Climate Disruption, Contagious Disease and Public Health Epstein, Paul

Profound Consequences: Climate Disruption, Contagious Disease and Public Health Epstein, Paul . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 64.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Linthicum and others examine links between periods of heavy rainfall in East Africa between 1950 and 1998 and outbreaks of Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease that infects both domestic animals and humans.(3) In the Horn of Africa, records since 1950 indicate that Rift Valley fever outbreaks follow periods of intense precipitation. During the 1997-98 El Ni#241;o event, the Horn received up to 40 times the average rainfall, isolating villages, obliterating roads, and precipitating a duster of diseases: tens of thousands of new cases of cholera and malaria and 89,000 cases (with nearly 1,000 deaths) of Rift Valley fever.(4) Linthicum and colleagues show that by tracking sea surface temperature anomalies of the Pacific and Indian oceans and combining these data with vegetation changes detected by remote sensing satellites, they were able to forecast Rift Valley fever epidemics five months in advance of outbreaks. Such early warnings would give sufficient time for interventions, such as vaccination of livestock and treatment of mosquito breeding sites. Using climate data to project conditions that are conducive to disease outbreaks will be invaluable in combating the burden of extreme weather events on public health.

Connections between climate and disease are not new.(5) Climate constrains the range of many infectious diseases, and weather affects the timing and intensity of outbreaks.(6) Reappraisal of these associations is aided by increased understanding of the Earth's climate system, in particular how land and sea surface temperatures and pressure gradients drive winds and weather. The atmosphere holds 6 percent more water vapor with each rise in temperature of one degree Celsius. The resulting increase in evaporation and greater residence time for water vapor in the atmosphere boost humidity and heat indices, fuels storms, and reinforces the greenhouse effect (the trapping of heat by atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide).(7) An increase in the cloud cover blocks outgoing heat, contributing to disproportionate warming at night and during the winter.(8) These are conditions that are unhealthy for humans but advantageous for insects that transmit infectious diseases. A moisture-laden atmosphere also generates more tropical-like downpours that create breeding grounds for mosquitoes, propel rodents from burrows, and flush nutrients, chemicals, and microorganisms into waterways.

Understanding the evolution of such weather anomalies will require integrating data from the El Ni#241;o-Southern Oscillation (the anomalous warming or cooling of the eastern Pacific) with local sea surface temperatures and eventually, with decadal-to-centennial cycles in climate variability and human influences. Changes in atmospheric chemistry may have so altered Earth's heat budget that natural climate modes such as El Ni#241;o have been modified. Studies suggest that the ocean is becoming warmer at intermediate depths and around both poles.(11) If the world's oceans are a long-term heat sink for this century's global warming, then this has profound implications for marine life and terrestrial weather patterns.

FULL TEXT Profound Consequences: Climate Disruption, Contagious Disease and Public Health

Extreme weather events -- unusually heavy rainfall or long periods of drought -- have a profound impact on public

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 1 of 128 health, particularly in developing countries, and the aftershocks are rippling through economies worldwide.(1) For example, Hurricane Mitch -- nourished by a warmed Caribbean hit Central America in November 1998, killing more than 11,000 people and causing more than $5 billion damage. The intense precipitation and flooding associated with the hurricane spawned a cluster of disease outbreaks, including cholera, a waterborne disease (more than 30,000 cases), and malaria and dengue fever, transmitted by mosquitoes that flourish under these conditions (more than 30,000 cases and more than 1,000 cases, respectively). If more frequent and intense extreme weather events continue to be a primary manifestation of climate change,(2) then harnessing climate data to forecast future disease outbreaks should enable preventive action to be taken.

Linthicum and others examine links between periods of heavy rainfall in East Africa between 1950 and 1998 and outbreaks of Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease that infects both domestic animals and humans.(3) In the Horn of Africa, records since 1950 indicate that Rift Valley fever outbreaks follow periods of intense precipitation. During the 1997-98 El Niño event, the Horn received up to 40 times the average rainfall, isolating villages, obliterating roads, and precipitating a duster of diseases: tens of thousands of new cases of cholera and malaria and 89,000 cases (with nearly 1,000 deaths) of Rift Valley fever.(4) Linthicum and colleagues show that by tracking sea surface temperature anomalies of the Pacific and Indian oceans and combining these data with vegetation changes detected by remote sensing satellites, they were able to forecast Rift Valley fever epidemics five months in advance of outbreaks. Such early warnings would give sufficient time for interventions, such as vaccination of livestock and treatment of mosquito breeding sites. Using climate data to project conditions that are conducive to disease outbreaks will be invaluable in combating the burden of extreme weather events on public health.

Sudden weather changes and sequential extremes also can yield surprises. Droughts suppress predators, whereas heavy rains boost food supplies -- a synergy that can spark rodent population explosions. A large increase in the deer mouse population in the southwestern United States in 1993 resulted in the emergence of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome.(9) In Honduras, drought-sustained wildfires consumed 4,400 square miles of forest during the summer preceding Mitch, widening the deforestation that magnified the flooding and devastation from the hurricane.(10)

Understanding the evolution of such weather anomalies will require integrating data from the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (the anomalous warming or cooling of the eastern Pacific) with local sea surface temperatures and eventually, with decadal-to-centennial cycles in climate variability and human influences. Changes in atmospheric chemistry may have so altered Earth's heat budget that natural climate modes such as El Niño have been modified. Studies suggest that the ocean is becoming warmer at intermediate depths and around both poles.(11) If the world's oceans are a long-term heat sink for this century's global warming, then this has profound

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 128 implications for marine life and terrestrial weather patterns.

Historically, periods of accelerated social transition have often been accompanied by the re-emergence of infectious diseases.(12) The current resurgence(13) can be attributed to changes at three levels -- social (economic disparities and untoward practices such as excessive use of antibiotics and pesticides), ecological (habitat loss and simplification), and global (alterations in climate and stratospheric ozone). Ecological integrity is central to health. Habitat mosaics (for example, wetlands and forests) absorb floodwaters and support the genetic, species, and functional group diversity that ensures resilience to stress and resistance to pests and pathogens.(14)

Extended droughts and thawing during warmer winters render northern forests vulnerable to infestations with insect pests. Parched agricultural lands attract aphids, locusts, and virus-bearing white flies, while fungi flourish after floods. Warming and "carbon dioxide fertilization" causing enhanced plant growth may also encourage leaf- eating pests, favor weeds, and promote pollen production.(15) Already, 35 to 42 percent of growing and stored crops are lost to pests, pathogens, and weeds, costing $244 billion worldwide annually.(16) Increased climate variability could substantially alter future food security and global nutrition.(17)

Emerging diseases associated with algal toxins, bacteria, and viruses are affecting a wide range of marine species: fish, shorebirds, and mammals.(18) Of great concern are diseases that attack coral and sea grasses, essential habitats that sustain mobile aquatic species. High sea surface temperatures in the 1990s have resulted in bleaching, perhaps the most disturbing biological sign of global warming.

With disproportionate warming in the winter, at high latitudes and high elevation,(19) most summit glaciers are in retreat. Polar researchers suspect that melting at the base of the Greenland ice sheet may be sculpting fault lines that could diminish its stability.(20) Shrinking of Earth's ice cover (cryosphere) has implications for water (agriculture, hydropower, and health) and for climate stability. The effects of warming and changing weather patterns on forests, agriculture, marine life, and water may hold the most profound consequences for global health.

The cost of extreme weather events and associated emerging infectious diseases is mounting. All told, weather- related losses -- combining growth of coastal settlements, ecological vulnerabilities and extreme weather -- grew exponentially from the 1980s to the 1990s; losses of $89 billion in 1998 (11 months) eclipsed the losses of $55 billion for the entire decade of the 1980s.(21)

There are several solutions to combating the increased burden or emerging infectious diseases. Greater surveillance of and response to outbreaks is essential.(22) Health early-warning systems based on climate forecasting and remote sensing can complement famine early-warning systems.(23) Prevention is possible if the underlying social and environmental causes are addressed.

Contemporaneous changes in greenhouse gas concentrations, ozone levels, the cryosphere, ocean temperature, land use, and land cover challenge the stability of our epoch, the Holocene -- a remarkable 10,000-year era that followed the retreat of the great ice sheets from temperate zones. High-resolution ice core records suggest that greater variance from climate norms may indicate greater climate instability,(24) increasing the potential for rapid shifts between stable climate states.(25)

In the 1980s, health considerations forged international agreements banning ozone-depleting chemicals and atmospheric nuclear testing. Today, concerns for health in the face of global change necessitate ecological

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 3 of 128 restoration and development of non-polluting energy sources.

Clean energy helps to stabilize the climate and can be used to power health facilities as well as pump water for irrigation and purify it for consumption. Renewable and energy-efficient technologies may become the new engine of economic growth, driving improvements in public health. Ultimately, we must shed inherited economic burdens and adopt new financial mechanisms -- incentives, subsidies, and funds -- to reverse environmental assaults on public health, preserve the global commons and achieve clean and equitable development in the coming century.

NOTES

(1) International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report 1998 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1998), p. 198.

(2) A. Dai, K.E. Trenberth, T.R. Karl, Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 3367, (1998).

(3) K.J. Linthicum et al., Science 285, 396 (1999).

(4) P.R. Epstein, Ed., Extreme Weather Events: The Health and Economic Consequences of the 1991/1998 El Niño and La Niña (Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., 1999).

(5) C.A. Gill, Indian J. Med. Res. 7, 618 (1920); A Leaf, New England Journal of Medicine 321, 1577 (1989).

(6) A.J. McMichael, A. Haines, R. Slooff, Eds., Climate Change and Human Health (World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization, U.N. Environmental Program, Geneva, 1996); P.R. Epstein et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 78, 409 (1998).

(7) D. Rind, Science 281, 1152 (1998); K.E. Trenberth, Clim. Change 36, 1 (1998).

(8) D.R. Easterling et al., Science 277, 364 (1997); T.R. Karl, N. Nicholls, J. Gregory, Scientific American (May 1997), p. 78.

(9) J.S. Duchin et al., New England Journal of Medicine 330, 949 (1984); P.R. Epstein, American Journal of Public Health 85, 168, (1994).

(10) J. Hellin, M. Haigh, F. Marks, Nature 399, 316, (1999).

(11) N.L. Bindoff and J.A. Church, ibid. 357, 59 (1992); G. Parrilla, A. Lavin, H. Bryden, M. Garcia, R. Millard, ibid. 3689, 4851 (1994); J. Travis, Science 266, 1947 (1994); A Regalado, ibid. 268, 1436 (1995).

(12) Institute of Medicine, Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1992); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Addressing Emerging Infectious Disease Threats; A Prevention Strategy for the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Ga., 1994); The World Health Report 1996: Fighting Disease Fostering Development (World Health Organization, Geneva, 1996).

(13) P.R. Epstein, American Journal of Preventive Medicine 8, 263, (1992).

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 4 of 128 (14) P.R. Epstein, A. Dobson, J. Vandermeer, in Biodiversity and Human Health, F. Grifo and J. Rosenthal, Eds. (Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1997), pp. 60-86; G.C. Daily, Ed., Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1997); P.D. Coley, Science 284, 2098 (1999), P. Wilf and C.C. Labandeira, ibid., p. 2153.

(15) E.D. Fajer, M.D. Bowers, F. A. Bazzaz, Oecologia 87, 37 (1991); J. Emberlin, Allergy 49, 15 (1994); P.W. Wayne, S.L. Foster, J. Connoly, F. A. Bazzaz, unpublished data.

(16) D. Pimental, Ed., in Techniques for Reducing Pesticide Use (Wiley, New York, 1997), pp. 1-11.

(17) C. Rosenzweig and D. Hillel, Climate Change and the Global Harvest (Oxford University Press, New York, 1998), pp. 101-122.

(18) P.R. Epstein, T.E. Ford, R.R. Colwell, Lancet 342, 1216 (1993), P.R. Epstein, Ed., Marine Ecosystems: Emerging Diseases as Indicators of Change (Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions of Global Change, Center far Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., 1998).

(19) J.T. Houghton, et.al., Eds., Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change, Contribution of Working Group I to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995); L.G. Thompson, et al., Global Planet, Change 7, 145, (1993); H.F. Diaz and N.E. Graham, Nature 383, 152 (1996).

(20) W: Krabill et al., Science 283, 1522 (1999).

(21) J.N. Abramovotiz and S. Dunn, Record Year for Weather-Related Disasters, Vital Signs Brief 98-5 (Worldwatch Institute, www.worldwatch.org/alerts/981127.html, Washington, D.C., 1998).

(22) R.L. Berkelman, R.T. Bryan, M.T. Osterholm, J.W. Le Due, J.M. Hughes, Science 264, 368 (1994); S. Binder, A.M. Levitt, J.J. Sacks, J.M. Hughes, Science 284, 1311 (1999).

(23) P.C. Stern and W.E. Easterling, Eds., Making Climate Forecasts Matter (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1999).

(24) P. Mayewski, personal communication.

(25) K. Taylor, American Science 87, 320, (1999).

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Ecology; Environment; Global warming; Health; Preventive medicine

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 5 of 128 Location: Caribbean Central America Africa United States Caribbean Central America Africa United States

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 64

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000017

ProQuest document ID: 224784587

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THE MACHU PICCHU MODEL: Climate Change and Agricultural Diversity Benjamin, Craig . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 76.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The Andean potato is one of the world's most important food crops. Each year in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, roughly 50 billion acres are planted with potatoes descended from plants first domesticated in South America 7,000 years ago. Along with other crops first domesticated by indigenous peoples -- such as corn from Central America, squash, beans and tomatoes from the Andes, and rice from South Asia -- potatoes literally feed the world. And when these global crops are no longer suited to the environment in which they are grown, when their resistance to disease and pests begins to fail or the climate itself changes, the best way to rejuvenate the breeding stock will be to introduce new genetic material from the vast diversity of crop varieties still maintained by indigenous peoples.

Before this point is reached, however, non-indigenous farmers on the richer neighboring terraces must confront a crisis of their own. Pests and diseases that failed to gain a foothold among the diverse crops of the indigenous farms spread rapidly through the monocultures of the white and mestizo farmers with devastating results. Even for those farmers who can afford them, increased pesticides will not solve the problem. The crops themselves must be radically and quickly altered. The wealthiest of these farmers have the technological resources for plant breeding. What they lack are the "raw materials," the genetic characteristics for resistance. At this point, conceivably, a new relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous farmers might be negotiated to prevent the collapse of farming.

The destruction of the Irish potato crop was caused by a fungal disease known as "late blight," but it is linked to climate and farming practices. The disease likely originated in Central America near the present-day border of Mexico and Guatemala. Significantly, although indigenous farmers in the region had apparently lived with the blight for generations, there is no indication that the blight had ever caused starvation before it was introduced to Ireland. The indigenous farmers were likely protected against the blight by the great genetic diversity among the potatoes that they grew and by the overall diversity of their diet. In contrast, the Irish laborers were almost wholly dependent on potatoes descended from two closely related varieties. When damp weather in late summer gave the blight its first foothold in Ireland, it spread quickly through these fields of largely uniform crops with devastating results.

FULL TEXT THE MACHU PICCHU MODEL: Climate Change and Agricultural Diversity

Above a small village on the steep slopes of the Andes, a Quechua farmer holds a half dozen potatoes cupped in his hands. The seed potatoes are red, blue, and brown. The translucent sprouts that have started to emerge in preparation for planting are tinged with purple and gold.

Four factors -- geography, sunlight, temperature, and rainfall -- and their interplay are critical to farming. Global

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 7 of 128 warming or any other form of dramatic climate change will have a profound impact on this equation.

The air is often crisp and cool when the Quechua farmer plants his seed potatoes. But what would happen if the weather at planting time was hot and humid or if heavy rainfalls were to wash away the thin soil of his field? In fact, climate change is potentially catastrophic for the farming traditions that are central to many Native cultures, and critical to the livelihoods of the majority of Native peoples in Latin America.

Public debate around global warming tends to focus on the large-scale industrial farms of the North. The Quechua farmer and others who work on a small scale and use traditional methods have been largely ignored. However, as the world slowly comes to terms with the threat of climate change, Native farming traditions will warrant greater attention. This is owing to the fifth factor critical to farming: the seed itself.

The Andean potato is one of the world's most important food crops. Each year in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, roughly 50 billion acres are planted with potatoes descended from plants first domesticated in South America 7,000 years ago. Along with other crops first domesticated by indigenous peoples -- such as corn from Central America, squash, beans and tomatoes from the Andes, and rice from South Asia -- potatoes literally feed the world. And when these global crops are no longer suited to the environment in which they are grown, when their resistance to disease and pests begins to fail or the climate itself changes, the best way to rejuvenate the breeding stock will be to introduce new genetic material from the vast diversity of crop varieties still maintained by indigenous peoples.

The spectrum of colors displayed in the Quechua farmer's potatoes reflects the fact that each is genetically distinct. The genetic diversity of the half-dozen potatoes he holds in his hands is roughly comparable to the diversity you might find in a North American supermarket. However, it is only a small sample of the 100 to 200 potato varieties planted each year on the Andean slopes. And even this represents only a fraction of the total diversity found throughout the region. From Colombia to Chile, it is estimated that indigenous peoples cultivate at least eight potato species and more than 3,000 varieties. The Andes also sustain at least 100 more wild potato species.

The extraordinary genetic diversity of Andean potatoes and of other Andean crops such as squash and beans is the product of millennia of plant breeding. And much of this plant breeding has been driven by the need to adapt crops to the extraordinary climatic diversity of the region.

The Andes is one of the world's most complex and varied regions in terms of geography and climate. Along the two axes of latitude and altitude, the Andes encompasses fully two-thirds of all possible combinations of climate and geography found on Earth, including cloud forests, deserts, rolling grasslands, lakes, marshes, glacial plains and the headwaters of the Amazon.

Add extreme weather occurrences to the wide-ranging geographical variations and agricultural challenges become magnified. There are many ways farmers can respond to unfavorable conditions and climate changes. If rainfall is insufficient, they can use artificial irrigation. If summers are too long and too hot, they can apply more fertilizers to bring on early maturation. Or they can do as Andean farmers have done over the millennia and adapt the crops to suit the climate and conditions. Over thousands of years, Native peoples introduced agriculture into virtually every ecosystem in the Andes and adapted an incredible diversity both of crops and crop varieties to these conditions. The most important of these crops, the potato, has been adapted to every environment except the depth of the rainforest or the frozen peaks of the mountains.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 8 of 128 Today, facing the likelihood of dramatic disruptions to the climatic conditions for agriculture worldwide, indigenous farmers provide a dramatic example of crop adaptation in an increasingly extreme environment. More importantly, Native farmers also safeguard the crop diversity essential for future adaptations.

Downslope is the best known historical site of Andean culture, Machu Picchu. Here the mountainside has been carved in all directions with hundreds of terraces, some as narrow as a few feet in width. Anthropologist Jack Weatherford, in his book Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World, suggests that Machu Picchu was not primarily a ceremonial site, as is sometimes assumed, but the center of Incan agricultural research. He speculates that the terraces were created as test plots mirroring the various climate and soil conditions of key regions of an empire that spanned much of the Andes. On these terraces, new varieties of food and textile crops would have been bred and tested before being distributed to local farmers for further adaptation.

To get a rough idea of the likely effects of climate change on agriculture, imagine the terraces of Machu Picchu repopulated as a kind of microcosm of contemporary farming in the Americas. In this microcosm, indigenous farmers have access to only a few narrow terraces representing the most difficult growing conditions. The indigenous people continue to work the land, sustaining themselves through their knowledge of the terraces and through the preservation and continued improvements of crops adapted to these conditions.

Now imagine that a natural process such as erosion, which would normally take place imperceptibly over thousands of years, is suddenly accelerated so the impact is felt in a single generation. Imagine that over a period of 20 years, the terraces of Machu Picchu drop 500 feet or more closer to sea level. As altitude decreases, temperature increases. But on individual terraces, the results are more complex and variable. Precipitation levels, for example, are also affected. The higher temperatures lead to increased water evaporation. Rain strikes some slopes, and the water available to some crops increases. Other slopes, however, are passed by. Some experience increased cloudiness, while rainfall diminishes and streams dry up. The world of insects and microorganisms is radically altered.

One can imagine that the indigenous farmers initially would be able to survive such changes. Natural weather cycles such as El Niño already vary farming conditions enormously with droughts and floods. Many indigenous farmers cope with these naturally occurring fluctuations by conserving seed stock suited to a wide range of growing conditions, by storing food in forms such as dried potatoes, and by maintaining hardy wild foods that can be drawn on in times of extreme weather conditions.

Eventually, on many terraces, conditions will emerge unlike any ever faced by the indigenous farmers. Even if it were theoretically possible to farm under these conditions, the pace of traditional plant breeding would be too slow for the rate and extent of change now facing the indigenous farmers. Adapting crops and knowledge that had been so precisely suited to entirely different conditions would require greater resources than those available to the indigenous farmers. At this point, traditions of indigenous agriculture handed down through the ages could well collapse.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 9 of 128 the collapse of farming.

How realistic is this scenario? The fact is that traditional systems of indigenous agriculture stand in sharp contrast to the system of food growing that now predominates in the United States and Canada, but the two systems are intricately linked. And this link may be the key to how climate change impacts global agriculture.

In this industrial model of agriculture, one or two crop varieties are grown over vast areas. Instead of trying to use local resources of soil and water optimally and sustainably, the natural environment is all but ignored and uniform growing conditions are fabricated through large-scale irrigation and the intensive use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.

In the industrial agricultural system, a handful of basically similar potato varieties, all of which require nearly identical soil conditions, temperature, rainfall and growing seasons, account for almost all global production. In fact, in the United States, the Russet Burbank (the variety preferred by fast food restaurants and manufacturers of potato chips and frozen french fries) accounts for 60 percent of commercial production. More money is spent radically modifying potato-growing conditions with artificial pesticides and fertilizers than is spent on any other crop.

As this industrial agricultural model expands throughout the world, it is more and more often in conflict with the survival of the indigenous peoples whose lands are being appropriated for plantations and whose ecosystems are being destroyed by river diversions and pesticide run-offs. Ironically, as the industrial model of agriculture expands, it is also becoming ever more dependent on indigenous peoples.

Monocultures -- large, uninterrupted fields of uniform crops -- create ideal conditions for disease and pests to evolve and spread. Growing these crops around the world in conditions that have been made uniform by large- scale irrigation and use of artificial pesticides and fertilizers further worsens the situation. When crops fail, agribusiness responds by discarding the old varieties for new ones bred for greater resistance either to the latest pests and diseases or to the chemicals used to fight these pests. But because these so-called improved varieties are again grown in global monocultures, ideal conditions are once again created for new pests and diseases to emerge or for the old pests and disease to evolve and overcome the new defenses. It is a vicious cycle often compared to running on a treadmill.

The inherent dangers of this approach to farming have long been clear. In the autumn of 1846, nearly 90 percent of the Irish potato crop rotted in the fields. Potatoes, introduced from the Americas decades before, had become the staple diet of Irish farm laborers. When the potatoes rotted, the laborers starved. By the end of the next autumn and the second crop failure, more than 1 million people had died in the "Irish potato famine."

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 10 of 128 Potato farmers eventually recovered from the blight by breeding new potato varieties with a more varied genetic heritage. Plant hunters were also able to locate blight resistant varieties among indigenous farm communities in Central and South America and recent breeding programs have attempted to incorporate these traits.

Despite such lessons from history, the overall trend of industrial agriculture over the last 100 years has been toward less, rather than more, diversity. In North America alone, an estimated 97 percent of commercial crop varieties have become extinct in this century, either because seed companies have streamlined their inventories or because the most important buyers -- the food processors, restaurants, and supermarkets -- have no need for such diversity.

Seed banks may help stem this rate of extinction but they are by no means a solution. No seed bank or network of seed banks could ever represent the infinite variation in climate adaptation even within plant varieties that occurs at the level of each community or farmer's fields. Furthermore, plant varieties conserved only in seed banks have had their evolution halted so that they no longer interact and adapt to the constantly changing growing conditions found in farmers' fields.

As a growing number of conservation organizations, government programs and international agencies have come to recognize, true conservation of genetic diversity can only take place in farmers' fields. Unfortunately, the ultimate consequence of the industrial model of agriculture is farm fields that in the words of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences are "impressively uniform ... and impressively vulnerable."

This impressive vulnerability of industrial agriculture is key to understanding how climate change will likely have an impact on global agriculture and on the relationship between industrial agriculture and indigenous farming communities. Faced with rapid and dramatic climate change, the impressively vulnerable industrial farm can conceivably continue to use large-scale irrigation and artificial fertilizers to counter the effects of changing temperature and precipitation. The cost would be high, no doubt much higher than many farmers in the southern hemisphere or Third World could bear, and probably higher than could be absorbed by most marginal to medium- scale farmers in North America or Europe. At the same time, these changes might be welcomed by the largest agribusiness enterprises, which could afford the higher levels of industrial inputs and could profit from this new advantage.

Ultimately, however, changes in temperature are not the only serious challenge faced by the industrial farmer. Crop losses to insect pests have steadily increased throughout this century despite -- or perhaps because of -- ever- greater use of pesticides. Outbreaks of famine-threatening diseases such as late blight are becoming more and more frequent. Not only has industrial agriculture failed to eradicate the blight, the blight has evolved into new and more virulent forms. Insects and disease are able to spread amidst modern plant breeding and industrial controls because of their vast numbers and rapid rate of reproduction. Together these factors allow disease and insects to quickly adapt and thrive in the face of agribusiness controls or climate changes. Sudden, dramatic climate change will inevitably catalyze new evolutionary pathways to which industrial agriculture cannot possibly respond without drawing on the genetic diversity preserved by indigenous peoples.

At the same time, the survival of Native farmers ultimately depends on the concentrated research capacity of the industrial farm system. Native farmers, who have successfully domesticated and adapted countless plant varieties over the millennia, soon will be up against the challenge of accelerating the pace of adaptation to bring about substantial new adaptations within a generation. The fact is that the scale of industrial agriculture, the wealth that it has generated, and the ample support of publicly funded research have led to a number of significant breakthroughs in just this kind of plant breeding.

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Take again the example of the potato. Most potatoes are grown from sprouted potato eyes rather than from seed. As a result, the genetic makeup of the resulting plant is identical to this single parent. Furthermore, since the potatoes that produce these sprouts grow side by side with their parents in the soil, disease is passed on from one generation to the next and tends to build up over time.

Indigenous farmers in the Andes typically grow most potatoes from sprouted potatoes. Andean farmers usually also grow some potatoes from the "true seeds" that are sometimes produced above ground on the potato stalk once its flowers have been pollinated. Potatoes grown from true seed are highly random, almost unpredictable combinations of the genes from the two parents. Producing a useful new variety in this way requires both a keen knowledge of the plant and the patience of a lifetime.

