CULTIVATING CLIMATE LITERACY THROUGH INDIGENOUS STUDIES: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE “CLIMATE IN ARTS AND HISTORY” EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE

The “Climate in Arts and History” is a web-based educational resource that strives to promote climate literacy in disciplines beyond the natural and environmental sciences. This resource highlights the impact of climate on society and culture through topical entries on the themes of history, art, literature, languages, and music. The website is intended for use by K-12 students and teachers, as well as general audiences from across the world, with the goal of helping people understand how climate intersects with every facet of human life. In consultation with experts, Smith College undergraduate students from across disciplines have been working to develop website entries, drawing from recent publications, performances, and other works.

The current stage of the project focuses on integrating Indigenous perspectives across all aspects of the website. Indigenous perspectives are essential to cultivating climate literacy; climate history and the looming climate crisis cannot be separated from the ongoing truth of settler colonialism. The new “Indigenous Studies” webpage (https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/indigenous-studies/) is a growing compilation of resources that connect Indigenous history and knowledge of climate with the goal of resisting the dominance of Western thought and reimagining our collective understanding of place, land, and climate. This webpage provides an introduction to the field of Indigenous studies, including the concept of land acknowledgments, settler colonialism, and the importance of decolonization, which serve as an essential framework for further exploration of Indigenous knowledges on the topic of climate. The page also lists links to the “Climate in Arts and History” website entries that center on Indigenous peoples. An example includes “The Great Dying” entry from the “History/Social Studies” theme, which connects the widespread destruction Europeans inflicted on Indigenous peoples across the Americas at the onset of the colonial era to anthropogenically-caused changes in climate.

At this stage of project development we seek to share the in-progress work to solicit feedback from the community. View the entire Climate Literacy Resource at http://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/ and contact us at climate@smith.edu.