university's new Indigenous Resilience Center.
Courtesy of Karletta Chief
Climate change impacts us all now, but for those living on Native American reservations, the environmental impacts are often more extreme. From access to water and drought to the lack of infrastructure to deal with extreme weather, Indigenous nations are on the front lines of the climate crisis. Now, the University of Arizona is starting a new center aimed at helping them address those challenges.
The Indigenous Resilience Center will work directly with tribes on projects like solar power, off-grid water resources, agriculture and food resources and native plant adaptation, to name a few. Extension specialist Karletta Chief, who is Dine, will lead the effort. The Show spoke with her to learn about the center and its goals. Listen to this story.