Scientists working for Northern institutions, transnational corporations and the International Potato Center in Peru have made a number of recent advances based on these traditional techniques. One is the use of tissue cultures grown under sterile laboratory conditions to produce sprouting potatoes from which most or all soil-borne diseases have been eliminated. Another is a technique for creating true potato seeds that, like the seeds of hybrid corn or beans, produce consistent, uniform offspring. Finally, genetic engineering has permitted the rapid identification and insertion of specific genetic characteristics into potato breeding stock.

Current technologies, however, have not addressed the needs or concerns of indigenous peoples. In the best case, tissue culture technology is being used to maintain viability of potato varieties that might otherwise be discarded. However, contrary to developments with "true potato seed," this technology has been applied exclusively to preservation and breeding of potato varieties for largescale, commercial monocultures. In the worst case, biotechnology is being used, not to accelerate the results that could be obtained through traditional breeding, but to create new and potentially hazardous cross-species fusions that could never occur in nature. One such example is the hybrid of potato and toxic bacteria created by Monsanto that defends itself against pests by poisoning them. In addition, with these new advances, the scientists are using the Western intellectual property system to claim patent and patent-like rights over the technology and its products, which allows them to monopolize the profits and exert monopoly control over how the technology is applied.

What is needed is a way to apply these technologies in a dramatically different way. Scientists with the resources to accelerate plant breeding must work in partnership with the communities and peoples who maintain contemporary crop diversity. Local farmers must not be prohibited from adapting the products of new plant breeding to their own needs, but enabled to do so. Call it the Machu Picchu model.

Recent trends in international law would support this kind of paradigm shift in agricultural research as a right of indigenous peoples. The legally binding Convention on Biological Diversity and ILO Convention 169, the moral principles of the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UNESCO Model Provisions for the Protection of Folklore -- as well as the broader concept of Farmers' Rights being developed within the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which would apply to any traditional farmer -- all point toward a new regime of collective rights over knowledge and resources for the traditional innovators and knowledge keepers. The elements of such a rights regime as it is emerging in the UN system would include the right to prior informed consent of any use or elaboration of indigenous knowledge or genetic resources, the right to a fair share in the benefits derived from the exploitation of indigenous knowledge and resources, and the right to participate as full partners in this development.

Perhaps most significantly, the Biodiversity Convention recognizes that information exchange and technology

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 12 of 128 transfer should be two-way exchanges. Although arguably intended to promote corporations' access to genetic resources in the southern hemisphere, the Convention makes explicit -- and legally binding -- the right of indigenous peoples to have access to and share in the benefits of the scientific resources of the North. The wording of the Convention suggests that these rights are held not just at the international or national level, but by each village or community.

As yet, there is no enforcement mechanism to back up this emerging body of indigenous rights. In general, enforcement has lagged far beyond the recognition of rights in international law. Five decades after the recognition of the crime of genocide, the UN system is only just now setting up criminal courts to try those accused of such crimes. The enforcement of rights pertaining to indigenous knowledge and biological resources is currently evolving at the intergenerational pace of traditional plant breeding. But if the effects of climate change are already upon us, the evolution of such enforcement mechanisms must be dramatically and immediately accelerated. The ability of future generations to feed themselves depends on it.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (Machu Pichu)

DETAILS

Subject: Agriculture; Culture; Environment; Farming; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Peru Peru

People: Weatherford, Jack Weatherford, Jack

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 76

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 13 of 128 Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000020

ProQuest document ID: 224784509

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The Public Eye: HOPI-HAUDENOSAUNEE; SHARING PROPHETIC TRADITIONS Mohawk, John . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 90.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Today, hanging from the ceiling of the Onondaga longhouse is a small feather. It is evidence, to those who know the story, of the visits paid by the Hopi and of the treaty of friendship the Hopi and Haudenosaunee entered into during the 1970s. The Hopi came with a request, and introduced one of their people, Thomas Banyacya, as their spokesman to the outside world. They were on a mission, they explained, to warn the world about an impending danger and they wanted assistance because their prophecy foretold of a house of mica on the East coast and that the representatives of the people of the world gathered in this place. The Hopi wanted to deliver their message to

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 14 of 128 this house and the Confederacy agreed to help.

He carried with him a fabric banner with a facsimile of a pictograph he said was on an ancient rock not far from Oraybi, Ariz. Oraybi is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited town in the lower 48 states, and Hopi mythology and prophecy have been the subject of numerous books, articles and documentaries. For the most part, people have been curious and respectful of the Hopi prophecies, but little serious attention was paid to Banyacya or the Hopi message. The general public tends toward things deemed entertaining or inspirational, and the Hopi ancient wisdom was lengthy, complex and out of step with the industrial world's religion of progress.

For more than 40 years, Thomas Banyacya and other Hopi elders sought to address the United Nations at New York City in the "House of Mica." For about 20 years, they were joined by delegations from the Six Nations Confederacy In 1992, a decade of indigenous peoples was declared and on a December afternoon Banyacya was, at last, invited to address the United Nations. He told a version of the story that is recounted here. As he spoke, one of the worst storms in memory swirled out of the Atlantic and battered New York, causing flooding in the streets and high winds in a demonstration of nature's fury The storm may have been a coincidence. Global warming may be a coincidence. The Hopi philosophy of history, as presented here, counters the Western notion that changes occur over time in desirable and therefore progressive ways, and urges that nature reacts in unpredictable ways and that humans have a moral obligation to pay attention. The patterns of the Hopi message that bring us to this kind of conclusion may also be a coincidence. But then again, maybe not.

FULL TEXT The Public Eye: HOPI-HAUDENOSAUNEE; SHARING PROPHETIC TRADITIONS

Harry Watt, Longhouse leader from the Allegany Indian Reservation in western New York, told a story about a visit from a carload of Hopi in 1948. The Hopi said they had prophecies of working with some Indian people in the East, but that they had been told all the Indians east of the Mississippi had been killed. Then, during World War II, some of their young men encountered Indians from New York State.

The Hopi produced a piece of paper with a drawing depicting five men holding hands and said these were the people they were looking for. They were directed to Onondaga, capital of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, because the symbol was one of the images that appears on a wampum belt depicting the unity of the five founding nations of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy.

Today, hanging from the ceiling of the Onondaga longhouse is a small feather. It is evidence, to those who know the story, of the visits paid by the Hopi and of the treaty of friendship the Hopi and Haudenosaunee entered into during the 1970s. The Hopi came with a request, and introduced one of their people, Thomas Banyacya, as their spokesman to the outside world. They were on a mission, they explained, to warn the world about an impending danger and they wanted assistance because their prophecy foretold of a house of mica on the East coast and that the representatives of the people of the world gathered in this place. The Hopi wanted to deliver their message to this house and the Confederacy agreed to help.

Banyacya was a tireless messenger. He traveled all over the world, addressing large groups and small, always with the same message.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 15 of 128 have been curious and respectful of the Hopi prophecies, but little serious attention was paid to Banyacya or the Hopi message. The general public tends toward things deemed entertaining or inspirational, and the Hopi ancient wisdom was lengthy, complex and out of step with the industrial world's religion of progress.

The Oraybi rock pictograph was comprised of two symbols, which appear on ancient Hopi pottery -- a circle representing the sun and a reversed swastika, which is said to represent the winds. Beneath these were drawings of two parallel lines connected at right angles by two shorter lines. The bottom line was straight and had representations of people and corn, the top line curved downward in a zigzag pattern and appeared to go nowhere.

Banyacya used these illustrations to tell his story This was an ancient prophecy, he said, and the two lines represent the way of life of distinct peoples. On the bottom line is the way of life of those who live in harmony with nature. They are seen as living a permanent existence. On the top line are people who do not live in harmony with nature -- such as industrial civilizations.

In ancient times, he said, there existed previous worlds. In each of these, the people were not satisfied with their lives. They wanted more and more material goods and they came up with all kinds of inventions that allowed them to do marvelous things like fly.

But in order to do these things they gave up their relationship with nature and the sacred. In time the spirits of nature were revolted by this behavior and they caused a great purification -- fire, floods -- and swept all away Survivors went on to build again and another thing happened. Greed and materialism prevailed, the spirits of nature became angry, and again the world was destroyed. And again there was purification. Three times this happened, three times the world was destroyed, and today, we exist in this, the Fourth World.

The pictograph illustrates peoples on two roads and the lines connecting them represent two times the Earth would shake and the second time the two symbols would appear and things would go on for another generation or two. (The two symbols are thought to represent the rising sun of Japan and the Nazi swastika, and the second event, of course, is World War II.) Then the upper road, the path with the zigzag lines, would no longer be sustainable and those people are destined to suffer greatly and their way of life will end. But the people on the bottom line, those, who maintain the way of life in harmony with the creation, will go on as before and they will not feel the destruction.

It will be difficult for the Hopi voice to be heard in 1999 because there are a number of prophets of doom competing for attention. There have been stories similar to this in other cultures; the most famous among them is the story of the Floods and Noah's Ark. The Hopi have explained that they have been trying to warn the world since the end of World War II. The sincerity of their message is clear to anyone who has heard their story and, in these times, reinforced by the fact they did not establish an 800 number or tell people where they can send money to avert disaster. The most cynical among us cannot point to a profit motive but might think this is simply an indigenous superstition or revitalization movement; that the events described either never happened or, in the case of two world wars, were either invented after the fact or were simply coincidences.

What if the Hopi prophecy is none of these things? What if this story is what remains, in the form it had to take, of a philosophy of history? What does this story say if we view it from this perspective?

There have not been very many philosophies of history even in Western culture. One of the most famous and long- lived appear in the writings of Augustine of Hippo (a.k.a. St. Augustine) who taught that history was the unfolding of God's plan for humankind on the road to the establishment of the Kingdom of God and the Second Coming and

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 16 of 128 Judgment Day This was a way of viewing the world as progressing (and progressive) toward a day when all the believers were to become immortal and the world would be perfected. It is, upon reflection, profoundly anthropocentric and without much consciousness about nature.

Machiavelli, the author of The Prince, thought that politics was at the center of the historical process and that people ambitious for power would endlessly compete with one another for dominance. Immanuel Kant had an interesting view of history because he thought it was both moral and progressive and that it moved toward the idea of humanity, in which humankind progresses toward freedom from the "shackles" of an ultimately mysterious and unknowable nature. But he was unable to reconcile the idea of progress because it came at a cost. The happiness of one generation ultimately comes at the sacrifice of the happiness of previous generations, and this price was immoral.

Francis Fukuyama thought history was the story of conflicts among opposing principles and that the collapse of the Soviet Union and its system of Communist rule signaled the end of these conflicts and the triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy He designated this moment of a perceived absence of opposing principles "the end of history," an idea that some think sounds absurd but also follows the general discourse that is the philosophy of history in the West.

The Hopi prophecy truly comes from a different world than these thinkers. The popular Western versions of the philosophy of history are anthropocentric. The Hopi may find human beings as the critical players, but humankind is far from the only player. The Indians of the Americas represent hundreds of different cultures, stretching from the mountains and forests of South America to the woodlands of North America, and a number of these are agricultural. Some of these peoples developed agriculture in the most difficult environments, including high deserts, mountains, lowlands, rainforests and so forth. The record of civilization in the Americas is one of triumph of human ingenuity. Some of the irrigation projects abandoned by Indians hundreds of years ago in places like Colombia and Bolivia are today being revitalized because, essentially, no one can improve upon the original designs.

Ultimately, the most important thing to know about these cultures is that they were extremely successful. American Indian farmers developed an extraordinarily diverse list of edible crops, ranging from potatoes and tomatoes to grains and tubers most people in North America know nothing about. The result of all this effort was unique. The history of Western civilization is littered with accounts of famines and plagues and long periods of time when food supplies, while not at famine levels, were in short supply. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico they found a culture in which people had enough food to eat.

Despite this, the archaeology of the Americas provides plenty of evidence of civilizations that rose, flourished and then disappeared or at least dramatically declined. Such cultures can be found on the Pacific coasts in South America, in Mexico, Central America and in the American Southwest. Some of these cultures declined for reasons unknown. Some may have declined because of internecine violence, and some appear to have declined because of climate change. The Anasazi culture, antecedent to the modern Pueblo, including the Hopi, may have declined because of climate change. According to the Hopi story, it happened more than once.

Western civilization had similar experiences in the ancient world. Ancient civilizations destroyed their forests, which speeded soil erosion, and they suffered from salinized and exhausted soils and sometimes became unable to feed their populations. Many explanations have been put forward to explain the fall of the most powerful of the civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean -- Rome. Among these several are interesting: greed (the owners of the great estates learned to escape taxes, which eroded the ability of Rome to defend herself) declining soils, the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 17 of 128 disappearance of firewood and an economic crisis initiated by a Roman version of globalization, which worked to Rome's disadvantage.

Western versions of the philosophy of history usually project that things are moving forward to some kind of utopian future where all the experiments have been tried and the best selected. This is the point Fukuyama has made about the triumph of representative liberal democracy The Hopi version is proposing that civilizations are not permanent and that a primary reason for their decline is the tendency of people to prefer a material prosperity of the present over responsibility to "ecological imperatives" and the future. The people of the Hopi First, Second and Third Worlds did not heed warnings about the consequences of their excesses.

The parallel is compelling. Contemporary industrial society has produced quantities of "greenhouse gases" and the subsequent global warming is producing weather patterns never seen before in some parts of the world. We experience more intense storms, unprecedented hurricanes, longer droughts, and the prospect of melting ice caps producing rising ocean levels that are already threatening some islands with destruction. Scientists can be offered monetary rewards to discover that the evidence of global warming is "controversial" -- evidence of the greed mentioned in the Hopi story -- and politicians are aware that the steps needed to reverse the trend are going to be unpopular and that the public is not clamoring for such measures.

Could it be that similar kinds of things happened to civilizations of the Southwest long ago? When the first frosts came in June, or the drought went into its third year, did people go about business as usual? Did a small number of them take steps to prepare? What kinds of steps did they take? What do the Hopi mean when they urge people to become more in tune with creation? Most curiously, why are they trying to warn a mostly uncaring world about impending disaster?

From everything we know about the history of agriculture in the Southwest, although various cultures declined, the people of those cultures persevered. In some stories they are said to have retreated into the Earth until the disaster passed, but in every case they re-emerged. The Indians of this area adapted agriculture to the desert and developed a culture that enabled them to live in what is, by any account, a hostile environment. Modern desert cities are colonial outposts that depend on the outside world for many of the things that support life. Unless there are dramatic changes in lifestyle, modern desert cities will disappear if the wider system of support declines. Civilization is always in danger of extinction, even civilizations that have lasted thousands of years.

This seems to be one of the messages of the Hopi philosophy of history Modern civilization is no exception. The idea of purification may be archaic, but it has its appeal. If global warming continues, the Arctic and Antarctic ice will melt, ocean levels will rise and the waters will inundate the cities that dot the coasts on every continent except Antarctica. That sounds like purification.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 18 of 128

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Traditions

Location: New York New York

People: Watt, Harry Watt, Harry

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 90

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000022

ProQuest document ID: 224784440

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STRESS ON STRESS: Global Warming and Aquatic Resource Depletion Gough, Robert . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 46.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Global climate change researchers have focused largely upon the important ocean fisheries, which contribute significantly to human food supply. Global (primarily marine) fisheries provide the world with about 20 percent of our animal protein. Worldwide fisheries are pressed to their natural limits and international fishing fleets are at over-capacity. Fishing fleets of various nations exceed their own boundaries and encroach on the territorial waters of other countries. Native concerns with the ocean fisheries involve those Native peoples living on the various islands and coastal territories of the Pacific and Caribbean. In addition, many of the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan peoples live in the spawning areas for salmon stock which mature and are then fished in the Pacific.

Warming temperatures and a rising sea level will affect coastal wetlands and other valuable fisheries habitat, because some 70 percent of global fish resources depend on near-shore or estuarine habitats at some point in their life cycle. Fish production will thus suffer when such nursery habitats are lost. A rising sea would increase pollution by lifting the water table in low-lying areas near the coast, releasing contaminants from dumpsites and viruses and bacteria from septic systems into coastal waters and waterways. Such contaminants could enter estuarine and inshore food chains and pose health hazards. Risk of cholera (associated with the proliferation of marine algal blooms) could rise, with human health implications for those consuming raw clams, mussels and oysters. For citizens' protection, governments may be forced to close affected areas to fish and shellfish harvesting. In addition to rising temperatures and sea levels, changes in ocean circulation would create impacts yet unknown. It is likely that shifting wind patterns and storm events could dramatically alter local currents and upwellings, affecting total fish production and species dominance.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 20 of 128 to the new conditions. Changing rain and snowfall patterns, along with particularly early springtime and flash-flood events, are likely to have significant effects on river fisheries, where production may be limited by the loss of spawning grounds and contamination from urban, industrial or agricultural lands. The other extreme of dry summer months is likely to bring about low oxygen levels at low-river flows.

FULL TEXT STRESS ON STRESS: Global Warming and Aquatic Resource Depletion

A comprehensive assessment of the potential effects of climate change has been undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, jointly established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. Through a series of reports and working papers, the climate control panel has sought to establish a common international base of information to assess the potential human and natural vulnerabilities, costs and benefits of anticipated climate change. The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) has presented a concise analysis of the potential impact of climate change on fishery resources for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency That analysis addresses the issue of global warming and provides the background source for the environmental impact of climate change on fisheries addressed here.

NATIVE FISHERIES

Native peoples have expertly adapted both their cultures and technologies over thousands of years to the sustained use of fishery resources of the Western Hemisphere. Tribes in every region of the country continue to rely in some degree upon local fishery resources as part of their local economies. North American fisheries include both the marine (Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf and Arctic) and the freshwater (Great Lakes, rivers and inland lakes) resources in and around Turtle Island.

In recent years numerous tribes, particularly in the Northwest Coast and Great Lakes, have engaged in litigation to assert their treaty-protected hunting, fishing and gathering rights to continue their historic subsistence and commercial patterns. Global warming has been identified as potentially one of the most important factors affecting the world's fisheries, with direct and indirect implications for Native peoples and their homeland economies.

Global climate change researchers have focused largely upon the important ocean fisheries, which contribute significantly to human food supply. Global (primarily marine) fisheries provide the world with about 20 percent of our animal protein. Worldwide fisheries are pressed to their natural limits and international fishing fleets are at over-capacity. Fishing fleets of various nations exceed their own boundaries and encroach on the territorial waters of other countries. Native concerns with the ocean fisheries involve those Native peoples living on the various islands and coastal territories of the Pacific and Caribbean. In addition, many of the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan peoples live in the spawning areas for salmon stock which mature and are then fished in the Pacific.

NATIVE INVESTMENT IN FISHING ECONOMIES

Tribes throughout the United States have invested substantial resources in the development of infrastructure associated with regional fisheries. Indirectly, tribes have capitalized segments of the tourism industry (resorts, restaurants, lodging, camping, boat landings, marinas, guiding operations, bait shops, sale of licenses and permits, etc.) to attract and accommodate seasonal visitors to the environs of Indian reservations.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 21 of 128 Many Native peoples living on the Pacific Coast, Caribbean Islands, throughout the Great Lakes and woodland regions, have long cultural histories based upon the utilization of marine, river and lake resources for year-round subsistence.

Fishery resources have become increasingly important beyond the traditional subsistence uses to become an integral part of Native local cash economies. Fishing has been developed and regulated for both commercial and subsistence purposes.

IPCC FINDINGS

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control has found that global warming will likely cause collapses of some fisheries and expansion of others. This impact will involve territorial shifts of fishery stock and may bring about changes in presence and available species. The level of impact will vary widely, depending upon the nature and complexity of each ecosystem, including the attributes and adaptability of each species, as well as upon the nature of the human communities dependent upon them. If climate change occurs on the scale indicated by the climate change models, significant effects can be expected on the distribution and productivity of valuable regional fisheries and the local industries associated with them.

Marine Fisheries: Nearly all of the marine fisheries utilized by Native peoples depend upon spawning grounds located in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Great Lakes, Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast. These areas contribute both nutrients and pollutants to marine fisheries.

Marine fisheries serve important tribal needs from direct subsistence use and through commercial and tourist industries, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

A significant concern to tribal communities is the potential synergistic effect between climate change and over- fishing. Climate changes can exacerbate the effects of over-fishing at a time of inherent instability in world fisheries. In addition, over-fishing creates an increased imbalance in the age composition of a stock, and may reduce the resiliency of the population. Further, changes in ocean currents may result in changes in fish population location and abundance and the loss of certain fish populations.

Freshwater Fisheries: There are vast freshwater fisheries and spawning lake and river habitats located in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Great Lakes, Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, along with extensive prairie pothole fishing clone throughout the Great Plains.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 22 of 128 Like marine fisheries, freshwater fisheries are relied on for subsistence purposes and allow for commercial and tourist industries. These resources also provide critical habitat for local and migratory bird populations, which are also relied upon for subsistence and recreational commerce.

The impact of climate change on inland freshwater fisheries is of significant concern to tribal communities given the potential for loss. Small rivers and lakes will be most sensitive to climate changes, especially in regions with greater temperature and precipitation changes such as the South, West, Great Plains, and Great Lakes. Population decline or local extinction may befall native species unable to move or adapt to such temperature changes. Surviving species may succumb to predatory pressure and competition from more exotic species better adapted to the new conditions. Changing rain and snowfall patterns, along with particularly early springtime and flash-flood events, are likely to have significant effects on river fisheries, where production may be limited by the loss of spawning grounds and contamination from urban, industrial or agricultural lands. The other extreme of dry summer months is likely to bring about low oxygen levels at low-river flows.

The NRDC have identified several positive and negative factors associated with greater warming and related precipitation at higher altitudes. On the positive side, there are likely to be faster fish growth and maturation rates, lower winter mortality rates and expanded habitats. On the negative side, there is likely to be an increase in summer anoxia, increased demands for food because of higher metabolism and a reduced habitat for cold-water species.

The NRDC has also projected sealevel associated changes. According to the NRDC, a potential rise in sea level of 1.5 feet over the next century will have extreme repercussions to island communities and wetlands. It is estimated that at this level, island communities will suffer inundation by salt water and some 2.5 million acres of wetlands could be lost in the lower 48 states alone. While scientists project that ocean and coastal fish production might first rise (as the result of marsh decomposition and increased availability of nutrients), by 2050 to 2100, however, the overall impact on fisheries probably will be negative. A lesser, but still significant, 14-inch rise in sea levels is likely to inundate 40 percent of the vast mudflats in Puget Sound. This would wipe out a significant habitat for shellfish and waterfowl that Northwest Coast tribes count on.

In addition to rising sea levels, substantial warming of coastal waters will affect farming of marine species in shallow water areas before deep oceanic species. In these cases, soft-shelled clams are likely to disappear from the bay and tidal areas. The warmer water conditions, especially in spawning areas, would also favor exotic over native species of significant commercial value.

Native fisheries are likely to face an array of extremes in the event of climate change. The effects and stresses will vary from region to region, but in most cases will spell altered, reduced, lost or unhealthy habitats, diminished fish species and in some cases, a complete collapse of fisheries. Native peoples who have come to rely upon fisheries must begin to address the multitude of effects that climate change could bring in order to avoid the devastating environmental and economic blows that could accompany such changes.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 23 of 128 Subject: Culture; Environment; Fishing industry; Global warming; Indigenous people; Industry; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: United States United States

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 46

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000013

ProQuest document ID: 224783454

Document URL: http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/224783454 ?accountid=12598

Last updated: 2017-11-07

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Tlaloc Betrayed: Hurricane Mitch, Indigenous Peoples and Mesoamerica's Climate Disaster Weinberg, Bill . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 51.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) A particularly bitter irony is that disaster preparedness itself has suffered under the IMF-imposed austerity, augmenting the catastrophe. In Hurricane Joan of 1998, "even the most isolated communities along the Atlantic coast had sufficient warning and support for evacuation." In contrast, when Mitch hit, "less than 80 miles from Managua, entire villages and families were buried alive." Benda#241;a attributes this to slashes in the civil defense budget instated by Aleman in compliance with the IMF "adjustment," which demanded cutting back "nonessential" services.(22)

As early as 1984, economist Ian Cherrrett, working with a Dutch NGO in Honduras, witnessed "total destruction of the environment going on at an accelerated rate," and warned that if forest cover was not protected, "as far as I'm concerned, within 20 years it's going to be too late." Orin Langelle of the Vermont-based Action for Community and Ecology in the Rainforests of Central America (ACERCA) said; "Fourteen years later, Hurricane Mitch confirmed his prediction."(33)

Private timber operations on ejidal lands compound the "spontaneous" deforestation caused by campesinos clearing lands for their milpas. Ecological decline is already leading to an increase of tropical diseases, even in high mountain areas. Dr. Juan Blechen Nieto, a Cuernavaca physician, traveled through the Sierra del Sur on a survey of local health conditions in November 1998, and found an alarming incidence of dengue fever and malaria. "These are diseases that are traditionally associated with lowland coastal regions, and are now appearing in the Sierra del Sur," he told me. "They are also moving north from Central America and Chiapas into Oaxaca and Guerrero. Indians in highland Oaxaca communities tell me they have mosquitoes now, for the first time. This has to do with deforestation impacting local and regional climate. It gets hotter, and the undergrowth that comes up after forests are destroyed provides a habitat for pests."

FULL TEXT Tlaloc Betrayed: Hurricane Mitch, Indigenous Peoples and Mesoamerica's Climate Disaster

In October of 1998, Hurricane Mitch swept in from the Caribbean in a 1,000-mile are of devastation. It hit ground on Central America's Miskito Coast, where 178-mph winds dropped three feet of rain. Crossing the mountains, it veered northwest, through El Salvador, Guatemala, and southern Mexico, and then back out to sea -- leaving 10,000 dead and nearly three million homeless.(1)

This is but the most dramatic of a series of ecological and climatological catastrophes to recently strike

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 25 of 128 Mesoamerica, a subcontinent and indigenous cultural sphere that stretches from the central Mexican plateau down the isthmus to Costa Rica.

Mitch crystallized the human context for what the media call "natural disasters," and possibly is a harbinger for "super-disasters" yet to come.

"More furious weather phenomena hit Florida or Cuba, but the human toll is minimal," wrote Alejandro Bendaña of the Center for International Studies. "An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale shook up California in 1992 and one person died. A less intense earthquake in Managua [in 1972] left 15,000 victims... . Something is dreadfully wrong when a rain precipitation of under 1,000 millimeters can create such havoc. And it is not simply `El Niño' or global climate change. The scope of the devastation is explained principally in socio-ecological terms: the impact of impoverishment, and the agro-ecological destruction that it helps generate, leading to a situation where such rainfall leaves behind up to 2,500 dead, one million homeless, and 40 percent of the agrarian production in tatters [in Nicaragua alone, by early reports]."(2)

Even the Wall Street Journal editorialized: "Natural disasters kill people everywhere, but the massive losses of human life we are witnessing [in Central America] are in great part the result of poverty so extreme as to be unimaginable in modern America."(3)

Mesoamerica is especially prone to hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. But the toll -- and even, some argue, the increasing severity -- of these natural phenomena are linked to rapid ecological decline on the subcontinent. Erosion of indigenous and bioregionally specific modes of land use by the expansion of agribusiness monoculture (whether under the auspices of national agro-industries or multinational corporations) is causing a regional climate shift, which in turn exacerbates and interacts with the global climate change. Ten years after the guerrilla wars of the isthmus were brought to a close, Central America's cataclysm continues. And unrest now follows ecological destabilization in southern Mexico as well.

Central America -- the nations of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Belize -- had 200,000 square miles of forest cover a century ago. By the 1980s only 36,000 square miles survived, and the rate of deforestation is only increasing -- especially in the Miskito region of Nicaragua and Honduras.(4) A 1998 report by United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations, "The State of the Environment and Natural Resources in Central America 1998," documented a regional deforestation rate of 958,360 acres (1,500 square miles) a year.(5)

Fire and flood fuel each other in a vicious cycle. Landless peasants colonize the agricultural frontier, or clear forested slopes for their milpas (corn patches). The more forest destroyed, the more the hydrologic cycle is disrupted; with no canopy for transpiration, local rainfall and cloud cover decline; aridity makes the surviving forest vulnerable to wildfires. Then, when the rains do come, sweeping in from the Caribbean on the trade winds, there are no roots to hold the soil and absorb the water. Millennia's accumulated wealth of organic matter is swept from the mountainsides in deluges of mud. Tlaloc, the revered Nahua rain god who the Maya called Chac Mool, brings destruction instead of abundance.

The titanic hurricanes of recent years are themselves purportedly exacerbated by global warming -- itself aggravated by global deforestation, closing the grim circle.(6)

As early as 1997 an increasing severity of Caribbean hurricanes was documented,(7) suggesting a regional destabilization linked to both local contexts and global trends -- rather than random anomalies with effects

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 26 of 128 exaggerated by poverty. Since then, hurricanes have repeatedly wreaked havoc in Mesoamerica -- Joan in 1988, Bret and Gerth in 1993, and Hurricane Cesar in 1996. Just a month before Mitch, Georges swept through the Caribbean, leaving hundreds dead in the Dominican Republic.(8) Comparing Mitch to 1974's Hurricane Fifi, Honduran Vice President Billy Handal said, "Hurricane Fifi was nothing compared to this. It took 12 to 14 years of effort to overcome Fill. This one will take 30 or 40 years."(9)

NICARAGUA: COUNTER-REVOLUTION AND ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE

In Nicaragua, Mitch left 4,000 dead -- half in the Chinandega municipality of Posoltega, where 10 communities were buried in mudslides when the Casita volcano crater collapsed. Several towns and villages were cut off, including the department capitals of Jinotega, Granada, and Leon. More than 763,000 were left homeless. At least half the year's harvest was destroyed. Residents of flooded towns along Lake Nicaragua were evacuated by helicopter.(10)

Posoltega lies in Nicaragua's almost completely deforested northwestern cotton zone, where volcanos rise from broad cultivated fields, the original cover of tropical dry forest surviving only on the slopes. In recent years, this cover, too, had begun to disappear.

"Had there not been the extent of beef and cotton development pushing peasants into areas they shouldn't have been farming, there wouldn't have been as many deaths," Jefferson Boyer, a North Carolina state university anthropologist involved in alternative agriculture programs in Central America, told the Long Island, New York, newspaper Newsday.(11)

Two days before the mountainside collapsed, the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER) warned the government that it was becoming unstable and that landslides threatened.(12)

Local residents also claimed the volcano was destabilized when a coffee plantation owner cut roads through the forest too far up the slope before the storm.(13)

Many survivors got ill from swallowing and inhaling mud. Wounds festered, and limbs were amputated. "Some days after the trageds," one witness wrote, "people were to be seen, wandering around with a humble cross in their hands, guessing where their relatives were buried by the mudslide and trying to pay them a posthumous tribute."(14)

Cholera -- a disease thought to be eliminated as recently as 10 years ago -- spreads when communities with no plumbing, sewage, or sanitation are inundated by rising waters, and an outbreak followed the destruction.(15)

The Posoltega refugees, stranded in makeshift camps with little government aid, soon began to squat on local lands. The government, ironically moving to appease environmentalist critics after the damage was already done, declared the destroyed lands a national park, thus prohibiting refugees from returning there.(16)

President Arnoldo Aleman met criticism for dismissing as exaggerated early reports of the disaster from Posoltega's Sandinista mayor, Felicita Zeledon. Aleman, fearing "separatism" in the indigenous Atlantic zone of the country -- La Miskitia -- also insisted that all international aid be channeled through the central government in Managua. On Nov. 7, he ordered U.S. Agency for International Development official Julie Noble deported after her private e-mails criticizing Managua's inaction were intercepted. Aleman also drew criticism for waiting a week before declaring a state of emergency, fearing it would be "exploited" by non-governmental organizations.(17)

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 27 of 128 Managua has traditionally feared loss of control over remote and ethnically distinct Miskitia. While lacking the spectacular horror of the Casita disaster, Mitch's toll in Miskitia was grave. Because of the deforestation of the upper Rio Coco watershed, the 20 inches of rain caused the river which divides Miskitia between Nicaragua and Honduras -- to rise 66 feet and burst its banks, washing away hundreds of homes.(18)

Under the pressure of the catastrophe, Aleman capitulated on accepting Cuban aid. Cuba sent hundreds of doctors, their arrival marking the reversal of President Aleman's policy of refusing Cuban aid. Cuba also announced it was canceling Nicaragua's $50 million debt, and challenged the World Bank, the United States and the European Union to follow suit.(19)

In December, the Paris Club of largest creditor nations met to consider debt relief for Central America, but insisted any relief would be tied to guarantees of scrupulous adherence to the International Monetary Fund "structural adjustment programs." But even the UN Development Program admitted that adherence to the IMF-imposed cuts in social spending would be impossible in the wake of Mitch. Even before the hurricane, the UN World Hunger Program estimated 70 percent of Nicaraguans lived in poverty, with nearly 30 percent suffering malnutrition.(20)

Nicaragua's foreign debt totals almost $6 billion, more than three times its gross domestic product. "The resulting poverty is why so many people were living in mountainside shacks before the mudslides washed them away," writes David L. Wilson of the Nicaragua Solidarity Network.(21)

A particularly bitter irony is that disaster preparedness itself has suffered under the IMF-imposed austerity, augmenting the catastrophe. In Hurricane Joan of 1998, "even the most isolated communities along the Atlantic coast had sufficient warning and support for evacuation." In contrast, when Mitch hit, "less than 80 miles from Managua, entire villages and families were buried alive." Bendaña attributes this to slashes in the civil defense budget instated by Aleman in compliance with the IMF "adjustment," which demanded cutting back "nonessential" services.(22)

The Centro Humboldt, Nicaragua's premier environmental group, is demanding that funds made available by debt relief be put to the under-funded and ineffective National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Forest and Agricultural Fires.(23)

The Wall Street Journal calls for expanding the North American Free Trade Agreement to Central America as an answer to the region's ongoing crisis.(24)

Since the fall of the revolutionary Sandinista regime in 1990, Nicaragua has, in fact, aggressively sought foreign corporate investment. But 1998 also saw a victory in an unprecedented mobilization by Indians and ecologists. In February, the Korean-owned timber interest Solcarsa, which had won a government contract in a large area of the Miskito rainforest, pulled out of Nicaragua. The struggle also saw an upsurge in demands for autonomy by the region's Miskito and Mayangua Indians, coastal and forest dwellers more closely linked to the Chibchan peoples of South America and the Caribbean than the maize-growing Maya-Nahuatl cultures of Mesoamerica. Regional autonomy was secured by the 1987 Constitution after the Indians had taken up arms, but the Miskitos, claiming loyalty to their own elected Council of Elders, increasingly decry the government of the North Atlantic Autonomous Region as having no real control over land or resources.(25)

At least 370,500 acres are deforested annually in Nicaragua, which has lost 60 percent of its forest cover in the last two generations.(26) La Miskitia's fast-shrinking storehouse of biodiversity is targeted for conservation programs by the World Bank's Global Environment Facility, but these programs have little impact on the ground.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 28 of 128 Meanwhile, the expansion of the agricultural frontier into the tropical forests of Miskitia by peasant colonists is fueled by IMF-mandated agro-export emphasis. This colonization was effectively halted during the years of the Sandinista Revolution (1979-1990) -- both by war in the region and by the Sandinista agrarian reform that made land available to campesinos in the more fertile central and Pacific regions of the country. Since the Revolution was overturned, colonization of the rainforest has become nearly complete, outside of extremely remote protected areas like the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.(27)

The horrific long-term impact of Mitch became chillingly clear in September 1999, almost a year after the disaster, when President Aleman declared a national emergency over a plague of rats in northwest Nicaragua. Their numbers exploded from an overabundance of dead meat both human and animal -- following the hurricane. The rats overran fields and homes, decimating crops. Poison had to be distributed in mass quantities to beat the infestation.(28)

HONDURAS: DISASTER AS RECOLONIZATION

Across the Rio Coco in Honduras, Mitch left 7,000 dead and 250,000 displaced, with 15 villages destroyed. Hundreds of unidentified bodies washed up on the river banks. Large sections of Tegucigalpa, the capital, were flooded. Mayor César Castellanos and three others were killed when their helicopter crashed while surveying the city's devastated fringe. Standard Fruit reported $320 million in losses to its banana interests.(29)

United Brands' Chiquita banana subsidiary in Honduras wasted no time in laying off nearly all of its 7,800 employees after Mitch, leading to accusations that the banana companies were "using Mitch to renegotiate contracts with workers and leverage concessions such as forgoing wage increases and cutting medical benefits."(30)

The Honduran government also came under harsh criticism for slowness in responding to the disaster -- especially in the remote territory of Miskitia. In December the UN World Food Program, tired of waiting for air transport from the Honduran government, started shipping aid by boat from Honduran ports into the roadless Miskitia. "It took us two weeks to get out here with the Honduran Air Force," HN volunteer Oscar Garcia told Newsday reporter Geoffrey Mohan. "They kept saying their planes were down for maintenance."(31)

There also were widespread reports of food aid being pirated and sold for profit. "This is the capital of Miskitia, and I don't know where a single grain of rice is," said Ismael Curbelo, mayor of Trujillo.(32)

Former Honduran President Rafael Callejas said, "Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that many of the deaths and much of the destruction was caused by mudslides that were the result of uncontrolled deforestation and therefore could have been prevented." But the Boston Globe reports that those who speak out against clear-cutting in Honduras risk their lives. A few weeks before Mitch, Carlos Luna, a local opponent of logging in a supposed protected zone in the central mountains near Tegucigalpa, was gunned down by unknown assailants.(34)

Another sinister irony is that the disaster itself may serve as a justification for intensifying the very dynamics in

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 29 of 128 land use that created it. A recent Honduran constitutional reform overturned a 42-year-old prohibition on foreigners owning beachfront land, viewed as a means of kick-starting the devastated economy with tourism development. Few of the Caribbean coast's Miskito and Garifuna Indians hold title to their land, already encroached upon by settlers and more recently -- speculators. "The communities can't get title, but when somebody powerful comes to buy the land, like magic the title appears for them," Alberto Castillo, land-defense coordinator for the Organization for Ethnic and Community Development, told Newsday.(35)

Among the many land disputes in Honduran Miskitia is that over former jungle bases where U.S. Special Forces troops trained Salvadoran troops and Nicaraguan contra rebels in the 1980s. The Honduran military, working closely with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, expropriated lands for the Regional Military Training Center outside the Caribbean port of Trujillo from ladinos who had obtained title illegally, but Santos Batiz of the Garifuna Emergency Committee says the lands in question traditionally accrue to Garifuna communities. Despite initial promises to clear the title, the Honduran government has been dividing and selling the land to the highest bidder. "They sold it to everyone but a Garifuna," Batiz said. "Always, it's the most powerful classes that wind up with the land."(36)

Honduran special prosecutor for ethnic rights, Gilberto Sanchez Chandias, is currently seeking arrest warrants for ten landowners on charges of killing 42 Lenca Indian leaders over the past 12 years, in the central mountains where sprawling ranches push Lenca campesinos onto the eroding slopes.(37)

THE POST-GEOSTRATEGIC ISTHMUS

Mitch was the "worst disaster we've seen in this hemisphere," said U.S. AID chief Brian Atwood. "The irony is that the civil wars that affected this region didn't do as much damage as this storm has done."(38) Perhaps the greater irony is the degree to which Central America, a 1980s Cold War frontline, has been abandoned by the great powers now that it has outlived its geo-strategic value.

Overshadowed by the cataclysms in Nicaragua and Honduras, the damage in El Salvador and Guatemala was nonetheless formidable. El Salvador, although spared a direct hit of the storm, experienced the greatest devastation since the 1986 earthquake. The recently privatized electrical company opened the floodgates of the Cero Grande hydroelectric dam on the Rio Lempa with only 15 minutes notice to downstream communities. Homes, bridges, crops, and cattle were washed away.(39) El Salvador saw more than 200 dead, 50,000 displaced, and $200 million in agricultural losses.(40)

In Guatemala, casualties included nearly 200 dead and 80,000 displaced. In 1998, there were an alarming 14 cholera deaths in Guatemala -- mostly in the rainforest department of El Peteñ -- up from zero the previous year.(41)

U.S. President Bill Clinton requested a $965 million aid and development package for Central America after the cataclysm, and embarked on a tour of the region in March.(42) This coincided with the UN Historical Clarification Commission's report implicating the United States in the Guatemalan genocide of 20 years earlier, prompting Clinton's apology statement.(43) But Clinton's aid request got mired in congressional debate. By the time of his tour, only $420 million had been committed.(44)

In Los Angeles, Miami and New York, donations of food, medicine and other aid from volunteer drives organized by Honduran immigrants (including many Garifuna) were two months after the disaster still sitting in what David Gonzalez of the New York Times called "warehouse limbo." Gonzalez cited 20,000 pounds of aid stranded in New

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 30 of 128 Jersey alone. Much of the aid was finally shipped by boat after volunteer organizers got tired of waiting for promised air transport from the U.S. government. The Times ``reported that promised National Guard cargo planes were diverted when U.S. forces were put on alert by 1998's year-end escalation of the crisis in the Persian Gulf.(45)

"Officials from New York State offered us transport planes from the National Guard," said Octavio Pineda, Honduran consul in New York. "Then the situation with Iraq happened and all the planes were put on hold. Since then, we have not had any communication."(46)

The U.S. did send some 500 soldiers to rebuild roads and bridges in Honduras(47) and Nicaragua where they were met with protests by Sandinista campesinos.(48)

The sums of money and scope of effort expended on the militarization of Central America in the 1980s stand in vivid contrast to the post-Mitch aid program. In the 1980s, El Salvador alone was receiving the equivalent of $1 million each day in U.S. aid -- the largest recipient after Israel and Egypt.(49) Total U.S. aid to the Nicaraguan contras came to more than $447 million.(50) The contra war and trade embargo caused $9 billion in economic losses in an already ravaged nation,(51) but the United States refused to recognize the World Court's 1986 decision finding Nicaragua entitled to damages.(52) Honduras was then dotted with airstrips, the skies filled with cargo planes bringing war materials to the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries.(53)

MEXICO: ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE IN THE FREE TRADE REGIME

Last spring fires raged out of control throughout the mountains of Mexico, from the Altos of Chiapas to the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua, cloaking the skies in a carboniferous haze from Guatemala to Texas.

In May, U.S. AID chief Atwood announced an emergency loan of fire-fighting, security, and communications equipment to the Mexican army troops battling the flames that had already destroyed 988,000 acres of forest.(54) The army was said to be concerned the United States was planning infrared heat-detection flights over areas with massive troop deployments against the Zapatistas, the new Maya rebel army in the southern state of Chiapas.(55) Mexican Environment Secretary Julia Carabias said Chiapas suffered most from the fires.(56)

With the Houston skyline engulfed, Texas declared an air pollution alert May 15. The media blamed the drought conditions that nurtured the fires on El Niño, while environmentalists warned that the severity of the atmospheric phenomenon was a harbinger of the greenhouse effect. "This may be a wake-up call for what global warming is going to bring in the 21st century," Sierra Club clean air director Neff Carman told the New York Times.(57)

Then, in September, late in the rainy season, just before the harvest, came the floods -- an early harbinger of the destruction about to be unleashed down the isthmus in Central America. Sosconosco, the Pacific coastal region of Chiapas, was hardest hit. Hundreds were killed as water and mud engulfed whole communities, including Zoclue Indian villages. In Motozintla, in the Pacific-facing foothills of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, more than 170 bodies were dug out.(58)

President Ernesto Zedillo described the disaster as the worst since the 1995 Mexico City earthquake, and authorized emergency relief for the region.(59)

Criticisms soon mounted that government aid was dispensed only to Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) supporters and the ruling party's local machine. A Zapatista communiqué charged that the state government, "with the complicity of federal employees, is perpetrating a scandalous theft," comparing it to that of "the Nicaraguan

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 31 of 128 dictator Anastasio Somoza, who profited from aid sent to the victims of the earthquake in Managua" in 1972.(60)

October saw angry street protests in Tapachula, Sosconosco's main town, with thousands of damnificados -- people left homeless by the destruction -- charging that "the thousands of tons of food, potable water, clothing and medicines have existed only in the official speeches." While corrupt bureaucrats and their patrons misappropriated the aid, rural communities remained cut off by roads and bridges washed away in the torrents. The protestors asserted that more than 500 were dead, 200 still missing and some 100,000 homeless from the disaster -- far in excess of official estimates.(61)

In November, small coffee producers in Motozintla and nearby municipios protested that earth-moving equipment donated by the federal government to local authorities to dig out mud-locked communities had found its way into the hands of prominent finqueros, and never aided the intended beneficiaries.(62)

As forests decline, corporate power seeks to reclaim land with monoculture tree farms. Alfonso Romo of the Mexican timber giant Pulsar, who had toured Chiapas with World Bank President James Wolfensohn in 1994, proposed pacifying the region with giant eucalyptus plantations, providing employment for deforested regions, especially in the Lacandon Selva. He began aggressively pitching the World Bank, Mexican government, and International Paper Company on the idea after the Acteal massacre left 45 Maya civilians dead at the hands of an anti-Zapatista paramilitary group in December 1997. Louisiana Pacific also was said to be considering pulp farms in a pacified Chiapas.(63)

Up the Sierra Madre, the U.S. timber giant Boise Cascade signed a five-year agreement with the state government of Guerrero in the spring of 1995 to log the rugged coastline between the luxury resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo. Boise Cascade was granted rights to contract with ejidos -- communal agricultural lands -- for exploitation of their woodlands, under a program instated for the North American Free Trade Agreement.(64) Boise closed mills in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Louisiana after the trade agreement was passed.(65) But that mountainous Mexican coast where they chose to relocate operations was the stronghold of increasingly militant Nahuatl peasant groups like the Campesino Organization of the Sierra del Sur (OCSS).

Timber cutting already was a source of local rage. The OCSS maintained local timber contracts were cut with corrupt caciques (rural political bosses), and illegal. As Boise signed the Guerrero deal, the OCSS faced off with loggers backed by state police near Tepetixtla, a mountain hamlet in Coyuca de Benitez. A logging truck was blocked, its load of cedar and pine cut free with machetes. Militants involved in the incident later disappeared.(66)

The government agreed to suspend logging in the Tepetixtla area. Boise nonetheless rented a former state-owned sawmill at Papanoa and started negotiating for a second mill in nearby Tecpan. Logs started pouring into the Papanoa mill from 24 ejidos throughout the Sierra. "We are the salvation of the ejidos," boasted Papanoa superintendent Carlos Vega to journalist John Ross.(67)

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 32 of 128 forests are destroyed provides a habitat for pests."

In October 1997, deforestation took a deadly toll when Hurricane Paulina hit the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca. Mudslides off the denuded mountainsides left scores dead and thousands homeless, especially in Zapotec country.(68)

The movement for Indian autonomy in southern Mexico, which has been animated by the Zapatista revolt, explicitly draws the connections between the restoration of indigenous land, dignity and local rule with that of regional and even global ecological balance. On the Spring equinox after the New Year's Day 1994 Chiapas rebellion, a group of representatives from each of the Chiapas Highland Maya groups -- Tzotzils, Tzeltals, Chols, and Tojolabals -- made a pilgrimage to the preserved archaeological site of Palenque. They converged on the 1,700-year-old pyramids and temples from their respective villages to burn copal incense and pray and sing, with their homemade harps and guitars, for peace and a restoration of indigenous sovereignty. The pilgrims proclaimed the arrival of the Sixth Sun, the completion of a centuries-long Maya calendric cycle signifying both a climax and an end to the times of destruction.(69)

NOTES

(1) Turck, Mary, "Untold Suffering," Connection to the Americas, Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, December 1998/January 1999

(2) Bendaña, Alejandro, "The Politics of Hurricane Mitch," Nicaragua Monitor, Nicaragua Network Education Fund, Washington, D.C., December 1998. The 1992 Landers earthquake in California actually measured 7.3 on the Richter scale. The Oxford Atlas of the World (4th ed., 1996) puts the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake at 6.2, with 5,000 dead.

(3) Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12, 1998

(4) Langelle, Orin, "Hurricane Mitch Kills 10,000: Deforestation Worsens Central America Tragedy, Native Forest Network Bulletin, Burlington, Vt., December 1998/January 1999

(5) cited in Graham, Nancy, "Environmental Ruin Paved the Way," Connection to the Americas, Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, December 1998/January 1999

(6) Stevens, William K., "Storm Warning: Bigger Hurricanes and More of Them," New York Times, June 3, 1997

(7) ibid

(8) Newsweek, Oct. 26, 1998

(9) Turck, op cit

(10) ibid

(11) Mohan, Genffrey, "The Human Factor: Nature not the only culprit in Nicaragua's disaster," Newsday, Dec. 9, 1998

(12) Monitoreo Ambiental, Centro Humboldt, Managua, January 1999

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 33 of 128

(13) Mohan, op cit

(14) Monitoreo Ambiental, op cit

(15) Newsweek, Nov. 16, 1998

(16) Connection to the Americas, Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, February 1999

(17) Turck, op cit

(18) Monitoreo Ambiental, Centro Humboldt, Managua, January 1999

(19) Wahlen, Nathan, "How Much Hardship Will It Take?" Connection to the America, Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, December 1998/January 1999

(20) Ambrose, Soren, "Bureaucrats Fiddle as Central America Drowns ... in Debt," Nicaragua Monitor, Nicaragua Network Education Fund, Washington, D.C., February 1999

(21) Wilson, David L., "The Biggest Catastrophe Is `Free Trade,'" Connection to the Americas, Resource Center of the Americas, Minneapolis, December 1998/January 1999

(22) Bendaña, op cit

(23) Monitoreo Ambiental, Centro Humboldt, Managua, January 1999

(24) Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12, 1998

(25) Weinberg, Bill, "La Miskitia Rears Up," Native Americas, Akwe:kon Press, Summer 1998

(26) Langelle, op cit

(27) Weinberg, op cit

(28) BBC World Service, Sept. 9, 1999

(29) Turck, op cit

(30) Wilson, op cit

(31) Mohan, Geoffrey, "Disaster, Then Desperation," Newsday, Long Island, Dec. 14, 1998

(32) ibid

(33) Langelle, op cit

(34) Marcus, David, "Deforestation Worsened Mitch's Toll, Scientists Say," Boston Globe, Non 11, 1998

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 34 of 128

(35) Mohan, Geoffrey, "Coast is Unclear: In Honduras, group fears losing traditional land," Newsday, Long Island, March 8, 1999

(36) ibid

(37) Associated Press, May 2, 1999

(38) Newsweek, Nov. 16, 1998

(39) Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador Action Alert, New York, Nov. 3, 1998

(40) Turck, op cit

(41) ibid

(42) Mohan, op cit

(43) Broder, John M., "Clinton Offers His Apologies to Guatemala," New York Times, March 11, 1999

(44) Btoder, John M., "Clinton Visit in Honduras Dramatizes New Attitude," New York Times, March 10, 1999

(45) Gonzalez, David, "Mitch Who? U.S. Stalls Flights to Aid Honduran Victims," New York Times, Dec. 16, 1999

(46) ibid

(47) ibid

(48) Nicaragua Monitor, Nicaragua Network Education Fund, Washington, D.C., February 1999

(49) Scripps Howard News Service, March 8, 1987; cited in Weinberg, Bill, War on the Land: Ecology &Politics in Central America, Zed Books, London, 1991, p. 62

(50) Norsworthy, Ketn, Nicaragua: A Country Guide, Resource: Center, Albuquerque, 1992

(51) ibid, p. 59

(52) New York Times, June 28, 1986

(53) Lapper, Richard &James Painter, Honduras: State for Sale, latin America Bureau, London, 1985, p. 88-92

(54) Associated Press, May 20, 1998

(55) Worthington Post, May 31, 1998

(56) La Jornada, May 17, 1998

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 35 of 128 (57) New York Time, May 18, 1998

(58) La Jornada, Sept. 18, 1998

(59) La Jornada, Sept. 13, 1998

(60) EZLN communiqué, Sept. 12, 1998

(61) Diario de Yucatan, Oct. 29, 1998

(62) La Jornada, Nov. 29, 1998

(63) Ross, John, "Big Pulp vs. Zapatistas," Multinational Monitor, April 1998

(64) Ross, John, "Treasure of the Costa Grande," distributed by the Native Forest Network, Burlington, Vt., Sept. 6, 1996

(65) BBC, Oct. 13, 1995; Idaho Statesman, Dec. 18, 1998

(66) Ross, John, "Treasure of the Costa Grande," op cit

(67) ibid

(68) Associated Press, Oct. 15, 1997

(69) Vogt, Evon Z., "Possible Sacred Aspects of the Chiapas Rebellion," Cultural Survival Quarterly, Cambridge, Mass., Spring 1994; La Jornada, March 19, 1994

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (hurricane Mitch homeless)

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Disasters; Ecology; Environment; Floods; Hurricanes; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Poverty; Social conditions &trends; Society

Location: El Salvador Guatemala Mexico Florida Cuba Central America El Salvador Guatemala Mexico Florida Cuba Central America

People: Boyer, Jefferson Boyer, Jefferson

Ethnicity: Native People

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 36 of 128 Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 51

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000015

ProQuest document ID: 224780813

Document URL: http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/224780813 ?accountid=12598

Last updated: 2017-11-07

Database: Ethnic NewsWatch

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PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 37 of 128 STRUGGLES ABOUND BETWEEN UN BODIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS Stevens, John . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 6.

ProQuest document link

ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The subcommission attempted to deal with the concerns by limiting the number of resolutions passed on rights abuses. The result was a "chairman's statement" -- a formal declaration of concern about a country's human rights record or a pertinent human rights situation -- crafted to deal with several situations, including that of Mexico. The oppression of indigenous peoples there received copious attention; however, as in past years, no draft resolution made it to the floor. Instead, Chairman Ribot Hatano assured that the subcommission would monitor the situation. In return, Mexico agreed to allow two Special Rapporteurs on thematic issues -- independent judiciary and violence against women -- to visit the country.

FULL TEXT STRUGGLES ABOUND BETWEEN UN BODIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The 1999 UN Subcommission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights convened in August in Geneva, Switzerland, with a new name and a more constrained mandate. The subcommission often has had a tense relationship with its parent, the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR), because of its body of independent experts instead of state diplomats and because of its sometimes-vocal contravention of CHR decisions.

The latest manifestation of this tension is a report by the 1998 CHR Bureau (an oversight group) that details a list of reforms and recommendations for the subcommission. Many of these reforms could have significant effects on indigenous advocacy at the United Nations.

The most troubling reform that could affect indigenous groups involves the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, currently the only body in the UN system to which indigenous peoples can appeal. The bureau's report singles out the working group in Recommendation 12(e)(ii) in a potentially destabilizing way. According to the report, the working group "should continue to perform the valuable work [it is] engaged in... until such time as the question of its future status is resolved in the context of the Commission's deliberations on a permanent forum for indigenous people in the UN system." This ambiguous statement could have dangerous consequences given the assertion by many state representatives that the WGIP should be dissolved.

States' reactions to the report indicate there may be a move to substantially limit the subcommission's duties and powers and perhaps dissolve it. Representatives of several non-governmental organizations expressed fears that such reforms have political aspects that could be abused by some states.

The subcommission further struggled with maintaining its ability to make resolutions to the CHR -- the report recommends only an annual summary. A number of states, including the United States, balked at the current process of subcommission resolutions which, when targeted at states, have come as embarrassing rebukes for rights abuses. During one such debate, the United States lashed out at the subcommission for its perceived hubris,

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 38 of 128 claiming that the subcommission was trying to supercede its power.

The subcommission attempted to deal with the concerns by limiting the number of resolutions passed on rights abuses. The result was a "chairman's statement" -- a formal declaration of concern about a country's human rights record or a pertinent human rights situation -- crafted to deal with several situations, including that of Mexico. The oppression of indigenous peoples there received copious attention; however, as in past years, no draft resolution made it to the floor. Instead, Chairman Ribot Hatano assured that the subcommission would monitor the situation. In return, Mexico agreed to allow two Special Rapporteurs on thematic issues -- independent judiciary and violence against women -- to visit the country.

Many experts praised the "spirit of dialogue" that led to the statement but the results of this compromise are unclear and questions linger.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (Tarahumara family, Mexico)

DETAILS

Subject: Civil rights; Culture; Human relations; Human rights; Indigenous people; Interpersonal communication; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Personal relationships

Location: Switzerland Mexico United States Switzerland Mexico United States

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 6

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 39 of 128 Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000007

ProQuest document ID: 224780733

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First Words: A CONSCIOUSNESS OF MOTHER EARTH Barreiro, Jose . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 3.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) As Mohawk author and Native Americas co-founder Tim Johnson writes in a comprehensive cover article, it is at the level of local weather that most people notice change. Floods, drought, increasingly powerful hurricanes -- they affect specific localities and regions, although their inherent variability seemingly makes them unreliable evidence. Yet, the current, apparently progressive warming of the Earth is by implication a transcendent, global issue. We know that the Earth's mean temperature climbed around one full degree in the past century, and that this is linked to the fact that carbon dioxide concentrations have increased from 280 to 365 parts per million over the same period. We know that both carbon dioxide levels and the global mean temperature continue to rise and are doing so at a quickening pace. We know that the decade of the nineties was the warmest ever on record and that Arctic

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 40 of 128 ice is melting at unprecedented rates. We know that the current impacts of severe weather are raising apprehensions of "super-disasters" among relief agencies. Johnson, (a senior executive at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian), details the complex scientific and political questions of determining global warming. It is easy to see why the broadest consensus on the issue is the silence of politicians and major pundits.

For the Native peoples of the Arctic north, the consequences of global warming are already substantial. Alerted by the tragic testimony of elder Arctic fishermen and hunters at the Albuquerque conference, Yaqui producer Fidel Moreno turns in an interview with Caleb Pungowiyi, Yupik elder from Nome, Alaska. Pungowiyi's testimony on the drastic impact of disappearing ice on many species such as walrus, seal and polar bear has a strong focusing effect. It is echoed by many others, including Gwich'in leader, Sarah James, whose Yukon Valley people also are reporting serious environmental changes resulting from record levels of warm weather for their region. This is consistent with reports of Arctic Systems scientists from the National Science Foundation about "first time" rains and the high melt rate of the Arctic ice pack which they anticipate at current trends would "disappear in 25 years."

The range of impacts of warming patterns and climate change on Native fisheries, coastal wetlands and on the Northern Plains country are reported by long-time observers Robert Gough and Patrick Spears (Lower Brule Sioux). In a statement on the Albuquerque Conference, Gough and Spears point to the importance of Native Homelands as a "biological and social link to the climatic history of this hemisphere." Because of long-standing inhabitation, and "by virtue of geography, history, culture, political status and experience, Native peoples have important contributions to make to the National Assessment." Perhaps Native peoples share a perspective with NASA, they write, because of the view that NASA -- among all other federal agencies -- has developed of the Earth as a "unique, complex and unified living system ... dependent upon a fragile and finite life support system."

FULL TEXT First Words: A CONSCIOUSNESS OF MOTHER EARTH

For years Native traditionalists have pointed to the growing convergence of scientific prediction and Native prophecy. The intuitive, observational acumen of Native cultural practitioners, particularly when informed by the values and stories that detail prophetic tradition, have upheld certain basic truths. One is that everything in the living world is related. Another is that everything must be in balance; harmony as a positive factor. It has not been lost on elders that new currents of thinking in the academy -- ecological, multi-disciplinary, inter-relational -- are increasingly working from these premises.

At a conference held in Albuquerque on October 28 to November 1, 1998, scientists from various institutions, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), met with dozens of Native elders. Signalling what might become a trend, these scientists from the hard branches were requesting to hear from Native people their opinions, stories and observations on the effects and possible causes of climate change, a problem that may very well become humanity's greatest challenge of the 21st Century.

This volume represents a special double-issue of Native Americas. The theme is climate change and its resultant impact on weather and environment. A collaboration between Akwe:kon Press and Earth Science Enterprise, a division of NASA, the effort gathers the contributions of nearly 20 writers and the voices of dozens of elders, scientists and other concerned people. Native Americas enlisted these seasoned Native writers and scholars, as well as several frequent contributors, who have tracked this issue over the years and asked them to sort out for our audience the range of scientific, cultural and political arguments that dominate its discussion. The result is an opening broadcast of pertinent currents that we hope will help everyone to ponder and pursue this important issue.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 41 of 128 It reports in part on the process of 20 national and regional workshops assessing the current and potential impacts of climate change.

Following the mandate of the 1990 Global Change Research Act, these workshops were conducted under the auspices of the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) and the United States Global Change Research Program. We appreciate the funding assistance provided by (NASA's) Earth Science Enterprise as we are honored to collaborate in its mission to share scientific and cultural knowledge with our audience, which includes many educators, students and Native community educators and leadership. (It is intended that this special edition of Native Americas will be distributed to every Native American community school in the country).

Climate change -- its causes and implications -- is a complex topic, calling for considerable attention to science as well as the serenity to ponder long-term effects. Yet, the notion is inescapable that something drastic is occurring with the weather. Certainly, there is widespread agreement about this among indigenous elders and many of the practitioners who still actually conduct nature-primary activities in their daily lives. Now at the end of 1999 -- in the final gasp of a century of unprecedented industrial growth -- by far the vast majority of scientists are as close as can be expected to consensus, particularly in a case of such global magnitude. Everybody is talking about the weather, to paraphrase Mark Twain, except this time we might actually need to do something about it.

As Mohawk author and Native Americas co-founder Tim Johnson writes in a comprehensive cover article, it is at the level of local weather that most people notice change. Floods, drought, increasingly powerful hurricanes -- they affect specific localities and regions, although their inherent variability seemingly makes them unreliable evidence. Yet, the current, apparently progressive warming of the Earth is by implication a transcendent, global issue. We know that the Earth's mean temperature climbed around one full degree in the past century, and that this is linked to the fact that carbon dioxide concentrations have increased from 280 to 365 parts per million over the same period. We know that both carbon dioxide levels and the global mean temperature continue to rise and are doing so at a quickening pace. We know that the decade of the nineties was the warmest ever on record and that Arctic ice is melting at unprecedented rates. We know that the current impacts of severe weather are raising apprehensions of "super-disasters" among relief agencies. Johnson, (a senior executive at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian), details the complex scientific and political questions of determining global warming. It is easy to see why the broadest consensus on the issue is the silence of politicians and major pundits.

But it is easier still to agree with the many elders, leaders and the vast majority of scientists who are concerned with what the indicators are telling us on the issue of climate change and one of its symptoms, global warming, about the increasingly clear evidence of its causes, and, especially, on the need to prepare to mitigate its destructive impacts. If ever a grave issue called for the intellectual and political will to seek solutions, it is this one, but political will to action has proven fickle and easy to dissipate.

As Alex Ewen writes in his troubling article, "Consensus Denied: Holy War over Global Warming," just enough doubt has been raised in the scientific community, by a small number of ideologically-driven scientists, to deviate the impetus for corrective action. This is a major story, virtually ignored by the international media, of how selected funding for research -- by the industries most directly impacted through the emerging scientific consensus -- has obfuscated and largely derailed U.S. leadership on the issue.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 42 of 128 drastic impact of disappearing ice on many species such as walrus, seal and polar bear has a strong focusing effect. It is echoed by many others, including Gwich'in leader, Sarah James, whose Yukon Valley people also are reporting serious environmental changes resulting from record levels of warm weather for their region. This is consistent with reports of Arctic Systems scientists from the National Science Foundation about "first time" rains and the high melt rate of the Arctic ice pack which they anticipate at current trends would "disappear in 25 years."

Navajo journalist Valerie Taliman turns in a view of the Southwestern Native lands. Native elders interviewed for her article, some of which testified at the Climate Change workshops, speak of a "world out of balance," where summer is much hotter than it has been in living memory and where water, always scarce, becomes more and more precious. The ravages of uranium and coal mining in that arid zone have been felt most by the Native nations. Yet, in the context of intermittent drought, coal slurry pipelines continue to suck pristine non-replenishable aquifer water to water-feed crushed coal from the Four Corners area to Nevada and other points.

From farther south, foreign correspondent Bill Weinberg, reviews the devastation caused by the recent seasons of severe weather in Mexico and Central America. Weinberg's article focuses on the relationship of global warming, deforestation and worsening floods. The Honduran-Nicaraguan disaster would appear to qualify as a "super- disaster" for those increasingly deforestated (unprotected) Mesoamerican countries, washed over by Hurricane Mitch's monumental flooding. This region, buffeted in the geo-politics of the 1980s and now mostly ignored in U.S. foreign policy, nevertheless continues to endure the ravages of global currents, this time meteorological. Titanic hurricanes and mammoth fires ignited by drought have replaced machine guns and bombs.

Reporting on impacts in South American Native environments, Melina Selverston as well as Craig Benjamin examine indigenous perspectives and responses to similar trends in their weather patterns. Indigenous lifeways come into play as Benjamin assesses the variability of Andean and other Native agricultural practices, a potential trench of preparedness against the impacts of climate change on agricultural production. Selverston takes us through the complications of action at the international level. The Kyoto conference, and the intricacies of its "Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change," are worthy processes in the challenge to find solutions. Other contributors on specific effects include Stephan Schwartzman (on the impact of mega-forest fires), and; Paul Epstein and Bruce Johansen (on health consequences of global warming).

Several Native writers round out the volume. Dean Suagee, Cherokee, writes on the movement to establish Sun- friendly building codes for a more effective use of solar power to conserve energy. Several Native nations, Hopi among them, are leading in the use of solar to meet energy needs. John Mohawk, Seneca, writes of an old alliance between Hopi and Haudenosaunee predicated on deep cultural mandates to warn of impending dangers of modern trends that disrupt nature. Simon Ortiz, Acoma, offers a heartfelt vignette on the river of his youth -- a geography of spirit.

For many years, the Haudenosaunee chiefs and clan-mothers have carried to the world their tradition of the Seven

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 43 of 128 Generations, which proposes the concept that the current generation always has a responsibility for the state of the world onto the "seventh generation yet to come." Many other Native nations have expressions and traditions that articulate long-term, multi-generational visions of human existence on the Earth. There appears to be very little thinking on this level by politicians and corporate leaders internationally. In the United States, which practically should lead on this pressing issue, even as we enter the Year 2000 presidential season, no candidate has yet come forward to raise it. As one Native elder put it, when it comes to a problem of this magnitude, corporate CEOs need to think more as grandparents and less as industrial leaders. And politicians who would be statesmen-elders must provide the leadership for bold solutions, even at the risk of discomforting some of America's central industries.

The tradition of the Seventh Generation, we submit, offers an idea whose expression should become mantra, song and message to the politicians and magnates of industry who hold the fate of the world in their hands. It is possible that this will require a seminal shift in contemporary human thinking. But this is entirely in line with the wish and the responsibility to undertake actions that position our children, and our children's children, for a viable future on the Earth.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Endangered &extinct species; Environment; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: United States United States

People: Ewen, Alex Ewen, Alex

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 3

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 44 of 128 Placeof publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000001

ProQuest document ID: 224779478

Document URL: http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/224779478 ?accountid=12598

Last updated: 2017-11-07

Database: Ethnic NewsWatch

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World out of Balance: In a Prescient Time Native Prophecy Meets Scientific Prediction Johnson, Tim . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 8.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) MacCracken views much of the carbon emissions issue as really being about coal. "Coal is much more important," he said. "We're using coal for electric utilities now. Will we try and use coal to make fuel for our cars? If you use coal or if you use oil shale, the concentrations are going to go way, way up. If you use oil or if you use natural gas, then it doesn't go up so fast. So one thing to do is try to switch toward natural gas. A better thing to do is switch toward renewables -- solar and wind energy." He cites the Hopi Foundation, which has helped establish widespread use of solar power by the Hopi people, as a perfect example of communities obtaining energy without the use of fossil fuels. "It's cost effective. It's efficient. It's clean. It's wonderful," he said. "What some Native peoples have is land out in deserts that is very good for producing solar power which may be a tremendous resource area for them.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 45 of 128 Also, many of those regions have higher than average winds. So windmills are another way of getting energy efficiently."

Koinonia House is a non-profit organization dedicated to the distribution of materials that encourage study of the Bible as the unerring Word of God. "Koinonia" is a New Testament word meaning "communication," "fellowship," or "communion." The organization reaches its following through a monthly newsletter, radio shows, cassette tapes and conferences. In its December 1998 environmental update, "Global Warming? Hot Air!," world affairs editor John Loeffler asserted that President Clinton's trip to Japan to sign a global climate change treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions would continue "the globalization of environmental green law." Loeffler wrote: "There is still much debate and absolutely no consensus among scientists about global warming, no matter how hard President Clinton tries to tell us otherwise."

NASA's Maynard said: "The problem that makes our life harder is what we call the skeptics. That's a group of scientists that, for whatever reason, don't want to believe this. It is a small but vocal group. Some of it's ideological. And a lot of these guys are paid by the oil companies or coal industries." She contends that there is a definite consensus among the international mainstream science community and that they have hard-core and proven scientific data on the reality of global warming. "There is no question," she said, "climate is changing to indicate global warming and as a result you've got sea-level rise. We're measuring these things. We have a satellite that shows things like sea-level rise. And there is a huge group of the top scientists in the countries around the world on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who agree on these things."

FULL TEXT World out of Balance: In a Prescient Time Native Prophecy Meets Scientific Prediction

CARRIED ON NORTHERN WINDS

From his vantage point on St. Lawrence Island -- some 200 miles off the coast of its mainland Alaskan state and a mere 38 miles from the tip of Siberia -- Yupik elder Leonard Apangalook Sr. has lived within and observed the patterns of the northern Arctic climate his entire life. For many Yupik, whether they work for Sivuqaq Corp. or another formal employer, the traditional subsistence practice of living off the land and the surrounding sea has continued unabated for countless generations. Apangalook, now retired, spends most of his time hunting and fishing and maintaining a daily vigil, mentally recording the natural world indicators upon which he depends: temperature, wind, rainfall, currents, ice, clouds, seasonal trends. All are standard components, customary tools of a traditional knowledge system developed in concert with the Yupik geography to sustain human life. When measured over time and compared against memory, these indicators provide information critical to the Yupik people. What Apangalook has witnessed this past decade has him deeply concerned.

The great winter ice packs that normally flow down from the north have disappeared. Traveling ecosystems, the ice packs serve as floating platforms for the walrus -- which feed on fish at the edges of the ice. It is on the ice that the walrus haul out to rest after feeding, and upon which they give birth to their young in the springtime. The walrus is a primary source of Yupik food in Gambell, Alaska. Such has been the delicate interplay of life in the north for millennia.

"Basically, our weather is not too good any more, both in the winter and summer, it's pretty much year round," Apangalook says. "We have a lot of cloud cover here with a lot of rain in the summertime. That's very significant for me. And in the wintertime the ice pack that normally comes down from the north doesn't seem to be reaching us any more -- at least it hasn't for the past four, five years. Being that we're an aquatic community, our people live off

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 46 of 128 the sea. We get a lot of our game from the ocean and of course, the Bering Sea ice usually yields a lot of game for us. The ice pack is receding sooner and the winter ice that we do get is thin ice. Although it supports our activities still, it deteriorates too soon in the springtime. It recedes too early."

Far to the east in the newly formed Aboriginal territory of Nunavut (Our Land), where the Inuit have established a majority rule government following decades of negotiations with Canada, there exists common concern over the future of northern ice. In eastern Arctic workshops, held in remote northern communities, Inuit elders have shared their observations of changes in animal behavior. Seals are being seen in areas they do not normally inhabit. Polar bears and grizzly bears are being found in larger groups than is common. And from Iqaluit, a community on the water's edge of Baffin Island, off Frobisher Bay, where ice has been forming much later in the season, come reports of polar bears pacing up and down the coast waiting for the ice to come inland.

"If you have spent any time in the north, it is amazing what one or two warm winters can do to the surrounding landscape," says Scot Nickels, environmental manager for the environment department of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). "Just from my experience at one site near Clyde River, the amount of snow and ice cover that remain throughout the summer really dramatically changes our behavior. Sometimes these ice fields were completely gone and sometimes they built up amazingly large. It really hits home that it doesn't take a large average difference of a few degrees to make a big difference on the landscape. That impacts on insects and animals and reaches all the way to humans eventually."

As with their Yupik relatives to the west, the Inuit depend upon a consistent supply of northern game, or "country food" as Nickels says, to supplement the introduced, lower-quality and more expensive meats shipped great distances from the south. Caribou, seal, bear, goose, duck, whale and Arctic char are among the standard menu items prepared in the Inuit home. To change their diet would be to change their culture. "The Inuit say all the time," says Nickels, "that the more they get out on the land and the more they observe, the more they learn and the better able they become to use their resources sustainably."

But there is growing sentiment that the changes taking place out on the land and the sea are not necessarily within the control of the Sivuqaq Corp., the newly reformulated wildlife agency of the Nunavut government, or any other Native community in the north. The specter of profound climate change -- outside the usual seasonal and annual fluctuations attributed to weather's variability and beyond expectation of Native elders, based on their observational knowledge and distant memory -- poses an enormous dilemma replete with local and global implications and complexities.

For those in the north, this is a familiar scenario. Profound climate change-much like the chemical contaminants brought by transboundary air and water currents into the Arctic environment -- has its origins in the industrialized south. Yet its effects can be as detrimental, if not more harmful, to these seemingly pristine Native communities half a world away If it affects the ice and alters animal behavior, then it is certainly going to affect the Inuit, the Yupik, the Cree, the Dogrib and all the other peoples that have established a close cultural connection to the ice.

Were Native peoples alone in drawing attention to climate change and its impact on northern environs, their signals might be lost amid the cacophony of today's multi-channel information/entertainment age. Still, the oral traditions are barely audible above the din of amplified music videos, disparaging pundit prognostications and incessant political squabbling. Native peoples often have found themselves shunned and hushed when advocating environmental ethics to the larger global community. But this time is different. Now scientists are conducting an extensive array of studies in the north that support Native observations. This time a spirit of cooperation and collaboration is evolving between the Western-trained researcher and the Native-trained specialist. And this time,

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 47 of 128 both are offering blunt assessments of the foreboding impacts of global warming.

"One thing we can say with absolute certainty is that for the past two decades the Arctic has been warming, and therefore melting," said Michael Ledbetter, National Science Foundation program director for Arctic System Science. He is one of dozens of scientists who participated in research on Ice Station SHEBA (Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic). "The glaciers have been melting back farther than they have been in recorded time. The permafrost in Alaska is thawing in places where it has never thawed, or it's thawing deeper than it has ever thawed before. There has been a change in the air temperatures in Alaska. There has been a lengthening in the growing season. There have been pests moving farther north in Alaska that can [now] exist under the warmer conditions. And one of the things that we know for certain from satellite information is that the Arctic Ocean ice pack has been melting during the last two decades. There is less ice being produced and what has been produced is thinner. All of these things are due to a warming in the Arctic that is entirely consistent with what is predicted to occur with global warming."

Set adrift in the Arctic Ocean in October 1997, Ice Station SHEBA traveled about 1,000 miles in 13 months. Beginning at 75 degrees north latitude (approximately 250 miles due north of Prudhoe Bay) it wound up at a point more than 80 degrees north latitude (about 450 miles northwest of Barrow, Alaska) -- so far north that the airplanes used to rotate crews and bring in supplies and new instruments could no longer reach it. As the scientists prepared to conduct a battery of tests, looking at all the physics behind why ice melts, they were astounded by their initial findings.

"Quite to our surprise, the very first thing they found was there was about half as much ice as we expected from all previous experience and from what all of the models said should be there," Ledbetter said. When the scientists finally located a piece of ice thick enough to get safely off the ship, they drilled a hole through the ice and sampled the ocean underneath. They discovered that the ocean was warmer and fresher than it had been in previous experiments in the same area. Detailed data that exists on the extent of Arctic Sea ice is available from scientific studies dating back to the early 1950s and from satellite readings since 1972. Among these observations, a U.S. study concluded that in the north, minimum ice extent has declined by 3.6 percent per decade since 1961.(1) Other studies suggest that sea ice decline accelerated between the years 1987 and 1994.(2)

The Arctic ice pack is a layer of ice approximately the size of the United States that on average is 10 feet thick. It rests like a frozen crust on top of the Arctic Ocean. Most of the sea ice is produced on the wide continental shelves off Russia. Currents cause the ice to drift out across the Arctic. There is no land at the North Pole or even within several hundred miles of it. In the Beaufort Sea which is the part of the Arctic Ocean just north of Alaska the ice should have been between six and eight feet thick when the SHEBA team arrived. Instead, it was three to four feet thick.

"In general, a large part of the ocean there should have a very similar temperature structure," Ledbetter said. "So while we weren't right on top of where more recent experiments were these results showed that something very dramatic had changed -- and the fact that the ice is much thinner there than it would normally be [with] all this freshly melted water lying around in the upper ocean -- that the ice had very recently gone through a major melt period that we certainly had not expected."

Should current trends hold true and symmetry persists among Native observations, scientific findings and global climate circulation models, then predictions of the decline and even disappearance of the Arctic ice move from mythological status to graphic reality. "If the current trend continues, the Arctic ice pack will disappear," Ledbetter said. "The models say it and we didn't find anything at SHEBA that would cause us to modify those predictions. In

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 48 of 128 25 years we might lose the entire Arctic Ocean ice pack."

Ledbetter says the consequences for northern Native communities could be enormous. With the demise of the ice will come the demise of the polar bears that go out on the ice to hunt for ring seals. And the ring seals will not have ice to haul out on, and that might well mean the demise of the ring seals. If the polar bears and seals disappear, and if there is no place for the walrus to rest, to give birth and to nurse their pups, and if fisheries change as currents shift because of the redistribution of heat, then Native populations that subsist and maintain their cultures, at least in part, on the polar bear, the seal, the fish, and the walrus, are going to find their way of life in grave danger.

The elder Apangalook is apprehensive about the future and openly shares the changes he has witnessed in his lifetime. "When I was younger we used to get the polar pack ice every year," he said. "Every fall the ice pack from up north would come down and reach our island. And that would yield a lot of game for our community -- primarily walrus -- and the game would be plentiful. Now locally formed ice is our primary ice pack. By that I mean ice that forms just immediately north of us or when the ocean freezes up locally here. That's thin ice and it really doesn't bring in the game we used to hunt. The migration of the animals has been significantly noted by our people and the runs are not like they used to be anymore. Since we subsist on the game that's on our island, we need good weather. We're getting windier it seems, in both winter and summer, which prevents us from getting out to the ocean. Our storms are getting more severe in the fall [and] it's eroding the coastal areas of the island. The ice conditions are not very good and it's windy all of the time. I've never seen this before [even since childhood]." Apangalook suggests the world take notice.

Echoing Apangalook's observations are Ice Station SHEBA scientists who were incredulous because it rained on them. Scientists who had been working their entire careers in the Arctic said they had never experienced rain while on the Arctic Ocean ice pack. And they said it was raining a hard rain -- the type normally found in temperate regions. "The global warming models are all consistent in one fashion in that they predict the Arctic is a very important place to feel global change," Ledbetter said. "Some people have likened it to the miner's canary."

The refrain continues with the ITC environmental manager Nickels. "The Arctic, in some respects for climate change, is the canary in the mine, the indicator species," he said. "Looking at the Arctic can really give you a precursor of what might [happen] elsewhere. The Inuit in the north are paying for things that are the result of other places. They have had nothing to do with it and yet they are the ones paying the price."

OBSERVATIONS OF COMPLEXITY

As the Industrial Age accelerated from its revolutionary origins to heightened passions, with its steam engines snorting hot exhaust incessantly into the air, the Swede Svante Arrhenius, a Nobel Prize -- winning chemist, surmised in 1896 that the extensive burning of fossil fuels -- coal, oil and natural gas -- would cause the Earth's temperature to gradually rise. According to his hypothesis, humanity's distant offspring would benefit from a benevolent climate that would make the northern reaches of the world more hospitable. Agriculture would expand and trade and commerce would flourish.

Little more than 100 years later, more than 2,000 of the world's leading scientists concluded in the most comprehensive study of climate change ever -- conducted for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- that the Earth has already warmed about 1 degree Fahrenheit during this time. Estimates are that global surface air temperature will increase another two to seven degrees Fahrenheit within the next century That might not sound like much, but it is a faster rate of climate change than during the last 10,000 years. Furthermore, the panel

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 49 of 128 said, "the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate."

Arrhenius was correct about Earth's temperature rising and of the likely correlation to human causes, but his assessment of the effects of global warming underestimated the pace, scope and complexity of the issue. Warming to this extent raises concerns about the potential for increasing weather severity, about the consequences of sea-level rise, changes to animal habitats, threats to agricultural productivity and the impact on human health.

The natural greenhouse effect is an important part of the atmosphere's healthy respiratory system. The atmosphere reflects 30 percent of the sun's radiation, and absorbs approximately another 30 percent. The remaining 40 percent reaches the Earth's surface. Of the energy that reaches the surface, about 15 percent is reflected back toward space. The balance of the sun's solar rays then warms the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere by a process in which certain gases and particles absorb this invisible energy bouncing around. These gases and particles then radiate infrared rays of their own, again sending energy back toward the Earth's surface to add another warming wave. Because of this natural greenhouse effect, our planet is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it otherwise would be -- making Earth hospitable for human life.

A potential problem arises when the chief greenhouse gases, made up of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases like methane and nitrous oxide, are added to the atmosphere beyond the Earth's natural ability to cope. The overall emissions of these gases are growing about 1 percent per year. For millennia, there has been a direct and clear correlation between carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures. Tiny air bubbles found in Antarctic ice cores revealed that for 160,000 years, temperatures and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mirror each other every step of the way. Explained graphically, whenever carbon dioxide levels increased, so did temperatures. Wherever carbon dioxide levels decreased, temperature responded in kind. Today's carbon dioxide levels not only are higher than at any point during this period, they are projected to climb much higher.

"The estimates of how much change would occur since they were first projected in the 1890s until the present are not all that different," said Michael MacCracken, executive director of the National Assessment Coordination Office of the U.S. Global Change Research Program in Washington, D.C. "There was a lot of debate about those first estimates and it took a whine before we had good measurements to show that the carbon dioxide was climbing, but now [with ice core samples] we can see that it has been going up more rapidly starting with the industrial revolution. It's gone up more than 30 percent from the baseline we were used to 100 years ago -- from 280 parts per million to about 365 parts per million -- and is headed higher," MacCracken said.

"If we keep on the track we're on through the next century it will exceed 700 [parts per million]. The last time the geologists say the concentration was as high as 700 ppm was back 45 million to 50 million years ago. So in 200 or 300 years we will have put back carbon that the Earth's natural processes took 45 million to 50 million years to remove from the atmosphere. The natural world just can't cope with this much carbon in terms of removing it. We've exceeded the natural removal capacity of the atmosphere and the oceans."

MacCracken's office is helping to involve 10 agencies with 20 regional groups, a half dozen sector groups, and a federal advisory committee to develop an understanding, synthesis and assessment of the potential consequences of climate variability and climate change for the United States.

"The carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere is going up a half to 1 percent each year," MacCracken said. "That's a really significant amount and it's going to exert a warming influence on the climate. Now if you take 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide coming from humans each year and there are 6 billion people in the world -- that's an

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 50 of 128 average of one ton per person in the world. But the average in North America is five tons per person each year. Five tons of carbon is the equivalent of driving about 30,000 miles. It comes from automobiles, it comes from buildings, and it comes from electric utilities."

MacCracken views much of the carbon emissions issue as really being about coal. "Coal is much more important," he said. "We're using coal for electric utilities now. Will we try and use coal to make fuel for our cars? If you use coal or if you use oil shale, the concentrations are going to go way, way up. If you use oil or if you use natural gas, then it doesn't go up so fast. So one thing to do is try to switch toward natural gas. A better thing to do is switch toward renewables -- solar and wind energy." He cites the Hopi Foundation, which has helped establish widespread use of solar power by the Hopi people, as a perfect example of communities obtaining energy without the use of fossil fuels. "It's cost effective. It's efficient. It's clean. It's wonderful," he said. "What some Native peoples have is land out in deserts that is very good for producing solar power which may be a tremendous resource area for them. Also, many of those regions have higher than average winds. So windmills are another way of getting energy efficiently."

"The climate has been changing since the Earth existed," said Nancy Maynard, oceanographer and director of applications, commercialization and education of Earth Science Enterprise, a new division of NASA charged with studying advanced satellite data and ensuring Earth science information circulates between scientists and the public. "Climate is a dynamic system, it's never static," she said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is known more for space exploration, moon landings and its dramatic positioning of orbital telescopes looking deep into the universe and back through time. But for the past 15 years, it has increasingly pointed its highly sophisticated instruments toward the Earth. "All of our sensors and satellites are aimed at the Earth, to better understand Earth system components and how they interact," Maynard said. A whole suite of sensors has been looking at things like global warming, water and energy cycles, ozone depletion, chemical changes to the atmosphere, lands, oceans, ecosystems, glacier movements, polar ice densities, the solid planet and the impacts of human intervention on Earth. NASA's high-profile projects have amazed, dazzled and inspired a generation to pursue great achievements. However, it may very well be that its quiet study of Earth -- our exceptional orb of metal, rock, water and soil, surrounded by air -- will rank highest among its contributions to humanity.

"From space you can see oil spills," Maynard said. "From space you can see increased blooms of algae in certain areas, or industrial runoff down a river. We can see loss of wetlands. We can see deforestation. The Amazon picture is pretty sad. In fact, we can map glacial ice melt. The very fact that you have an international consensus that climate is changing in such ways is extraordinary Sea level has risen, there is no question that humans are impacting the climate. These are all very important things [that] have all been agreed on."

What is not as immediately obvious to the people living under NASA's satellites is the extent to which regional effects may be occurring. It may become warmer in one spot while causing a huge amount of snow and ice in another because atmospheric dynamics are complicated. The surface may be warming, but its results to the average person simply register as yet another day of weather -- sometimes pleasant, sometimes not. But the question for Maynard and other scientists has become: Where do we go from here given the fact that climate change is a part of the Earth's life cycle and that humans have stepped up the pace of this change?

One direction in which they are now heading is toward Indian Country. Following 18 regional meetings convened by NASA in partnership with other government agencies and institutions across the United States, Maynard realized that Native peoples had been left out of the knowledge exchange while listening to a report on Great Plains

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"I thought: My God, here is an entire community, everything from scientists to just folks, who have not been folded into our science planning efforts, or anything else," Maynard said. "I couldn't believe it. It sure seemed to me that they [Native peoples] had never been part of the equation in any way and I was horrified. And I thought these guys have some really important insights, along with extremely important knowledge and wisdom, and I said, `we're missing the boat."

Maynard's encounter planted the seeds for collaboration between NASA and Native communities and led directly to the Circles of Wisdom: Native Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop, held in Albuquerque, N.Mex., in October/November 1998. With support provided by NASA, the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of New Mexico and the U.S. Global Change Research Program, tribal leaders, Native scientists, scholars, environmental managers and spiritual elders convened with a national network of scientists to share their knowledge of history, observations of climate change and to explain Native cultural values and relevant prophecies.

"If we are truly looking at the impact of climate change on the United States we absolutely must include Indians," Maynard said. "You can't just pretend it [Indian Country] doesn't exist, because the issues are the same, but there are other issues as well. And we should bloody well pay attention to them."

Maynard has found that Native peoples prove valuable in sorting out the complexities of climate change. Scientists have collected data like pollen samples and tree ring samples that provide information about what was going on hundreds of years ago. Native Americans have longstanding inhabitation on those lands with experiences often recorded in rich oral histories. Important climate and environmental information may be contained in those stories and even embedded in the meanings of Indian place names. The preservation of Indian languages is therefore vitally important, not only to cultural preservation, but also to the understanding of climate change and its impact on the indigenous geography of the Western Hemisphere.

"It's one thing to have a tree ring temperature and its another to hear how widespread that severe weather event was, how long it lasted, and what kind of impact it had on the people, and how people responded," Maynard said.

A second benefit of cooperation comes from the analogy of reservations being like environmental islands. In many cases, Indians have been inhabiting one place for a long time and have maintained many of their indigenous plants instead of plowing everything under and planting commercial crops. This opens an opportunity to study the distribution of plant species.

A third benefit relates to the cultural teachings found in Native spiritual traditions. "The Native American philosophy is to live in harmony with the environment, as part of it," Maynard said. "The philosophy, the culture, the whole way Native Americans approach being part of the environment as opposed to [simply] using it."

NASA is now working to provide Native knowledge to scientists while sharing scientific findings with leaders in tribal communities -- particularly those who are dealing with natural resource management and environmental issues on tribal lands.

In 1896 the good Swede Arrhenius' global warming theory was known only to a small group of chemists and those few with more than a passing interest in Nobel Prize -- worthy scientific papers. Even fewer had heard the compelling messages delivered in American Indian prophecies -- then being quietly circulated among devout

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 52 of 128 cultural interpreters. Some of these long-range forecasts foretold the consequences of a world spinning increasingly out of balance.

PROPHECY AS LONG-RANGE FORECAST

From a Chinook blessing litany comes this phrase: "We call upon the Earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it teach us, and show us the Way," (published in The Way: An Ecological World-View, Edward Goldsmith, University of Georgia Press, 1998).

A brief survey of recent news reports might lead one to discern that the Earth has indeed begun speaking more emphatically about the climate and environmental stresses it has been experiencing, and that people around the world are listening more closely. But can the Earth speak loudly enough to hold the short attention span of a human population immersed in a daily pursuit of survival in a technical age? Are news and scientific information alone sufficient to address the complex issues of our changing planet? Do our actions require a spiritual dimension in order to motivate and sustain appropriate long-term responses?

"Earth at Its Warmest in Past 12 Centuries" declared a Washington Post headline on Dec. 8, 1998. In an article written by Jody Warrick, scientists from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stated that human actions are at least partly responsible for rising global temperatures. Certainly, the 20th century has posted the hottest years on record. The rapid increase in temperature is now causing scientists to conclude that human activity is a key component serving to alter the greenhouse gas mechanism.

"Study: Plains Could Face Droughts," proclaimed an Associated Press article by Philip Brasher in December 1998. "You heard the Dust Bowl was bad?" wrote Brasher. "Scientists who have studied historical records and scientific data say the Great Plains could be in for even worse droughts over the next century." He quoted Connie Woodhouse, a scientist at NOAA's National Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who suggested that global warming increases the likelihood that droughts will expand in frequency and scope. "They may be much more severe and last much longer than what we have experienced this century," Woodhouse said.

While 1998 was a particularly rough year, 1999 continued the decade's shifting weather pattern. Toward the end of each year now, scientists have been assessing their findings and comparing their data to years gone by. A headline from a Reuters news agency report declared "1990s Warmest Decade of Millennium." Quoted in the article was Raymond Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, who revealed research team findings that "temperatures in the latter half of the 20th century were unprecedented." The 1990s were the hottest decade of the millennium, with 1998 the warmest on record, researchers said. Their findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, revealed that temperatures had decreased an average of 0.02 degrees Celsius (0.04 degree Fahrenheit) per century for the 900 years preceding the 20th century Their measurements came from the study of tree rings, ice cores and other "proxy indicators" that had recorded climate changes.

The uncertainties that scientists talk about when addressing the effects of climate change on the Earth's natural systems are beginning to reveal themselves in new and sometimes unexpected ways. In an August 1999 Associated Press article, Annie Ruderman wrote that "the Mediterranean is on its way to becoming a tropical aquarium, with 110 newcomer species from the tropics threatening to crowd out native species less suited to the ever-warmer and more polluted water, experts warned." Biologists from Italy's Central Institute for Scientific Research and Applied Technology for the Sea have discovered that tropical fish -- having traveled into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and the Gibraltar Straits and better equipped for habitat selection and the search for food -- could lead to the extinction of weaker species. "Global warming has raised the temperature of the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 53 of 128 sea by about 1 degree in the last decade, a boon for the migrant species," the article stated.

Although scientists caution that periodic bursts of hot weather are not a reliable indicator of global warming, for many people, sustained heat waves conjure up the specter of global warming. After all, blistering hot days are felt directly Unseasonably hot weather has an immediate impact on human behavior. People do not typically rely on complex reports and information derived from ice core samples and tree rings. They reason that consistent increases in global temperature will result in more days of hotter weather. In his July 1999 Associated Press article, "Heat Toll Hits Poor, Elderly," Randolph E. Schmid wrote about the impact of heat waves on human health. According to the article, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said that from 1979 to 1996, a yearly average of 381 people died of heat in the United States. It calculated there were 6,864 heat-related deaths during that time. And heat waves that baked the United States in the summers of 1998 and 1999 promised to add to the severity of the problem.

However, another 1999 Associated Press article by Jeff Donn entitled "Public Interest in Environment Wanes," stated that Americans are losing interest in the Earth's environmental problems. John Immerwahr, an administrator at Villanova University, led a review of public opinion surveys. The study was conducted by the nonprofit group Public Agenda for the American Geophysical Union, an organization comprised of scientists who study the Earth. Donn wrote: "In 1989, 51 percent of Americans said they worried a great deal about damage to the ozone layer, and 35 percent felt the same about global warming. In 1997, those numbers dropped to 40 percent and 24 percent."

Immerwahr said the declining public interest comes from frustration, not apathy People do not know what they can do and blame global warming on greed and selfishness, on consumers and corporate polluters. Many believe the problem is hopeless.

Oren Lyons, a faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, believes the lack of a spiritual foundation that closely links people to the natural world is the primary reason for the declining interest in global warming. Lyons was among the participants in NASA's climate change workshop in Albuquerque.

"We have a direct relationship to the natural world through our ceremonies," he said. "We have these ceremonies. They're really old, powerful rhythms that we keep and [they] stabilize our society. [They] give our young children a perspective that you can't get if you don't have those ceremonies."

Lyons believes that technology and sciences can exist in sync with the Earth. "Our people were pretty good at that," he said. "They had a scientific knowledge of our Earth from the long-term, from being in one place for 10,000 or 20,000 or 30,000 years. You get to know where you live. So it has a base of order to it. And we understood that order. We lived with that order. And that's what the [Haudenosaunee] Peacemaker referred to as the spiritual law."

At the same time he questioned what he calls the Western world's "lack of connective knowledge." Lyons believes that Western traditions relying on quantification depend solely on analytical thought and ignore the spiritual instructions foretelling the extraordinary occurrences impending on the Earth. Recently, however, many people, including some in the sciences, have begun to appreciate the relationship between intellectual and spiritual forms of knowledge.

The U'wa Native people of Colombia believe that oil is the Earth's blood, and that its release into the upper world will bring about deleterious environmental changes.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 54 of 128 The Hopi have a similar prophecy that cautions: If you disturb things that lie deep within the Earth and bring them up, move them around and scatter them, the whole direction of the world is going to change. They say that if deeply embedded material is moved out from under the Earth and put up on top, monsters will be released. These monsters, they said, could destroy the Earth.

Lyons tells the prophetic story of Seneca chief Handsome Lake, who in 1799, brought to the Haudenosaunee people visions and teachings called the Gaiwiio' (The Good Word). Handsome Lake, it is said, was instructed by spiritual beings assigned to look after humans, and urged them to persist in practicing The Great Law, their code of teachings as instructed by the Peacemaker. Among the many teachings found in the Gaiwiio' -- which takes several days to recite -- Handsome Lake was provided with "vignettes," as Lyons called them, that painted scenarios revealing strange circumstances that nobody at the time could fully comprehend. On a four-day spiritual journey the spiritual beings gave Handsome Lake a view into the future.

Lyons cited a section of the Handsome Lake Code first delivered 200 years ago:

"There will come a time when the Earth will be covered with smoke, and it will take the young and the elderly first."

"Our waters were fundamentally clean," Lyons said. "You could drink anywhere. Any stream. Any water. Any river. And the trees were still there, basically they were still standing, and the lands were not overrun yet. So this message was amazing.

"They said observe and tell me what you see. And he said, `Well, I see a man kneeling down to the stream and he's cupping the water in his hands to drink, and as he brings the water to his face to drink he looks at it and inspects it and he drops it. He looks at the water and the water is filthy. It has things in it and he can't drink it.' He recognized the stream and they said, `Yes, it's true. In time that stream and others like it will become dirty, polluted, so that the people won't be able to drink it, they won't be able to cook their foods in it, and they won't be able to cook their medicines in it.'"

Lyons emphasized that all around the world people can no longer drink directly from local water sources.

"Then he talked about the plants and asked what do you see. He said, `I see a man gardening. He's a good gardener. And now he's pulling up a vine, he pulled the plant up and there was nothing on the vine.' And they said, `Yes, we think what you observe and what you see is true. There is going to come a time when the plants are not going to be reproducing.'"

And Handsome Lake was given more vignettes. "He was told that there was going to come a day when children are going to be born in litters," Lyons said. Today multiple childbirth is becoming more common.

"They said the maple tree, the leader of all trees, will begin dying from the top down and nobody will know how to deal with it."

Handsome Lake's teachings (and many other Native American prophecies) literally or symbolically connect people to the more emotional and spiritual aspects of human beings' reliance on their environments. They also project a long-range view.

Some critics in the academy, however, have questioned the practical and historical realities of Indian environmental ethos. Part of a school of debunkers of the so-called "eco-logical Indian" they write from afar,

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 55 of 128 bouncing conjectural evidence from one article to another until it becomes accepted theory In his recent book, The Ecological Indian: Myth and History, Brown University professor of anthropology Shepard Krech III summarized academic debates regarding Native environmental practices. According to Krech, Native Americans helped cause the extinction of several species of animals such as single-hump camels, giant beavers and stag moose. Much of the book is devoted to Native hunting practices, which Krech maintains were responsible for the comprehensive slaughter of some 40 million buffalo in the 19th century. Krech flatly denies that Native people hunted and fished in harmony with nature for hundreds of years. Krech's provocative and almost ideological hypothesis suggests that Indian cultures cannot be seen as the originators of the contemporary environmental movement, but must be viewed as products of animist belief systems.

Calvin Luther Martin, a former Rutgers historian, appears more generous in his assessment of Native American beliefs in his book, The Way of the Human Being. In his earlier book, Keepers of the Game, however, Martin first floated the thesis of an Indian "spiritual war" against animals. He denies the idea that Indians have anything to add to environmental ethics. Martin's thinking this time is more in line with Lyons', stating that the Western mind is removed from an abiding involvement with the Earth. He further states that Indians saw themselves as being more equal with other life forms in the natural world and developed spiritual foundations for their ethics.

Despite obfuscations, Lyons remains hopeful for the future. "The people who have been the most cause of all the problems are now beginning to pick this [Native American] perspective up," he said. "They're now beginning to talk about it, and they want more of it, they want to understand it, and it's moving to higher and higher levels."

As an example, Lyons points to the value statement first expressed by the epic Peacemaker hundreds of years ago -- that today's decisions are to be made in the interest of the seventh generation to come. The quote has become a commonly stated philosophy.

At the close of his opening statement at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, attorney general Maurice Strong acknowledged the ancient Iroquois Peacemaker when he used the quote of the Seventh Generation.

Said NASA scientist Maynard, "Given the incredible amount of impact humans are having on this planet, if we don't begin, as an entire race or culture, to adopt the kind of philosophy that the Native Americans articulate so well -- about how you interact with your environment -- we aren't going to have one."

Increasingly, the growing cadre of international scientists whose research supports the global warming premise are adding their voices to those of Native peoples by making long-range projections of their own. These modern scientific prophecies of environmental change are being reflected in computer-simulated climate models. While these models consistently show a global warming trend, the ultimate impacts of a heated planet remain very much in debate.

CLOUDY PUBLIC DISCOURSE

A comprehensive and sustained public discourse on climate change has yet to emerge in the United States. Although considerable dialogue has been carried on within universities and environmental and non-governmental organizations for many years -- as well as within several coordinated government-sponsored agencies and research centers -- the topic has remained far from the front burners of our collective conscience. In addition to the frustrations expressed by some, others have become perplexed by the contradictions heard from doubters in the science community, and from conservative-leaning political, corporate and religious advocates.

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In some respects, the case for global warming gets bogged down in its theoretical underpinnings. Scientific findings that do not register precisely with the predictions of climate circulation models or that present more contemplative impact assessments are quickly promoted by the unconvinced. For example, the effects of climate change on agriculture are expected to be strong, but scientists cannot pinpoint specifics. Because plants are greatly dependent on the weather -- the amounts of rain and sun, the levels of heat and cold, and the length of the growing seasons -- climate changes may simply shift the locations where crop-growing conditions are better. Other theorists suggest that increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may actually boost crop productivity. Laboratory experiments have shown that as plants absorb more carbon, they grow larger and faster. Major food plants such as wheat, rice and soybeans are particularly affected because increased carbon makes them more water efficient.

Several advocacy groups countering global warming claims have emerged and are attempting to discredit the prevailing scientific consensus. The Greening Earth Society of Arlington, Va., asserts "that humankind's industrial revolution is good and not bad and that humans utilizing fossil fuels to enable our economic activity is as natural as breathing." Through their financial support of World Climate Report, the society expounds on the positive effects of carbon dioxide on the Earth's atmosphere. "Increasing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere will produce a tremendous greening of planet Earth," states material on their World Wide Web site.

In a May 1999 article from the Greening Earth Society comes the report of an Arizona State University study team that examined 90 years of temperature data recorded at the Mount Wilson Observatory outside Los Angeles. The researchers found that Mount Wilson actually cooled "at a highly statistically significant rate of 0.26 degrees Celsius per decade from 1918 to 1984." Others who share the society's perspective point to satellite data indicating that within the mid-range to higher altitudes of the Earth's atmosphere no appreciable warming has been observed.

The article raised questions about particular scientific findings. "The chief hothouse gas is water vapor -- not carbon dioxide or methane," it stated. "Currently, human activity puts about 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year. Non-human activity, mostly volcanoes, accounts for about 200 billion tons." The article quoted Purdue University physics professor, L. van Zandt: "Human activity, carried out at the present rate indefinitely, cannot possibly account for more than 6 percent of the observed change in carbon dioxide levels. Entirely shutting off civilization -- or even killing everybody -- could only have a tiny effect on global warming, if there is such a thing .... Why do all these supposedly educated, supposedly sane people want to end civilization? Since humanity can't possibly be causing the carbon dioxide level to go up, isn't it time to start wondering about what is?"

This and other strident opposition to the findings of most in the scientific community -- not to mention direct observations from Native northern communities -- has made the emergence of a national dialogue on climate

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Vice President Al Gore's book, Earth in the Balance, has been painted with controversy by his political opponents since it was published in 1992. In a provocative exploration of global warming, Gore argues that we humans must restructure our relationship with nature if we are to save the environment for future generations. Dick Morris is perhaps alone among political consultants who have implored Gore to build his presidential campaign on the issue of climate change. But Morris' advice is likely to go unheeded, given the public's waning interest and the political feeding frenzy that would ensue.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle attempted to discredit global warming in his brief presidential bid when he said: "Bill Clinton and Al Gore, they hyperventilate over the theory -- the theory -- of global warming. Wouldn't it be nice if they spent half as much attention to the reality of global terrorism?"

"Scientists are loath to confirm that there is global warming," said NSF program director Ledbetter. "They like to have the last data point and know absolutely for certain that it has happened before they jump in and say it is happening because there are political ramifications."

However, Ledbetter said he must respond appropriately to the scientific evidence he and others have collected and studied. "There is absolutely no doubt that temperatures are increasing, ice is melting, glaciers are going away," he said. "We have to say that at this point, this is consistent with what the models predict should happen in global warming. In a very real respect, warming is warming."

Ledbetter points again toward the changes underway in the Arctic. Global models predict that the Arctic would be the first place to be affected and that a 1 or 2 degree change in the tropics would magnify into a 4 to 8 degree change in the north.

"The fact that we're seeing all of these things happening in the Arctic to a much greater extent than elsewhere, and still seeing some change at all latitudes is entirely consistent with this being a [human-induced] global warming effect rather than some local, regional, Arcticwide temperature change caused by natural processes," he said.

Michael MacCracken, of the National Assessment Coordination Office, sees several parts to the problem of the public's understanding of climate change. He begins by posing three questions. First: What is happening to the climate? Second: What are the consequences of climate change and how do we cope with these things? Third: What might we do about it?

"The problem in the public debate is all these get intertwined," MacCracken said, "and so producers of coal who will want to keep producing coal will look back at the science and say, `well the science is very uncertain.' And so there is some coloring of the interpretation of the science by what people are thinking about as an outcome. And that's

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 58 of 128 very unfortunate and very confusing."

The "coloring" of the scientific evidence that MacCracken talks about is somewhat predictable when viewed in the context of Western society's current standard of living and the energy demands required to maintain that standard of living. Fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) provide 85 to 90 percent of the world's energy If the use of energy created by fossil fuels needed to be reduced dramatically -- perhaps by 20 or 30 percent -- this standard of living would be jeopardized. Those who cherish consumerist lifestyles need to be absolutely convinced of the negative implications of global warming before making any profound changes in their lives. This group represents one of three schools of thought on the topic, MacCracken says.

The second school of thought is represented by those who say we depend on the Earth, there is only one Earth, and that we are conducting an experiment on it. This group sees humans as changing the Earth in ways that are going to last many thousands of years. They reason that before we change and endanger the Earth that we depend on, we had better be really certain that the experiment is safe and wise. And if we are uncertain about the results, then we should not be doing these things.

"For that first group, uncertainty is reason not to take action," MacCracken says. "For the second group, uncertainty is a reason to take action."

MacCracken also sees a third perspective from people who possess both of these perspectives, but to a differing extent. "The third perspective would say, `well, I'm not going to insist you be absolutely certain and I'm willing to believe that you have some indications as to what's happening, so I want to do everything I can that's practical to do something about it. I want to invest in all these new technologies -- solar power, wind power, more efficiency,' "he said

This is the policy direction advocated by the Clinton administration. They recognize that the American public is not willing to give up their standard of living and level of services, but they are willing to change the technology to support their standard of living. This third school of thought, therefore, is promoting investment in new technologies as the means to addressing any prospective climate problem.

"I think each of us has some element of all of these perspectives," MacCracken said. "There may be other ones that just want to return completely to nature, but the trouble with going back to just depending on nature are the estimates that the world could only support a couple hundred million people in a purely natural way if you didn't have society using energy to mass-produce food. Well, we have 6 billion people, so how do you decide who lives and who doesn't?"

MacCracken believes that Native people tend to be cognizant of the second school of thought -- that this environment around us is changing, and that we must be very mindful of our actions.

Indeed, from her small hamlet of Arctic Village (estimated population: 100) within the Yukon-Koyukuk region of Alaska, environmental monitor Sarah James tracks the changes taking place within her indigenous geography. While down below in the lower 48 those invested in the climate change issue advocate or obfuscate to varying degrees about whether global warming is more than just a theory, she has clamored to bring attention to the environmental anomalies she has witnessed.

In first-person testimony, James affirms that from the experiences and perspectives of Native villagers living in Alaska's interior, the natural world waits not for a unanimous human determination on climate change. "The tree

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 59 of 128 line is now some 35 miles north of where it used to be," she said. "The glaciers are melting and we are losing lakes to the widening flow of rivers. The flow cleans out the lakes and more new vegetation is moving northward. With this, in summer has come more insects that are eating and killing many trees."

James said these changes have had an impact on animal life as well. "I grew up on the land," she said. "I know the land. Little hawks are around and I've never seen them here before. Now they are on my roof. There are new birds and ducks we have never seen in this area. Other animals have declined."

There exists a delicate balance between temperatures and seasons and animal behaviors, James said. The warmer winters and the thawing of the permafrost are upsetting the animals and the Native peoples' own way of life in the north. In a somewhat ironic construct involving value judgments, the standard of living for Native peoples in the north is now threatened by those far to the south who seek to maintain a standard of living that involves considerable energy consumption based upon the burning of fossil fuels and the addition of billions of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

"This is confusing for people who live off the land," she said. "During the winter snow means heat to us. It is our insulation. It affects how deeply the ground and waters freeze, which affects hibernating animals and fish. Sudden changes in the weather also confuse the animals and fish. Fur animals are dropping their fur when it is too warm at the wrong time of the year. The animals get sick."

"The climate is changing," James said.

NEW FRONT MOVING IN

At the dawn of the new millennium, we billions of human beings face a stark choice about the future of our lonely cosmic planet. Increasingly, the values of generational awareness are awakening the world to the reality of global warming. Climate change is an issue that speaks to the heart of our responsibilities as parents, grandparents and community members. As our own species increases in numbers and burns huge quantities of fossil fuels, while clearing what remains of virgin forest, the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to expand exponentially. The evidence is mounting that human dynamics is the cause and that unmitigated global climate change may lead to major disruptions rocking the delicate balance of nature.

Gale E. Christianson, a history professor at Indiana State University and author of Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming, wrote that after reviewing literature on global warming spanning two centuries, most of the predictions about what even one degree of global warming can do are proving to be correct. In a July 1999 article published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Christianson wrote: "The corals of the warming seas are dying ... the waters of the world are gradually rising ... the glaciers and polar ice caps continue to shrink ... the melting permafrost in the Arctic tundra threatens to buckle roads and topple electrical lines ... and the habitats of many insect species, including butterflies, shrank under a withering summer sun, and ice core samples collected in Greenland inform us that there has been no warming like ours in the past 250,000 years, though ice has come and gone again."

"The naysayers have long since had their day," Christianson wrote.

Those who are close to this issue, either because they have experienced the changing climate on the land or because they have studied the latest scientific data, are saying with a boldness not previously heard, that should political and business leaders of the world continue to move in the current direction, we will be conducting an

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 60 of 128 uncharted journey toward a "disagreeable destination." Tactics that reduce and discount northern Native observations and scientific discoveries in ideological obfuscation are not productive. They simply delay responsible and necessary actions.

"I think there are a host of issues that we're only starting to face up to as we think of consequences," scientist MacCracken said. "And the process we're starting is to get people thinking about how the climate is changing, and to think [about future] generations. Now people say you should have been doing this all along, but that is not how the market economy works. And so one of the perspectives we're hoping can emerge from the Native community to everybody else is this: Native peoples have been on this continent a long time, they have a sense of changes, they have a sense of interactions, they have some perspectives to offer. One of them is you really need to take care of your environment in ways [that will enable us] to live over the long term. We better take care of that environment or we're going to end up in a situation where it's relatively rapidly changing, and there's a risk to that."

Onondaga faithkeeper Oren Lyons, a veteran of international forums, has watched a global consensus begin to develop around the need to deal with climate change. The scientists that agree with Native peoples are many, he says, and the naysayers few. But the naysayers have the support of industry -- an imbalance he says, which is a corrupt use of corporate power to support the status quo.

"What needs to be done is you have to have a change in the value systems that are currently driving the economies of the world," he said. "The values have to have longer range. They have to have a sustainable element to them. And leadership has to be more responsible to the future. I do not believe that we are past the point of no return, but I think that we're approaching it, and every day that we don't do something to correct it is a day lost. And those days lost are irretrievable. So people have to pay attention to that point of no return."

"Societies have to decide what is more important to them, their lifestyle or the environment that they and their grandchildren are going to be living in," said Arctic system scientist Ledbetter. "I think human beings are incredibly adaptable and as a whole extremely bright and I don't think they are going to do something that's going to spoil their environment forever. I'm optimistic. I just think we need to get started a little faster."

A northern sentinel not far from the tip of Siberia, the elder Apangalook, talked about the sea, ice and animals as another winter approaches. He issued an appeal that is as clear and true as the cold currents that used to bring in the ice flows, and on them the walrus, with time-honored consistency. "We hear that [global warming] is attributed to causes by mankind and the enormity of the problem appalls us, because it is going to take the whole world to correct that. I just hope we do it before it gets any worse," he said.

NOTES

(1) W.L. Chapman and J.E. Walsh, 1993. "Recent Variations of Sea Ice and Air Temperatures in High Latitudes," Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 74:33-47, excerpt from Greenpeace web file http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/arctic/reports/seaice3.html

(2) O.M. Johannessen, et al., July 13, 1995, "The Arctic's Shrinking Sea Ice," Nature 326:126-7, excerpt from Greenpeace web file http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/arctic/reports/seaice3.html

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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Illustration (The greenhouse effect)

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Ecology; Environment; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Alaska Alaska

People: Apangalook, Leonard Nickels, Scot Apangalook, Leonard Nickels, Scot

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 8

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Illustration

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000009

ProQuest document ID: 224779412

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Negotiating Kyoto: Indigenous Peoples and the Complex Path to Global Solutions Selverston, Melina . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 72.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Now, through an agreement signed in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, governments made a legally binding commitment for industrialized countries to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within an established commitment period, 2008 to 2012, those countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels. The objective of the UNFCCC is not simply the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but actually the "stabilization of greenhouse gases at a safe level." Therefore the UNFCCC, in various articles, states that the control of greenhouse gases through sinks can be used to meet a country's commitment to gas emissions reduction. In other words, an industrialized country can "trade" the gases they are saving by financing the protection of a forest in a developing country for the gases they are producing at home.

There has been contentious debate about "emissions trading" throughout the UNFCCC negotiations. Unfortunately, forest-dwelling indigenous communities, the people who stand to be most directly affected, have not yet been actively involved in those debates. The CDM has to support "sustainable development" as described by the host country. Indigenous people have learned from experience that with protected areas and parks, if "conservation" takes precedence over the needs of local communities, it can result in conflict.

It is important that the UNFCCC include strong language to protect the rights of indigenous people. It is a powerful and binding convention in the United Nations hierarchy of treaties, considerably more important than, for example, the Convention on Biodiversity, which does contain language concerning indigenous peoples. The CDM, in particular, will directly affect indigenous and local communities, so their voices must be included in the discussions to define the legal framework governing it. At a minimum, issues of "prior and informed consent" and "benefit sharing," already addressed in the UN body of international laws, must be clearly defined in the CDM.

FULL TEXT

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 63 of 128 Negotiating Kyoto: Indigenous Peoples and the Complex Path to Global Solutions

From Alaska to the Amazon, indigenous people are commenting on the dramatic changes in their fishing, hunting, and gathering practices that have been passed on for generations. Communities are experiencing the impact of changes in their environment, which scientists have named "global warming." Increasingly, scientists are concluding that global warming is caused by human activity, in particular the burning of fossil fuels (coal and petroleum). Plants and animals survive in specific ecosystems and can suffer dramatically, even disappear, because of changes in the weather conditions. Most indigenous communities are linked to specific ecosystems upon which they rely to continue as a people. According to a recent report, "Scientists are beginning to document some profound effects that the changing climate is apparently causing in plant and animal populations."(1)

CLIMATE CHANGE AND FORESTS

The most dramatic effects of global warming are seen in the oceans, which are extremely sensitive to even the slightest temperature changes. Coastal areas are at risk of being flooded. Latin America's coral reefs already are showing signs of dying as a result of slightly warmer oceans, and El Niño-related storms are increasing. The Caribbean Islands and the Atlantic Coast of the Americas stand to suffer significantly from the changes in the ocean climate and the probable floods stemming from global warming.

Forests have a unique relationship to climate change, which is becoming increasingly relevant in South America because of the destruction in the Amazon Basin, the largest forest area in the world. Not only can climate change lead to deforestation, but also deforestation can exacerbate climate change. The fire that burned out of control in Brazil last winter is attributed, in part, to the drought, in turn, linked to global warming. The fire in northern Brazil burned for many weeks causing irreparable damage to the rainforest, including the Yanomami, Macuxi, and Wapishana territories. The fire ate into tropical forest areas that are usually too humid to burn.(2)

As the forest burned, it released dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The environmental group Friends of the Earth estimated that the Brazil fires released 125 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That is the equivalent of 10 years' emissions from the largest city in Brazil, S...o P...olo. Forests have the ability to store carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which is why they are called "carbon sinks." The stored greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere when forests are destroyed, adding to the global warming effect. Conversely, reforestation can remove those gases from the atmosphere. Thus, forests are vital to the natural balance of global climate.

The Amazon rainforest is as large as the continental United States, and incorporates nine different South American countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and French Guyana, which actually is a French protectorate). More than 500 different indigenous languages are spoken there. Beyond the Amazon rainforest there is the huge Atlantic rainforest on the Coast of Brazil, and important forests in Central America and Mexico.

THE CLIMATE REGIME

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was developed by governments in 1992 to address the problem of climate change. At that time, scientists were still building a case that global warming was occurring, and that it was largely the result of human activity. Since then, the evidence has been mounting, pointing to the human causes of global warming. The UNFCCC went into effect in 1994 with about 160 countries. The industrialized countries that are parties to the convention are called Annex I countries. The Annex I countries

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 64 of 128 are considered to have contributed the most to global warming, and are wealthier, so the UNFCCC gives them more responsibility for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Annex I countries are also expected, within the UNFCCC, to assist the poorer, less-developed countries that are likely to be most affected by global warming.

It is estimated that in order to stabilize carbon dioxide at a safe level it will require a 60 to 80 percent cut in carbon emissions from current levels. Through negotiations governments are determining methods to reduce emissions of dangerous gases into the atmosphere. They also are discussing ways to control the gases that are already there. Planting trees, one method to absorb greenhouse gases, is called a carbon sequestration.

Now, through an agreement signed in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, governments made a legally binding commitment for industrialized countries to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within an established commitment period, 2008 to 2012, those countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below 1990 levels. The objective of the UNFCCC is not simply the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but actually the "stabilization of greenhouse gases at a safe level." Therefore the UNFCCC, in various articles, states that the control of greenhouse gases through sinks can be used to meet a country's commitment to gas emissions reduction. In other words, an industrialized country can "trade" the gases they are saving by financing the protection of a forest in a developing country for the gases they are producing at home.

THE CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM

The Kyoto Protocol established the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to provide a system for Annex I countries to assist developing countries achieve sustainable development and to contribute to the objectives of the UNFCCC by supporting carbon sinks.

A study by the Center for International Environmental Law, based in Washington, D.C., concludes that "given the right legal and institutional framework, CDM forest projects could be potent tools in achieving climate benefits while protecting forests and benefiting local communities."(3) Supporters of this perspective argue that if there are adequate regulations, the CDM could be an important way for resources to be transferred from wealthy countries to communities that can benefit from investment in sustainable development. For governments of developing countries, the CDM is a mechanism for them to obtain the financial resources needed to achieve sustainable development -- something they have been calling for since the climate negotiations began a decade ago.

Critics of the CDM are concerned that it may provide incentives that contradict environmental objectives. Dr. Ursula Fuentes Hutfilter of the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health fears that the "accounting of biological sinks in the Kyoto Protocol could lead to incentives with negative impacts upon climate protection as well as biodiversity conservation."(4) For example, a government might clear away valuable wetlands biodiversity to develop a tree plantation for carbon sequestration. Alternately, forest peoples might be relocated or otherwise adversely affected to make way for "protected areas."

Other aspects of the debate on emissions trading focus on the validity of carbon sequestration as a method for climate control. Article 12 states that "emissions reductions resulting from each project activity shall be certified

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 65 of 128 by operational entities to be designated by the Conference of the Parties." Scientists have argued, however, that there is no practical method to prove that a carbon sequestration or sustainable development project has contributed to stabilization of greenhouse gases. In any case, many European environmental organizations say that emissions trading lets their industries off the hook. "It is less expensive to support a project in the developing world than to improve the industry methods," said Gotelind Alber of the Climate Alliance of Europe.

PARTICIPATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

It is difficult to consider the long-term effects of international policies when indigenous people throughout the hemisphere are faced with the daily struggle to survive. In Latin America most indigenous people do not have land titles and do not benefit from the basic rights of citizenship. Yet the policies developed in the climate negotiations will directly impact indigenous peoples and their homes. Yaritza Array, an indigenous leader from Venezuela who has studied the UNFCCC, made an urgent call for indigenous organizations to educate each other about the UNFCCC, and to demand participation in the negotiations. "We have to intervene so they take serious measures against the current model of development -- our survival is at stake."(5)

NOTES

(1) "Global Warming is Here: The Scientific Evidence," The Atmosphere Alliance, Olympia, Wash., March 1999.

(2) William Schomberg, "Brazil Begins to Count Toll of Amazon Fires." Reuters, April 2, 1998.

(3) "Carbon Conservation: Climate Change, Forests, and the Clean Development Mechanism," Donald Goldberg, et al., Washington, D.C., 1998, CIEL and CEDARENA.

(4) Dr. Ursula Fuentes Hutfilter, "Sinks in the Kyoto Protocol -- An Overview." Paper presented at the Climate Alliance Congress, the Netherlands, May 1999.

(5) "Consideraciones Sobre el Convenio de Cambio Climatico y el Protocolo de Kyoto," Yaritza Array, Federacion Indigena de Bolivar, Venezuela.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (Venezuela, Young Warao Native girls)

DETAILS

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 66 of 128 Subject: Culture; Environment; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Alaska South America Alaska South America

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 72

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000019

ProQuest document ID: 224779350

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Reigniting the Rainforest: Fires, Development and Deforestation Schwartzman, Stephan . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 60.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Scientists point to carbon dioxide as the primary suspect in this unfolding story of ecological cataclysm. Specifically, carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in industrialized countries -- with the United States first and foremost. But the burning of tropical forests runs a strong second -- tropical forest destruction has contributed some 20 percent of the carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. The burning of the Brazilian Amazon as measured in the Landsat pictures alone contributes about 5 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, recent research suggests that forests may act as carbon "sinks" -- which take up and store more carbon than they give off in photosynthesis, and absorb even more in an increasingly carbon-rich atmosphere. Forests could be the determinant between low-end temperature increase, slow enough to adapt to without major social disruptions, and high-end change, faster than current social arrangements will easily bear.

Indigenous peoples in the Amazon have made major gains over the last decade. Leaders such as Davi Yanomami, Ailton Krenak, Jose Adalberto Macuxi, Euclides Macuxi and many others have built the alliances needed to move the Brazilian government to recognize 20 percent of the Amazon -- an area twice the size of California -- as indigenous territory. This is the largest expanse of tropical forest protected anywhere. Indians in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador have also won substantial gains in recognition of their land rights. While many areas are invaded and leaders sell timber and strike deals with miners, protecting indigenous land in the Amazon objectively halts deforestation.

Chico Mendes was killed creating a reserve for rubber tappers to live in and manage sustainably -- the first "extractive reserve." The idea for these reserves was drawn from indigenous reserves. The National Council of Rubber Tappers that he founded has created 21 of these reserves. A glance at the satellite images shows that Indian areas and extractive reserves actually stop deforestation on the Amazon frontier. The Council of Rubber Tappers is honoring the tenth anniversary of Mendes' assassination with a campaign for new extractive reserves -- the council wants 10 percent of the Amazon as extractive reserves by 2002 -- and for policies to make these and the Indian lands sustainable and economically viable.

FULL TEXT Reigniting the Rainforest: Fires, Development and Deforestation

The rainforest used to be a most fashionable environmental cause in Hollywood, but movie stars, along with much of America, have limited attention spans, and lately, the rainforest has fallen from favor. The destruction of the rainforest is as real a dilemma as it was ten years ago, only fewer people discuss it.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 68 of 128 The rainforest has real implications and consequences for all of us. Forest destruction, particularly in the tropics, and the still-open question of whether or not it can be slowed or stopped, very likely will be more important to the ecological condition of the planet our children and grandchildren will inherit than anything else happening in the world today. The destruction is worse than you think, and is likely to affect you and your children. But the chances to stop it are also much better, in large part because of what people in the forest -- indigenous peoples -- and their allies in the environmental movement are doing.

IS IT JUST A CASE OF TOO MANY PEOPLE?

An area of forest bigger than Belgium, Holland and Austria put together, or about 40 percent of California, was cut down and burned every year between 1980 and 1995, some 62,000 square miles per year. NASA's Landsat satellite photographs show that more than 200,000 square miles, an area about the size of France, has been cleared and burned in Brazil alone. All of this has happened since the 1970s.

Clearly, old-growth forest, or forest that has remained virtually untouched by industrial development, has a very different value in a world of 6 billion people. It does not look inexhaustible anymore. But global aggregates alone cannot be blamed for the devastation of old-growth forests.

A very large part of forest destruction is driven by multinational corporate developments many times at the expense of poor people (such as Indians and other minorities).

Across the tropics, energy and infrastructure development (pipelines, oil and gas extraction, roads and dams) and mining have taken a heavy toll. Guyanese Amerindians, the Ogoni minority of Nigeria and New Guinea tribal peoples all can testify that multinational investment in the tropics often has featured the dismal combination of environmental damage, compromised health for local people and human rights abuses. Major players in the global development race have used public money and (with the partial exception of U.S. export credit agencies) have done so with minimal or no environmental, freedom-of-information or human rights policies.

American consumers are linked directly to tropical deforestation by tropical timber exports. Each piece of mahogany furniture and every strip of Indonesian plywood are a part of the devastation. Both commodities are key causes of opening up the most pristine rainforests in the world to depredation, fires and invasion of indigenous people's lands. Tropical timber is a small item in U.S. wood and wood product consumption, but it has environmental and human consequences drastically out of proportion to its economic value.

It is, however, important to understand that most tropical timber is consumed in tropical countries -- Brazil exports only 14 percent of the timber extracted from the Amazon. U.S. consumption of tropical timber could cease altogether with little or no appreciable effect on deforestation in most of the tropics, unless consumption patterns in Asia and the developing countries also change.

Americans use 10 times more paper products than developing countries, but the consumption of wood and paper is growing much faster in the developing world than in the United States.

Some scientists estimate that there are only 5.2 million square miles of old-growth forest (not just tropical, but temperate and boreal as well) left in the world. That 62,000 square-mile-a-year deforestation figure could be off by 10,000 either way, but if it does not radically slow down -- and soon -- no old-growth will be left in just two human lifetimes.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 69 of 128 Eradicating the old-growth forests of the world would change the course of evolution on the planet in ways that we cannot imagine. It could also make global warming happen much faster than it already is, and in ways that could seriously impair the planet's ability to sustain life at the levels it presently does. Ecosystems, as Native people and, more recently, ecologists have long warned, are interconnected like a Chinese puzzle -- take one piece out, and it all starts to come apart.

FIRE AND RAIN

Forests do things for us we continue to ignore and discount, to our increasing loss. These things are sometimes called "ecosystem services" and they are in ever-shorter supply China, not a world leader in green consciousness, last year banned all logging in its few remaining natural forests after disastrous flooding wreaked havoc along heavily populated rivers. In so doing, China hoped to save remnants of forest cover on the upper headwaters. But so much forest is already gone that it may not make much difference.

In February, numerous people died and hundreds of millions of dollars in property was destroyed in massive floods that shut down the industrial capital of South America, S...o P...olo. Paving over every patch of green that could have absorbed run-off is one major reason. Some 70 percent of Brazil's population lives in the coastal Atlantic forest region. Their water supply, flood control, soil conservation and regional climate all ultimately depend on this forest, which is more than 90 percent gone. Experts now expect a third of the world's population to face serious water shortages in the next 25 years -- the most and worst where there are the least old-growth forests.

The Amazon is a good example of how trees and water connect about half of the rain that falls on the forest is produced by the forest itself, which breathes out water through its multi-billions of capillaries. Cut the forest down and there are fewer plants to hold the rain and cycle it back. More water runs off, carrying more topsoil, leaving less to make rain. The Amazon has about a fifth of the fresh water in the world, so it is not drying up -- yet.

FRUITS OF THE FOREST

Tropical forests hold between 50 and 90 percent of the living species on the planet. This margin of uncertainty accounts for what biologists do not know about the plants and animals in tropical forests. No more than one-tenth of the species alive are known to science (and maybe only one-one hundredth).

Tropical forests have given us rubber, chocolate, vanilla, quinine, d-tubocurarine (which, made from the arrow poison curare, revolutionized modern surgery) and vincristine (extracted from Madagascar periwinkle, which greatly increased survival rates for childhood leukemia). Scientists have recently reported a new generation of painkillers under development, much more powerful than heroin, but non-addictive -- based on frog venom traditionally used by Amazon Natives for shamanic purposes.

Diminished forests will mean diminished biotic resources. Biologists have calculated that the greatest wave of extinction since the dinosaurs disappeared 60 million years ago is happening now because of tropical forest loss.

WHERE THERE IS SMOKE ...

The grand master of ecological disasters is global warming. It covers everything. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, some 2,000 climate scientists strong, has concluded that the Earth is already warmer than it was a century ago, and could become between one degree and 3.5 degrees Celsius warmer on average over the next century, largely because of the carbon dioxide and other gases we are pouring into the atmosphere. How

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 70 of 128 quickly and how much warming occurs could make a big difference. Scientists are already documenting rising sea levels and melting glaciers, and looking at shifting ecological zones, more rapid evaporation and more extreme weather patterns.

Scientists point to carbon dioxide as the primary suspect in this unfolding story of ecological cataclysm. Specifically, carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in industrialized countries -- with the United States first and foremost. But the burning of tropical forests runs a strong second -- tropical forest destruction has contributed some 20 percent of the carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere. The burning of the Brazilian Amazon as measured in the Landsat pictures alone contributes about 5 percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, recent research suggests that forests may act as carbon "sinks" -- which take up and store more carbon than they give off in photosynthesis, and absorb even more in an increasingly carbon-rich atmosphere. Forests could be the determinant between low-end temperature increase, slow enough to adapt to without major social disruptions, and high-end change, faster than current social arrangements will easily bear.

The recent wildfires in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States have triggered an alarm. More fires mean even more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the truly hair-raising prospect is that climate change may be making the forests drier and more fire-prone, while more fires hasten the change, making bigger fires more likely. The Woods Hole Research Center has found that for every acre cleared and burned in the Amazon, at least another acre burns in ground fires under the forest canopy and/or is degraded by selective logging (not picked up by the satellites). The frequency and extent of these ground fires skyrocket in El Niño events, which can then cause drought in some tropical forests -- and such fires are likely to increase in frequency and intensity with global warming.

The fire that burned out of control in the Amazon forest for two months last year may look like kindling the next time around. Runaway industrial energy consumption plays out in everyone else's atmosphere, and so do the fires in the Amazon. The carbon dioxide emissions of Amazon fires may be close to 10 percent of the world total.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

In order to change the way things are headed in tropical forests, people and organizations in the United States have to work with allies that are there, who can do something about it and who have a real interest in changing the status quo.

Many around the world remember Chico Mendes, the rubber-tapper union leader from the Amazon who was murdered ten years ago. He led the movement of forest people who make a living collecting wild rubber latex against invading cattle ranchers. This was the first social movement to seek alliance with indigenous organizations in the region. Neither Indians nor rubber tappers look familiar to most people in North America, but they and their colleagues have made significant gains in the last ten years. This forest peoples movement and sectors aligned with it have elected two state governors in the Amazon -- something almost no one believed

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 71 of 128 possible a few years ago.

The rainforest is not destroyed. It is shrinking but there is still time to do plenty about it. The Amazon is a forest almost half the size of the continental United States, well more than three-quarters intact. We have an historic opportunity to build strong constituencies for protection and sustainability before the natural ecosystem has been practically eliminated.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Ecology; Environment; Rainforests

Location: United States Nigeria New Guinea Mexico Brazil United States Nigeria New Guinea Mexico Brazil

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 60

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 72 of 128 Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000016

ProQuest document ID: 224774635

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LAND RIGHTS ADVANCE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Weinberg, Bill . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 5.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Some First Nations leaders have criticized the Nisga'a settlement as a swindle for the Indians. Hereditary Nuxalk Chief Qwatsinas, who is facing criminal charges for participating in blockades of logging roads in defiance of court orders, told Seattle's On Indian Land that the Nisga'a settlement "is being used as a public relations and propaganda tool ... . I don't believe it's a good deal. There are 6,000 Nisga'a. Their traditional territory encompassed 25,000 square kilometers [10,000 square miles]. They settled for 2,000 square kilometers [800 square miles]."

FULL TEXT LAND RIGHTS ADVANCE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Canada's federal courts have ruled that indigenous title is inherently legitimate, sparking land claims from the arctic tundra of the Northwest Territories to the temperate rainforests of British Columbia. It is on this timber-rich Pacific coastline, where virtually no land has ever been ceded by treaty, that deals between First Nations and the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 73 of 128 provincial and federal governments are now being negotiated -- drawing fire from both opponents and proponents of indigenous rights. One important British Columbia settlement, seen as a test case, remains mired in litigation.

Last year, the Nisga'a First Nation reached a settlement with provincial and federal negotiators for 796.8 square miles along the Nass River in northern British Columbia, between Prince Rupert and the Alaska border. The Nisga'a are to own all forest and mineral resources in the area, and a share in the salmon fishery They also are to have the power to tax, manage local services and protect their language and culture. But the settlement, called a model of reconciliation by the Nisga'a and government alike, is opposed by an alliance of business leaders and the British Columbia Liberal Party. The Liberals first filibustered in the provincial legislature; then, when the left-leaning New Democratic Party government moved to close debate, challenged the settlement in court, claiming it violates the federal Constitution by creating a new order of government and giving the Nisga'a "special rights."

Legal scholars counter that the settlement merely defines First Nation rights under Constitutional protection, and stipulates that the Nisga'a are subject to the same laws as all Canadians.

The debate has intensified around a legal victory by the Musqueam, who recently won a 74-fold increase in land- lease rates paid by homeowners in Vancouver suburbs built on Musqueam land. The yearly rates were set at 6 percent of land values in 1965 -- and failed to rise more than modestly despite soaring land values. The Musqueam argue that the rates have been too low for too long, and they are entitled to a fair return. Homeowners have protested. The Liberals have been quick to exploit the issue, warning that private property rights will be under attack if British Columbia's other 51 Indian nations win settlements like the Nisga'a.

Some First Nations leaders have criticized the Nisga'a settlement as a swindle for the Indians. Hereditary Nuxalk Chief Qwatsinas, who is facing criminal charges for participating in blockades of logging roads in defiance of court orders, told Seattle's On Indian Land that the Nisga'a settlement "is being used as a public relations and propaganda tool ... . I don't believe it's a good deal. There are 6,000 Nisga'a. Their traditional territory encompassed 25,000 square kilometers [10,000 square miles]. They settled for 2,000 square kilometers [800 square miles]."

The Nuxalk are at loggerheads with the British Columbia Treaty Commission, refusing to cede rights to their traditional 7,200 square miles. Meanwhile, Nuxalk forests on King Island are being clear-cut by the Canadian timber company Interfor, sparking several blockades by Nuxalk and their environmentalist allies on the island since 1995.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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Subject: Culture; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Canada Canada

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 74 of 128 Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 5

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

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THE GREAT PLAINS: A Decade of Drought and Blizzard

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 75 of 128 Spears, Patrick . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 49.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The Great Plains has undergone dramatic ecological shifts many times throughout the life of the Earth. Changes may occur yet again on the Great Plains because of climate change, this time accelerated by the forces of humanity. Plains tribes are now searching for ways to adapt to anticipated climate changes and to devise a plan that will ensure their survival.

The hardest hit reservations were the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Ft. Berthold, and Spirit Lake reservations in the Dakotas. In the subsequent spring, the community of Wakpala on the Standing Rock Reservation was evacuated because of flooding from rapid snowmelt and runoff. Five other reservations in North Dakota also were affected when many tribal members returned home due to flood evacuations in the city of Grand Forks. This taxed already stressed tribal government services, themselves coping with the effects of blizzards and flooding.

Although some resources may be threatened, reduced or completely extinguished as a result of climate change, other resources on the Great Plains will remain unaffected. Wind is one such resource. The wind resources on the Great Plains alone can generate 75 percent of the energy needs of the United States. Plains tribes can play a critical role in developing the resources and infrastructure to help make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as wind.

FULL TEXT THE GREAT PLAINS: A Decade of Drought and Blizzard

The Great Plains has undergone dramatic ecological shifts many times throughout the life of the Earth. Changes may occur yet again on the Great Plains because of climate change, this time accelerated by the forces of humanity. Plains tribes are now searching for ways to adapt to anticipated climate changes and to devise a plan that will ensure their survival.

The Great Plains stretch across the middle third of the United States from Canada to Mexico. Land-extensive agriculture is the primary land use, with more than 90 percent of the land in farms and ranches and 75 percent under cultivation. The five major production systems are range livestock, crop fallow, groundwater irrigation (aquifer dependent), river valley irrigation (snowmelt dependent) and confined livestock feeding. Water resources are scarce and underground resources are being depleted before they can be replenished. Water resources are a special concern to tribes because of aboriginal water rights and external development.

Agricultural land leases are the primary source of income for many Plains tribes. Extreme climate variability, including droughts and blizzards, over two or three years can seriously affect tribal economies through crop, livestock and income losses from Native and non-Native operators.

Autumn snows, and late winter and early spring blizzards and ice storms pose a great risk to communities. In 1997, Arctic cold, mountainous snowdrifts and ice paralyzed northern Plains reservations for weeks. More than 160,000 cattle perished in the spring blizzards -- a 100-year occurrence in meteorological terms. All power was lost on many reservations and propane gas for generators was rationed and sold at skyrocketing prices. In many

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 76 of 128 places water pipes froze and methane gas backed up in homes, creating health risks.

In the past 10 years, droughts, blizzards and flooding have prompted six national disaster declarations in the Dakotas. Summer temperature increases and severe weather events have created health risks for the elderly and children, and have created additional demands for energy and health care, thus increasing costs for tribes with already depressed economies. South Dakota has consistently claimed seven of the poorest counties in the U.S. over the past 20 years.

Higher temperatures often have led to drought conditions resulting in the loss of plant cover and soil erosion. Cultivation of non-native plants, reduction of biodiversity and river-valley floods have severely reduced the Native medicinal plant populations. Further climate variability and change could wipe out already endangered medicine plants, which will affect Native health. The most noticeable changes are expected to occur where the prairies meet the woodlands, with the loss of some broadleaf species and the wildlife habitat that they support. However, some scientists speculate that with the reduction of non-native plants, native grasses and plants that have remained dormant for years may spring up, thus sparking the return of certain Native medicines.

The tribes of the Great Plains have endured many challenges and changes in the social, political and cultural landscape surrounding them. Tribes must now find ways to sustain themselves in the event of further ecological changes so that they may continue to live and thrive on the Great Plains.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Ecology; Environment; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: United States Canada Mexico United States Canada Mexico

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 77 of 128 Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 49

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

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The Tropics Move North: The Prospects Aren't Pretty

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 78 of 128 Johansen, Bruce E . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 69.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) As I wrote this piece, on July 29 in Omaha we had a "global warming special" -- the temperature at 100 was not all that spectacular for this area at midsummer, but the humidity was 55 percent and the heat index was 119, a record. The dewpoint, at 82, was as high as I can remember in Omaha. The air had the ambiance of the Amazon River Valley At the same time, fellow writer and teacher Barbara Mann e-mailed me from Toledo, Ohio, about "ozone action days" there. These are days in which ozone reaches levels that force people with respiratory ailments (including Barbara, who has asthma) to curtail their activities. She writes of gasping for air in the increasingly humid, ozone-laced heat.

As for the weather changing in Toledo, Mann related, "I haven't made a scientific study. I can only give you my impressions. I remember that my mother told me the week I was born (Aug. 4, 1947) was in the middle of a horrible heat wave. She said it was 120 degrees in the shade, which was the worse anyone could remember. I think that 120 must have been humidity-adjusted. Anyhow, it got that hot once in her memory In late July 1999, we spent a week in that range. Last year, and the year before, we had a similar heat wave ... I don't ever recall it having been like this when I was a kid. Our summers were mild, 80s and eminently livable." Mann added that she was raised in the country, and now lives in an urban area, which may account for some of the changes. However, she said, "I think if you look at temperature charts over the past few decades, they will show that temperatures have been consistently and undeniably rising."

The Sierra Club study concludes: "While it is difficult to prove that any particular outbreak was caused or exacerbated by global warming, such incidents provide a hint of what might occur as global warming escalates." Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard School of Public Health supported the Sierra Club's conclusions. He said, "If tropical weather is expanding it means that tropical diseases will expand. We're seeing malaria in Houston, Texas." Italy had an outbreak of malaria in 1997, according to The Guardian, of London, England.

FULL TEXT The Tropics Move North: The Prospects Aren't Pretty

While I was reviewing John T. Houghton's Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, I was haunted by a conversation my mother had with her sister a few months before. It was springtime. The sister, who has lived in the southern United States most of her life, had just returned from weeding the lawn of her suburban Tallahassee home and found her arms covered with poison ivy rash. She had been weeding the same lawn for decades, and it had never before been invaded by poison ivy.

My aunt was perplexed, but her gardener's senses took her straight to the cause of the infestation: The weather had been hotter and more humid than usual. Her unexpected encounter with an especially noxious weed is one small part of a tapestry of anecdotal evidence indicating that we are already experiencing some of the health effects of living in a warmer world. Most of these effects are negative. The world of the future will not only be hotter, but more disease-ridden as well.

My colleagues in the social sciences tell me not to get co-relation confused with causation, so my own experiences obviously are not enough to declare a world health emergency in the making due to global warming. A

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 79 of 128 few statistics, however, may help to build a case for the correlation.

To check my impressions against a broader array of data, I took a look at the environmental-health news around the world at the time my aunt was surprised by poison ivy in Tallahassee. As my aunt was telling the story, an explosion of termites, mosquitoes, and cockroaches hit New Orleans, following an unprecedented five years without frost. As my aunt was nursing her poison ivy, dengue fever spread from Mexico across the border into Texas for the first time since records have been kept. Dengue fever, like malaria, is carried by a mosquito whose range is limited by temperature. At the same time, Colombia was experiencing plagues of mosquitoes and outbreaks of the diseases they carry, including dengue fever and encephalitis, triggered by a record heat wave followed by heavy rains.

The global temperature is undeniably rising. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July of 1998 was the hottest month since reliable worldwide records have been kept, about 150 years. As this is being written, a glance at the world weather table in the Omaha World-Herald tells me July 1999 may beat it. The year 1998 eclipsed 1997. The previous record-holder had been only a few years previous, 1995.

It was hot this summer in Moscow, Beijing, and Tokyo, as well as across much of the United States. The ocean water in the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa reached 90 degrees. The National Weather Service announced that New York City's July 1999 was that city's warmest month on record, ever.

I am particularly interested in the rising incidence of respiratory diseases and their relationship to a warmer and more humid environment. My wife's older sister Mimi died recently of asthma at age 53. Her husband, Paul Marshall, recalled that the spring she died was unusually warm and humid, giving rise to an unusual abundance of pollen-producing flowers around their home northeast of Seattle. Since Mimi's death, my wife, Pat Keiffer, and I have been noting the increasing number of young people who die of this disease.

According to the American Lung Association, more than 5,600 people died of asthma in the United States during 1995, a 45.3 percent increase in mortality over 10 years, and a 75 percent increase since 1980. Roughly a third of those cases occurred in children under the age of 18. Shortly after I found these statistics, my eyes were drawn to an obituary in the Omaha World-Herald: A local child of 14 had died of asthma, now a leading disease among the young. Since 1980, there has been a 160 percent increase in asthma in children under age five.

Global warming seems to be bringing higher humidity as well as temperatures, and this aggravates health problems, including asthma. Omaha is a particularly interesting case study of increasing humidity, because it lies relatively close to an area (the high plains) where summer heat is usually dry. When I first came to Omaha, during the early 1980s, we seemed to have more dry heat. Some days we got the heat of the desert, and on others we got the heat of the jungle. During the 1990s, dry heat has become a rarity, replaced by higher humidity and higher nighttime temperatures. The most obvious indicator of heat -- the afternoon temperature -- has not changed as much as the level of misery reflected by the dewpoint.

As I wrote this piece, on July 29 in Omaha we had a "global warming special" -- the temperature at 100 was not all that spectacular for this area at midsummer, but the humidity was 55 percent and the heat index was 119, a record. The dewpoint, at 82, was as high as I can remember in Omaha. The air had the ambiance of the Amazon River Valley At the same time, fellow writer and teacher Barbara Mann e-mailed me from Toledo, Ohio, about "ozone action days" there. These are days in which ozone reaches levels that force people with respiratory ailments (including Barbara, who has asthma) to curtail their activities. She writes of gasping for air in the increasingly humid, ozone-laced heat.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 80 of 128

"What happens to asthmatics in the heat and humidity? Well, we cannot breathe. Me, I am permanently on three different prescription inhalers that I must use at regular intervals, four times a day -- and that is just when I am well. When I am sick, there are antibiotics to bust up the hardened mucus in my lungs, along with other regimens of pills to aid the process. When my lungs are irritated (either by pollutants or by natural triggers such as pollens) or infected, my air passages swell shut, suffocating me."

A study by the Sierra Club "The Sierra Club: Global Warming: the High Costs of Inaction" (http://www.sierraclub.org/global-warming/resources/innactio.htm) finds that air pollution, which will be enhanced by global warming, could be responsible for a number of human health problems, including respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Dr. Joel Schwartz, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, estimates that current air pollution concentrations are responsible for 70,000 early deaths per year and more than 100,000 excess hospitalizations for heart and lung disease in the United States. This could increase 10 to 20 percent in the United States as a result of global warming, with significantly greater increases in countries that are more polluted to begin with, Schwartz says.

The study adds that global warming is likely to directly kill hundreds of Americans from exposure to extreme heat during summer months. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that extreme heat is currently responsible for an average of at least 240 deaths annually in the United States. More than 600 people died of heat exposure in Chicago alone during the summer of 1995. According to Houghton's Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, heat waves can double or triple the overall death rate in large cities. As I write this, the death toll in the United States from our most recent heat wave is nearing 200 people, with Chicago again suffering more deaths than any other city. The elderly and very young have been most affected.

Respiratory illness is only part of the picture. The same Sierra Club study indicates that rising heat and humidity will broaden the range of tropical diseases, resulting in "increasing illness and death from diseases such as malaria, cholera, and dengue fever, whose range will spread as mosquitoes and other disease vectors migrate."

The Sierra Club study says the effects of the recent El Niño provide an indication of how sensitive diseases can be to changes in climate. A recent Harvard University study concluded that warming waters in the Pacific Ocean likely contributed to the severe outbreak of cholera that led to thousands of deaths in Latin American countries. Since 1981, the number of cases of dengue fever has risen significantly in South America and has begun to spread into the United States. According to health experts quoted by the Sierra Club study, "the current outbreak [of dengue], with its proximity to Texas, is at least a reminder of the risks that a warming climate might pose."

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 81 of 128 Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard School of Public Health supported the Sierra Club's conclusions. He said, "If tropical weather is expanding it means that tropical diseases will expand. We're seeing malaria in Houston, Texas." Italy had an outbreak of malaria in 1997, according to The Guardian, of London, England.

In many regions of the world, malaria is already resistant to the least expensive, most widely distributed drugs. The increased incidence of diseases also will add to society's expenditures for hospitalizations and other health care, the cost of lost productivity, and the trauma of illness and death, according to the Sierra Club. The United States spent $751.8 billion in 1991 on health care. Worldwide, Houghton says, malaria already causes two million deaths a year, as well as 350 million new infections. The mosquitoes that spread the disease require both heat and humidity.

The level of humidity required for malaria-carrying mosquitoes to survive is roughly 50 percent. It is perhaps notable, in my neighborhood, that days drier than that have been notably absent in Omaha the past few summers. One wonders how far a malarial mosquito can fly.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Environment; Global warming; Health; Preventive medicine

Location: New Orleans, LA Mexico Texas New Orleans, LA Mexico Texas

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 69

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 82 of 128 Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000018

ProQuest document ID: 224759549

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READING THE CLOUDS: Native Perspectives on Southwestern Environments Taliman, Valerie . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 34.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) "The elders watched the clouds day in and day out," Cajete said. "Centuries of such observations permitted them to discern the relationships and characteristics of clouds. They ascertained the intimate dynamic between and the nature of clouds. They recognized all types of rain that would be possible from particular kinds of clouds. And they prayed for the kinds of clouds that would bring the rainfall levels most needed. Whether snow, sleet, wind with rain, baby rain, grandfather rain, or mother rain, they honored the kinds of rain that brought them life."

The 1993 deadly outbreak of a hantavirus in the Southwest caused international concern as doctors and scientists worked around the clock to determine the cause of the mysterious illness. In an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, the disease was initially mislabeled "a Navajo disease" because the first victims lived on or near the reservation. Later, it would be proven that 70 percent of the 115 confirmed cases nationwide were non-Indian, but the stigma attached to the Dine' prompted instances of discrimination. A bus full of Navajo children was turned back at the California border as they traveled to Los Angeles to meet school penpals. Restaurants and businesses shunned

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 83 of 128 Navajo customers or served them on disposable plates. Tourists stayed away in droves and were seen wearing masks over their faces when crossing the reservation. A Navajo couple was even detained at a large airport and placed in quarantine out of fear that they might have the disease.

Because Native peoples have been "architects of sustainable living" in the high altitudes and deserts of the Southwest, Enote recommended that more emphasis be placed on documenting indigenous knowledge and fostering implementation of traditional strategies, not only in Indian Country, but elsewhere. His recommendations to convene tribal staff with the academic community, funders, federal and state governments and other stakeholders to share experiences and knowledge of climate change have already been acted upon. Enote's report further highlighted the need for greater investments to provide new technologies to Indian tribes, particularly rural reservations, which may assist Native people in gathering useful information for developing land use plans, infrastructure, road planning, identifying irrigable lands and mapping water sources.

FULL TEXT READING THE CLOUDS: Native Perspectives on Southwestern Environments

I am a Navajo and I belong to the Earth. The Earth is my mother, my provider, my caretaker. I am her child. She nourishes me from her body and her soul. I belong to the land. I am rooted in my Mother Earth. Her deserts, canyons and mesas encircle me. Her mountains, fields and forests are a part of me. I belong to my people, the Dine'. Our clans live between the Four Sacred Mountains. These mountains protect us. On this land between these mountains, we strive for unity and balance. When all is in balance with our Earth Mother, our Sky Father, and the People, then there is hozho, or harmony.

-- Danny Blackgoat, Time Among the Navajo, Museum of New Mexico Press

More than 250 people, including elders, traditional healers, educators and tribal leaders gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico last fall to share traditional ecological knowledge with scientists and policy makers at the Native Peoples/Native Homelands Global Climate Change Workshop. They spent four days discussing the potential impact of climate change and deliberating strategies for coping with anticipated ecological shifts on tribal lands.

While federal agencies provided maps, charts and sophisticated displays of scientific data illustrating weather patterns and possible climate changes, Native elders watched and listened, and later explained their beliefs.

As might be expected, their observations and insights came from a completely different worldview.

A NAVAJO PERSPECTIVE

"Global disorders like the recent hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, earthquakes and mud slides are no surprise to the Dine," says Alfred W. Yazzie, a widely respected hataalii' of the Navajo Nation.

"There was a prediction in Navajo history that someday there would be confusion and chaos, one color of people, one language, the absence of any clan systems, and perhaps self-destruction. Our forefathers taught us that if we lose respect for the gods and our dan relationships, we may face starvation, disease, earth movements, fire and water, just as it happened to the people before us.

"These catastrophic events are due to the condition of modern people throughout the world. In only a few short years, Native Americans have changed so much to the point where confusion and misunderstanding have begun

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 84 of 128 to fade our history, cultures, languages and beliefs in traditional spirituality."

Yazzie, who spoke at the Albuquerque conference, said many Native people have lost the art of healing and traditional methods of making offerings to the gods of nature, and forgotten the names of the Holy Ones used in prayers, sacred songs and ceremonial rituals.

In short, we are failing our Creator's instructions.

In the Dine way of life, the universe is a harmonious order of related elements that connect the land, the people, animals, plant life and the cosmos. Everything has its place. The four essential elements, air (Father Sky), fire (Father Sun), water and Mother Earth are interconnected and dependent on one another through reciprocal relationships. Life cannot exist out of balance. Through prayers and songs, reverence and respect, the people help to maintain balance and restore harmony, or hozhooji, in the universe.

From the very beginning, the Holy People warned against desecration and destruction of the natural world. Through teachings they defined Dine roles, responsibilities and parameters for living in balance within the natural world. Proper behavior was defined with life-giving and life-preserving principles.

They told the Dine that there were certain rocks, elements and sacred places that must never be disturbed, that some things must be left alone. If not, disease, drought and devastation would be visited upon them.

Today, Yazzie and others believe that the Holy People were referring to uranium, coal, oil and gas, the ingredients of "atomic energy" and "fossil fuels" whose extraction and development predictably have harmed the Mother Earth and her children. The consequences of this exploitation include pollution of air, land, and water, deforestation, radioactive contamination, destruction from mining and even emerging viruses.

More than 100 tons of sulfur in all its forms and 120 tons of nitrogen oxide are emitted daily by Arizona's 2,040- megawatt Four Corners Power Plant, according to Navajo Environmental Protection Agency officials. Two other regional power plants, the San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, N.Mex., and the Plains Escalante plant near Prewitt, Utah, add several hundred more tons to those quantities. Carbon dioxide, methane gas, mercury, selenium and other trace metals are discharged daily Coal dust from nearby mines and particulate matter from power plant emissions cause an array of respiratory diseases and damage the region's ecosystem by producing acid rain and smog. Effects from the last 30 years are dearly discernible.

Strip-mining for coal has left open scars on thousands of acres of landscape once populated with trees and shrubs, and has poisoned precious underground water supplies. Millions of gallons of water are pumped from underground aquifers to transport crushed coal in "slurry lines" from Black Mesa, the Dine female mountain, to the Mohave Generating Station 273 miles away in Laughlin, Nevada.

On the northern part of the reservation near Cove and Red Valley, more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines have exposed Navajo families, children and the unborn to dangerous levels of radiation. A 1977 Navajo Division of Health report revealed that Navajo teenagers in that region contracted testicular and ovarian cancers at a rate 17 times higher than the national average. Similarly, a March of Dimes study from the early 1970s found that children in Shiprock, N.Mex., were afflicted by Down's syndrome, cleft palate, and anencephaly -- a fatal condition where the brain fails to form -- at an alarming rate of almost eight times the national average.

Water -- the most precious commodity of the arid Southwest has been polluted and seriously diminished in many

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 85 of 128 areas by natural resource development and rapid growth. The largest radioactive spill in the United States came in 1979 on Navajo land when an earthen dam at the United Nuclear Corp. mine in Church Rock, New Mexico, broke and sent 94 million gallons of radioactive waste down the Rio Puerco, which runs more than 100 miles through the reservation. Despite cleanup efforts, recent tests prove the Puerco is still polluted with heavy metals and radioactivity, which have been found in the sheep, cattle and horses of Navajo families.

According to New Mexico State University range scientist Jerry Holechek, extended droughts hit the area every 34 to 40 years. The drought of 1995-96 was particularly hard on the Navajo Nation as evidenced by the dozens of sheep and cattle that died from a lack of water and non-poisonous forage. On the eastern side of the reservation, conditions were so bad that sheep were eating cacti. In this environment, even medicines and herbs were said to be vanishing.

"It used to be that we could find all our medicines within the boundaries of our sacred mountains," Yazzie said. "But now, it's much harder to find what we need. Sometimes we have to go as far as the mountains in California to get some of our herbs."

He worries that changes in weather and climate are affecting the sacred plants and herbs needed for healing ceremonies that sustain the people and the web of life. And when the ceremonies are threatened, so is the Dine' universe.

The result is a world out of balance. Hozho is becoming harder to achieve. The Dine' still persevere and start each day with corn pollen and prayers. But the warnings continue and the evidence is mounting -- we are destroying the balance that sustains us.

THEOLOGY OF PLACE

For more than 30,000 years, the Pueblo people of the Southwest have maintained close kinship with the climate, soil, water, mountains, lakes, forests, streams, plants and animals, says Greg Cajete, University of New Mexico professor and author. Cajete, a Tewa from Santa Clara Pueblo, says that through generations of living within their sacred homelands, Indian people have formed and been formed by the land, embodying a "theology of place."

He quotes a Pueblo elder who summed it up well: "This is the place that made us. It is this place that holds our memories and the bones of our people."

Cajete, author of Native Science and Igniting the Sparkle, observes that while Native peoples' cultures were diverse, there was always adherence to a common set of life principles. "They understood that the natural universe was imbued with life and sacredness. They understood that their effects on their place had to be carried out with humility, understanding and respect for the sacredness of the place and all living things of those places," he said.

"Indigenous people felt responsibility not only for themselves, but also for the entire world around them. The world renewal ceremonies conducted by all indigenous people are reflections of this deep ecological sensibility and responsibility."

This sensibility and relationship to the land is reflected by the Pueblo Indians, whose ancestors designed intricate ancient irrigation systems in the desert Southwest, practicing dry-land farming techniques. Many Pueblo communities were founded around farming activities, and even in cycles of drought they successfully farmed the mesa tops by strategically placing small dams and terraced gardens near areas of anticipated runoff water from

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 86 of 128 rain.

Over time, Pueblo elders learned to "read the clouds" and recognize many different kinds of rain, an element critical to survival and the life cycle.

"The elders watched the clouds day in and day out," Cajete said. "Centuries of such observations permitted them to discern the relationships and characteristics of clouds. They ascertained the intimate dynamic between and the nature of clouds. They recognized all types of rain that would be possible from particular kinds of clouds. And they prayed for the kinds of clouds that would bring the rainfall levels most needed. Whether snow, sleet, wind with rain, baby rain, grandfather rain, or mother rain, they honored the kinds of rain that brought them life."

Pueblo cultures continue to carry on traditional farming methods, cultivating corn, beans, squash, chili and melons. The most important crop, corn, is a metaphoric symbol for human life and the relationship to nature. In addition to farming, many Pueblo people continue to use common wild plants of the Southwest that can survive temperature extremes and drought. These include piñon, juniper berries, yucca, mesquite, sedge, wild onion, mulberry, wild rhubarb, amaranth, chickweed, barberry, watercress, currant, wild rose hips, chokecherry, bee balm, dog bane, milkweed, sagebrush, plantain, buffalo gourd, sunflower, rabbit brush, wild potato, snakeweed and chicory.

Only in recent years have traditional Native foods received scientific recognition for their many health benefits. Many Native foods contain essential elements, minerals, vitamins and proteins that contribute to endurance, and the prevention of disease and illness, are low in fat and cholesterol, and are nutritious for good health.

For centuries, Southwest Native cultures have survived and generations of Indian people have adapted to climate changes and extreme conditions. This is evidenced by their distinction as the longest continually inhabited communities in this country, Taos Pueblo of New Mexico and the Hopi village of Oraybi, Arizona.

It is a fundamental teaching among many Native cultures to achieve a symbiotic relationship with the land and to learn how to survive in a mode of interdependency with the Earth. In the prophetic teachings of many Native peoples there will likely come a time when the people must fully revert to strict survival from the land once more. But turning to the land in ever more harsh conditions and diminishing natural resources has become an uncertain prospect of survival.

LIFEBLOOD OF THE SOUTHWEST

When Native peoples of the Southwest consider the potential impacts of climate change and survival, their foremost concern centers on the water. Water, lifeblood of the Southwest, is especially vital in an area where temperatures exceed more than 100 degrees for weeks on end and sometimes rise to 120 degrees in parts of southern Arizona.

More than 90 percent of the Southwest receives between 14 and 18 inches of precipitation annually and fully one- third of the region receives less than 10 inches per year. There have been cyclical periods of extended moisture, but for the most part the climate is dry In the driest parts, almost no rain falls from April to June; then the monsoons of July and August bring late afternoon downpours, often causing flash floods. Fluctuations in the winter snow pack from January to March are common.

The two most important water sources in the Southwest are the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. The Colorado stretches across 1,450 miles and, with its tributaries, drains portions of seven states: Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada,

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 87 of 128 Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California. At Arizona's southern border, the silt-laden river crosses into Mexico and flows another 90 miles before it empties into the Gulf of California.

The Colorado supplies more than half of the water for major urban areas including Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix. Water from the Colorado grows much of America's fresh winter vegetables, and its flow through Hoover Dam supplies the hydroelectric power to fuel the neon lights of Las Vegas, as well as many other urban parts of the Southwest. Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah all depend on the Colorado River. With such a demand, feuds over water usage have provoked many lengthy and costly court battles. It has been called the "most legislated, most debated and most litigated river in the world."

Five tribes in the lower basin of the Colorado have secured and quantified their water rights, but a number of other tribes in the upper basin, including the huge Navajo Nation, have not yet firmly established quantifiable rights to the water that flows through their homelands. The exercise of sovereign rights to water is critical for Native peoples to ensure they maintain a voice in political decisions about water quantity, quality and uses.

The Rio Grande, at 1,900 miles, is longer than the Colorado but provides less water. From its headwaters in Colorado, it quickly gains momentum and turns into raging whitewater near Taos before it slows its pace and broadens into a red river of silt that bisects New Mexico and then winds southward, setting miles of international border before spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. For thousands of years, it has provided irrigation to Pueblo fields of corn, beans and squash. Fully 80 percent of New Mexico's population now resides in towns along the Rio Grande.

Today, irrigation continues to supply New Mexico farmers with much-needed water, but Steve Hansen, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation hydrologist, says New Mexico's water is pretty much "maxed-out." He predicts that without substantial changes in water use policies, in five to 10 years the state will fail to meet its legal obligation to deliver water to Texas, which will likely prompt legal interventions.

In rural areas of the Southwest, large quantities of water are used for agriculture, ranching, recreation and slurry lines for coal-mining operations. Irrigated agriculture is by far the most extensive user of Southwest water, and rising temperatures only increase crop demands for water. An estimated 17 percent of irrigation water is lost to evaporation and only 29 percent returns to streams or groundwater, according to a 1997 report from the Tucson- based Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy

Municipal water consumption accounts for the second highest use, with economic growth in metropolitan areas like Phoenix (pop. 2.5 million) bringing more people who want daily showers, lush lawns, swimming pools, green golf courses and cooling units to escape the heat. By 2040, municipal water use is expected to grow by 20 percent.

It is clear that there simply is not enough water to continue supplying the needs of this fast-growing population, and the additional threat of global warming poses daunting questions about how an overtaxed water supply in the arid Southwest will cope with these new stresses.

IMPLICATIONS OF A WARMER, DRIER SOUTHWEST

A 1997 report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research on the 50-year future climate of the Southwest predicted that precipitation is expected to decrease in summer and winter, while average temperatures for the region will increase by five to seven degrees. This means Southwest communities can expect more extremely hot days, fewer cooler days, increased evaporation of water resources and greater stresses on the region's ecological systems.

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Leaders of the 51 Indian tribes in the Southwest are concerned that population growth will overwhelm rivers and aquifers as demands on limited water supplies increase. During the 1996 drought, a major reservoir on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in central Arizona dropped to 25 percent of its volume, resulting in a loss of water resources, and income to the tribe from reduced fishing and water recreation fees.

Prolonged drought would reduce crop yields and disrupt farming practices, threaten livestock and ranching, jeopardize much-needed economic development ventures, damage fisheries and severely diminish water resources. Many worry about how crops, wild plants, forests, animals, water resources, ecosystems and human health will be affected.

Forests, especially in drier areas, are likely to die back as a result of drought, insects and disease, according to assessments by the EPA. Their projections indicate that more frequent summer droughts will increase the risk of fire by creating tinder-dry forests, thereby endangering wildlife habitats, commercial timber production, and recreational activities.

A more insidious threat from possible climate change is the danger to human health from emerging viruses like the hantavirus and the spread of other infectious diseases. According to the EPA, outbreaks of infectious diseases have been associated with changing weather patterns across the globe. Scientists are seeing more and more instances in which hotter and more humid weather has increased the occurrences for vector-borne diseases as well as the incidences of respiratory ailments.

As virologists from the Centers for Disease Control labored in high-security laboratories reserved for the most lethal diseases known to man, Navajo medicine men and women pointed to changes in the weather and local ecology as precipitating factors. They spoke of dry desert winds that kept a yellowish haze of sand hovering over the Southwest and the destruction of Nihima Nahasdzaan, our Mother Earth, as possible causes for the disease.

Ironically, "though the medicine people were first ignored, in time scientists were wondering if the weather had played a part in triggering the epidemic," according to Frank Ryan, a doctor who detailed the mysterious virus in his book, Virus X.

It is now believed that after seven years of drought and two mild, moist winters, an abundance of piñon nuts and grasshoppers in 1993 gave rise to a phenomenal increase in the deer mouse population of the region. Deer mice and related rodents have long carried various strains of hantavirus, so-named for the region of Korea in which it was discovered. In the Four Corners area, the virus apparently infected humans who unwittingly inhaled the microscopic particles of hantavirus from the droppings and urine of deer mice, often while cleaning their homes and yards.

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Bruce Tempest, a doctor with the Gallup Indian Medical Center, remembered one Navajo family that lost all but one of their family members in a similar outbreak in 1919, following the springcleaning of their hogan. The surviving grandmother recalled that 1919 was also a year in which mice populations exploded after a particularly wet winter, causing scientists to examine the role weather played.

Dr. Ryan says the effects of El Niño may explain the 1919 incident. Every three to seven years, the warm El Niño surface current spawns storms in the Pacific and brings wet winters and mild springs to the Southwest. And while aspects of the cause and effect of hantavirus remain uncertain, some scientists now believe that ecological factors played a key role in fostering the epidemic.

"As humankind continues to disrupt its delicately balanced, complex ecosystem, the shock waves from the tears in nature's fabric reverberate at increasingly microscopic levels. The recent outbreaks of rare pathogens such as hantavirus may be an example," said Abraham Verghese, Chief of the Academic Health Center at Texas Tech University's School of Medicine.

MERGING TRADITIONAL AND MODERN REALITIES TO BUILD PARTNERSHIPS

In the book by Dagmar Thorpe, People of the Seventh Fire, James Enote, project leader of the Zuni (N.Mex.) Conservation Project, discussed how "the traditional and modern are two different interpretations of reality. When you bring them together it gives you a wider perspective of what reality is. I am not one to say which is right or wrong. They are both part of the universal knowledge that is available. Today, it would be a tragedy if we relied on only one. They can complement each other without one being dominant over the other."

Acknowledging these complementary perspectives seemed to be at the heart of the discussions between the scientific and Native communities and has opened up the opportunity for ongoing partnerships. Following the Native Peoples/Native Homelands workshop, it was clear that most Native groups were eager to utilize some of the new technologies developed by NASA and other scientific organizations to respond to the anticipated ecological challenges that climate change will likely bring to their communities.

Enote's 1997 report on Indian Country Responses w Climate Change made several recommendations for Native peoples of the Southwest. Enote noted that many indigenous agriculturalists and resource managers believe their cultures already possess sufficient knowledge to respond to climate change and variability. Enote wrote that Native peoples, with sovereign rights to self-governance and autonomy, can best design strategies for coping with climate change that are consistent with cultural and religious values and long-held beliefs that combine for effective ways to farm, irrigate, build and develop communities.

During the Native Homelands workshop, co-chairs Patrick Spears and Robert Gough, both of the Intertribal Council

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 90 of 128 on Utility Policy, strongly urged a commitment from federal agencies to begin building better relationships with tribes that would include funding and technical assistance. In part because of President Clinton's Executive Order mandating consultation and coordination with tribal governments, many in the Native community expect to play a greater role in devising strategies for potential climate changes.

NASA and the U.S. Global Climate Change Program have already established a partnership with the University of New Mexico, Dine' College, San Juan College and George Washington University. The partnership project consists of a three-year research and education effort to support the continuing National Assessment of Climate Change and Climate Variability project.

The UNM -- based project will assist in building the capacity of Native people to use geographic information systems, remote sensing and the global positioning systems. The project is managed by former Isleta Pueblo governor Verna Teller, project director for the Native Peoples/Native Homelands workshop.

Teller said the new research project will investigate how NASA environmental data can support indigenous strategies to meet the resource and cultural needs of Native peoples. It will also develop environmental education materials for Southwest Native schools.

Based on input from the 1998 Albuquerque climate change workshop, three areas have been selected for detailed study: 1) satellite imagery, climate effects and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; 2) remote sensing applications and traditional Native American water management methods; and 3) Native landscape knowledge and remote sensing technologies. Its first workshop, held in October 1999 in Farmington, New Mexico, focused on identifying the geo-spatial needs of Southwest Native peoples, Teller said.

As a new century approaches, the combined knowledge of Western scientists and the age-old wisdom of Native peoples holds real promise for helping humankind to cope with a vast array of changes occurring on the planet.

NASA scientists are asking what Native communities have to offer in preparing for the threat of global warming and climate change. Alfred Yazzie smiled and responded, "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to learn how to respect your Mother."

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Ecology; Environment; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Albuquerque, NM Albuquerque, NM

People: Yazzie, Alfred W. Yazzie, Alfred W.

Ethnicity: Native People

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 91 of 128 Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 34

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000011

ProQuest document ID: 224759065

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NCAI AND ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS UNITE IN HISTORIC MEETING

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 92 of 128 Johansen, Bruce E . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 5.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) At the conclusion of the meeting, Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Ron Allen, president of NCAI, signed a political accord that will allow both organizations to work together and develop closer relationships in areas of mutual interest and concern. "This is an historic event in the relationship between First Nations in Canada and Indian tribes in the United States," said Fontaine. "We have common issues and this accord will allow us to establish a relationship in order to deal with these critical issues and move them forward, both in our mutual political forums and also in international forums such as the United Nations."...

FULL TEXT NCAI AND ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS UNITE IN HISTORIC MEETING

The National Congress of American Indians and the Assembly of First Nations embraced officially following a first- ever joint meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July. The meeting drew some 3,000 representatives, a council said to comprise the largest single political gathering of Native Americans in North America in the 20th century

The Assembly of First Nation represents the interests of 663 Native nations and bands within the contemporary borders of Canada. The National Congress of American Indians represents 558 Native governments in the United States.

The joint meeting, named "Uniting First Nations: Tecumseh's Vision," recalled the name of a Shawnee leader who sought to forge a federation between Native nations on the borders of the United States and Canada almost two centuries ago. The two groups focused on the theme of aboriginal unity, but also discussed common issues of treaty rights, economic development, education, language and literacy, health, housing, social development, justice, taxation, land claims and the environment.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and Ron Allen, president of NCAI, signed a political accord that will allow both organizations to work together and develop closer relationships in areas of mutual interest and concern. "This is an historic event in the relationship between First Nations in Canada and Indian tribes in the United States," said Fontaine. "We have common issues and this accord will allow us to establish a relationship in order to deal with these critical issues and move them forward, both in our mutual political forums and also in international forums such as the United Nations."

The accord, called the Declaration of Kinship and Cooperation among the Indigenous Peoples and Nations of North America, culminated discussions over the last four months between representatives of both organizations.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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Subject: Culture; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Politics

Location: Vancouver, Canada United States Vancouver, Canada United States

People: Fontaine, Phil Allen, Ron Fontaine, Phil Allen, Ron

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 5

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000006

ProQuest document ID: 224758986

Document URL: http://ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/224758986 ?accountid=12598

Last updated: 2017-11-0 7

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The Sun Solution: A Change of Codes Would Help

Suagee, Dean . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 83.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Although we attempted to closely examine how Indian tribal governments can use both of these tools, our research did not find any examples of tribal codes that mandate energy conservation and solar energy in homes. That we did not find any examples does not necessarily mean no examples exist. We know that there are many examples of housing projects in Indian country that feature solar energy, examples in which a few key people have overcome bureaucratic obstacles to put together a demonstration project. What we are looking for, however, are examples of the use of law-making powers to move beyond demonstration projects and make all new housing solar-designed and energy efficient. Lacking examples from Indian Country, we looked to state and local governments, and we found that they are doing quite a bit to promote energy efficiency. Using the law to require solar design in new homes, however, seems to be a bit too radical, at least so far. Now that global climate change is becoming ever more real, if we do not make our governmental policies favor one of the few energy sources that offers a real solution -- the sun -- then we are failing to fulfill our responsibilities to future generations.

There are a few basic principles of solar design that apply to homes in most regions of the United States where heating is the main energy need.(5) First, energy efficiency is a prerequisite for solar heating to be practical -- it costs less to collect and store solar heat for a home that is energy efficient. Second, solar features are easier and less costly to build into homes from the start than to add on later. Third, orientation matters -- the long axis of a home should run east -- west so that a long south-facing wall is available for windows, sun spaces, and other devices for capturing solar energy Fourth, thermal mass is essential to store solar heat and radiate it into living spaces and to make the home more comfortable by providing thermal inertia. Thermal mass can be provided by masonry walls and by concrete or masonry floors, although it is important for the mass to be enclosed within the building's insulating envelope.

The Energy Efficiency Guide explains the principles of solar design in some detail. It also describes a software program called "BuilderGuide," which enables a person to quickly evaluate a range of energy conservation and solar design strategies for a home, using climate information selected from a data base of more than 200 locations in the United States. "BuilderGuide" helps the designer to calculate four key performance indicators: the basic energy efficiency of the house (heat loss); the amount of heat necessary for the auxiliary heating system to provide to supplement the heat provided by passive solar features; whether there is enough thermal mass; and how much air conditioning will be needed in the summer. Since the publication of the Energy Efficiency Guide, advances have been made in solar design software. Two good sources for the up-to-date information are the National Renewable Energy Laboratoy (NREL) and the Passive Solar Industries Council (PSIC).

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FULL TEXT The Sun Solution: A Change of Codes Would Help

The phenomenon of global climate change has made it clear that we need to achieve a fundamental change from a global economic order powered by fossil fuels to one powered by the sun. We need to make this change for many reasons, one of which is the responsibility we have to future generations. Unless we start this change soon, by the time the seventh generation arrives, the biological communities in many parts of the world the web of life will bear little resemblance to the world as we know it today

Making this change happen will be inconvenient for those of us who are accustomed to the comforts we derive from fossil fuels.(1) But in some ways the change need not cause us significant discomfort. One set of solutions that would generally improve the quality of our lives is to make widespread use of solar design principles to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels for heating and cooling buildings. Buildings account for more than one-third of the energy consumption in this country.(2) Solar design significantly reduces fossil fuel consumption, saving money over the long term and often over the short term as well. Yet less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the new homes built in this country use solar design principles.(3) The marketplace simply is not moving us toward the widespread use of solar power. At the rate we are going, we will never get there.

To make this change happen sooner rather than later, we must use the lawmaking powers of our legislative bodies. We also need to use the policy-making powers of the executive branches of our governments. The single most critical need in bringing about this part of the change to a post-fossil fuel economy is political will, which the leaders of Indian tribal governments can help meet.

There are two kinds of tools that governments can use to encourage or require the use of solar energy (and energy efficiency) in new buildings -- building codes and land-use ordinances. While other tools (tax incentives and measures to compensate for the subsidies that are entrenched in energy marketplaces) are available to governments, building codes and land-use codes are much more direct.

Although we attempted to closely examine how Indian tribal governments can use both of these tools, our research did not find any examples of tribal codes that mandate energy conservation and solar energy in homes. That we did not find any examples does not necessarily mean no examples exist. We know that there are many examples of housing projects in Indian country that feature solar energy, examples in which a few key people have overcome bureaucratic obstacles to put together a demonstration project. What we are looking for, however, are examples of the use of law-making powers to move beyond demonstration projects and make all new housing solar-designed and energy efficient. Lacking examples from Indian Country, we looked to state and local governments, and we found that they are doing quite a bit to promote energy efficiency. Using the law to require solar design in new homes, however, seems to be a bit too radical, at least so far. Now that global climate change is becoming ever more real, if we do not make our governmental policies favor one of the few energy sources that offers a real solution -- the sun -- then we are failing to fulfill our responsibilities to future generations.

SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

In 1994, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published a booklet on using solar design in Indian housing, a booklet entitled Our Home: Buildings of the Land: Energy Efficiency Guide for Indian Housing.(4) HUD has never distributed this guide to tribal governments and tribal housing authorities, however and the agency has done very little to encourage tribes to use it.

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Although the basic principles of energy efficient solar design have been known for years, people typically make decisions that affect the energy efficiency of new homes with little or no consideration of the energy consumption implications. For example, homebuyers typically consider energy efficiency important, but they assume that new homes are already energy efficient and they generally lack the expertise, time, or ability to evaluate energy efficiency for themselves.(6)

PROMOTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY THROUGH BUILDING CODES

The most basic governmental policy tool for making new construction more energy efficient is a building code. In 1983 the Council of American Building Officials published the first version of the Model Energy Code (MEC), a model developed for incorporation into state and local building codes.(7) The MEC has been updated periodically since then and has served as the basis for the energy conservation provisions of building codes adopted by about half the states. Some states have taken a different approach and have developed their own energy codes.(8) In 1992 the code received the endorsement of the federal government in the Energy Policy Act of 1992.(9) The act requires states to review their residential building codes and determine whether to revise them to incorporate the MEC. It also requires compliance with the code for any new home that is financed with a federally insured or guaranteed mortgage. Although the Energy Policy Act includes several sections authorizing grants to tribes for energy projects, the sections dealing with the MEC do not mention tribal governments. Apparently the congressional staff that worked on that part of the bill did not take into consideration the fact that tribal governments, rather than states, have the authority to enact building codes for trust lands within Indian reservations.

Unfortunately, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Energy (the two federal agencies that have provided assistance to state and local governments to work the MEC into their building codes) appear to have overlooked tribal governments. While federal funding has been provided to a private organization, the Building Codes Assistance Project, to help state and local governments in reviewing their building codes, this

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 97 of 128 assistance has not yet reached tribal governments. Most of the homes built in Indian communities over the last three decades have been made possible by federal funding, mostly through HUD and some through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. HUD and BIA regulations have recognized tribal authority to enact and enforce building codes, but these agencies have not provided much assistance to incorporate energy efficiency into tribal building codes.

HUD's Indian housing program was overhauled by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996,(10) which created a block grant program for Indian housing and eliminated tribal eligibility for a variety of HUD programs. The new program includes no express incentives for energy efficiency in buildings.(11)

In addition to the block grant program, NAHASDA includes some provisions intended to help tribes and their members gain better access to private mortgage markets. Standard home mortgages are anything but the standard in Indian country, largely due to the trust restrictions on the alienation of Indian land which make it complicated for lenders to enforce their agreements.(12) The lack of attention to MEC compliance in NAHASDA, however, may result in just one more obstacle to Indian access to private mortgage markets, since federally insured mortgages now require MEC compliance.

An unintended consequence of the new Indian housing program, coupled with the lack of attention to energy conservation in the new law and on the part of federal and tribal officials administering the new law, may be that new housing constructed in Indian Country will be less energy efficient than anywhere else in America where the federal government helps families buy homes.

Tribal governments have the power to avoid this unintended consequence. Tribes do not need the federal government's permission or encouragement to work the MEC into tribal building codes, or to enact codes that go beyond the minimal requirements of the MEC. But the tribes could use some help from the federal government.

PROMOTING SOLAR DESIGN IN NEW HOMES

Energy efficiency is a prerequisite for using solar energy in new homes, and so promoting energy efficiency with a building code is a step toward a solar future, but it is only a step.

A number of states have taken the step of enacting solar access laws that guarantee landowners the right to unimpeded sunlight that falls on their property.(13) Exercising authority delegated by states, local governing bodies have adopted solar access ordinances. Such solar access laws typically preserve for homeowners the option of using solar energy by preventing neighboring buildings from blocking out the sun, but they do not make solar energy the standard. Some states, such as Arizona, take the law further by making solar energy the standard in state buildings.(14)

With respect to homes, however, lawmakers have shown little interest in making homebuyers, and builders, go solar. Unfortunately, bypassing solar design in building and land-use codes, in effect, perpetuates the fossil fuel status quo.

Consider orientation. As noted earlier, orientation with respect to the sun matters. East-facing windows should be included to provide morning warm-up. North-facing windows should be minimized to reduce heat loss; west-facing windows should be minimized to avoid overheating in the afternoon. On most sites, these rules can be followed, but if these rules are ignored, the mistake generally cannot be corrected without substantial expense.

Despite the importance of sun orientation, new subdivisions are still oriented to the streets rather than to the sun,

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 98 of 128 locking these new homes into decades of wasteful energy use. Land use laws (such as zoning and subdivision laws) can require streets to be laid out and lots drawn so that the rules of solar orientation are followed.(15) Building codes can serve as the final check to make sure that these rules are followed, by making it a requirement for getting a permit.

Consider thermal mass. Assume your tribal law requires new homes to be built on an east -- west axis in order to make plenty of south-facing walls available for windows and other devices to capture solar heat. If you want to move from suntempered design to true solar design, you need thermal mass.(16) This mass can be incorporated into floors and walls, but it needs to be within the building's envelope of insulation. As a practical matter thermal mass cannot be added after the fact. The most direct policy tool for making this happen is to write some requirements for thermal mass into building codes.

Orientation and thermal mass are but two aspects of solar design. If a tribe really wants to promote solar energy through a building code, it would need to address a range of other issues as well. But these two aspects of solar design serve to illustrate the importance of building in solar design from the start.

The simplest, most direct way of making solar design in new homes the standard rather than the exception is to write it into tribal law, in building codes, and land-use codes. Other units of government in America have not been eager to endorse this approach, instead favoring a market-based approach. But the marketplace is not moving us toward a renewable energy future, at least not in a time frame that bears any relationship to the looming crisis of global climate change or to potential contribution of solar buildings in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Few politicians talk about solar energy, and many of them are in denial about global climate change. Tribal leaders could be out front on this issue.

Some obvious obstacles stand in the way of tribal governments enacting and carrying out innovative building codes and policies. Not the least of these obstacles is the limited amount of federal funding for Indian housing coupled with the extent of the need for housing that is simply adequate and habitable. This situation creates a strong incentive for tribal housing authorities to keep the first-time cost per unit to a minimum, which locks low- income Indian families into paying a lot more than they should for heating and cooling.

Choosing solar design may add an increment to the initial cost of a housing project, but this can be offset by reducing the requirements for conventional heating and cooling equipment. If there is an incremental cost, in the non-Indian world it could be worked into the mortgage, with the homebuyer authorized to make a higher monthly payment in light of the projected lower heating and cooling costs. Because obtaining a mortgage in Indian country is a major challenge, making market-based programs work would seem to present a range of challenges that federal policy makers have yet to think about. HUD and DOE should find ways to make federal programs that promote solar design, and other renewable energy systems, work for tribal communities.

Tribal leaders, though, should be forcing the issue, without waiting for HUD and DOE. Global climate change is fast uon us, and solar homes must be part of the solution, and soon. Tribal leaders have the opportunity to help lead this country and the world to a solar future, one of the few solutions that offer a prayer for dealing with global climate change. Tribal leaders who seize this opportunity will help to improve the quality of life in Indian Country today -- and for the seventh generation to come.

NOTES

(1) Lester Brown, et al., State of the World 1996, 28 (1996).

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(2) President's Council on Sustainable Development, Energy and Transportation Task Force Report 5, 1996, hereinafter Energy &Transportation Task Force, Id. at 6-8.

(3) Letter from the Publisher, "Forget About the Roof, Here Come One Million Affordable Solar Homes," vol. 6:3, Northeast Sun: The Magazine of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association 5 (Fall 1998).

(4) "Our Home: Building of the Land," Energy Efficiancy Guide for Indian Housing (March 1994), document number HUD-1410-CPD (hereinafter Energy Efficiency Guide). The Energy Efficiency Guide was prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, under contract to the Department of Energy (DOE), as part of a DOE-HUD initiative on energy efficiency in housing.

(5) The information presented in the following paragraph is derived from the Energy Efficiency Guide, supra note 4, and from Stephen Heckeroth, "Toward Sustainable Communities," vol. 13:2, Solar Today 30 (March/April 1999).

(6) See Kate McQueen, "Promoting Energy Efficiency through Building Codes," 12 Nat. Res. &Env't 122, 124 (1997).

(7) The Model Energy Code is available from the Council of American Building Officials (CABO), 5203 Leesburg Pike, Suite 708, Falls Church, VA 22041, (703) 931-4533.

(8) McQueen, supra note 6 at 122.

(9) 42 U.S.C. ... 4833 - 4834.

(10) Pub. L. No. 104-330 (codified at 25 U.S.C. ... 4101 - 4212. See generally Robert J. Miller and Dean B. Suagee, "The New Indian Housing Act and Some of Its Environmental Implications," a paper presented at and included in the materials of the 9th Annual Conference on Environment and Development in Indian Country, sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law, Albuquerque, N.Mex., November 20-21, 1997.

(11) The only reference to energy conservation found in NAHASDA or the final regulations is the statutory language that energy audits are allowable affordable housing activities. 25 U.S.C. ... 4132(3). Of course, an energy audit saves no energy unless the recommendations it contains are carded out.

(12) Dean B. Suagee, "Renewable Energy in Indian Country: Options for Tribal Governments," a paper prepared as part of the Renewable Energy Polity Project, 15-16, June 1998.

(13) See, e.g., N.Mex. Stat. Ann. ... 47-3-1 to -12 (1978 &Supp. 1983); Wyo. Stat. ... 34-22-101 to -106 (Supp. 1983). See also, Or. Rev. Stat. ... 215.044 (delegating authority to local governing bodies to adopt and implement solar access ordinances that Ashall provide and protect to the extent feasible solar access to the south face of buildings during solar heating hours, taking into account latitude, topography, microclimate, existing development, existing vegetation and planned uses and densities); Wis. Stat. Ann. ... 60.61 (granting authority to town zoning ordinances to assure adequate access to sunlight and wind for renewable energy systems when regulating land uses); Wis. Stat. Ann. ... 700.41.

(14) Ariz. Rev. Stat. 834-452 (requiring that state buildings use solar designs where cost effective by a life cycle cost analysis).

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(15) The Energy Efficiency Guide, supra note 4, lists two references on site planning for solar orientation, but these sources are unavailable.

(16) The Energy Efficiency Guide, supra note 4, provides some guidelines on the ratio of mass to glass. If the total area of south-facing windows is 7% of the floor area, the house is "sun-tempered"; increase this amount to between 7% and 12% and the house is passive solar, and must have mass to prevent overheating. Above the 7% threshold, an addition square foot direct solar gain window can be added for: (a) each 5.5 sq.ft. of uncovered, sunlit mass floor; (b) each 40 sq.ft. of mass floor that is not lit by the sun; or (c) for each 8.3 sq.ft. of mass in walls and ceilings. Id. at 23, 33-35.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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Subject: Culture; Energy; Environment; Housing; Indigenous people; Law; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: United States United States

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 83

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

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ECUADOR INDIANS PROTEST AGAINST MILITARY BASE Weinberg, Bill . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 4.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Indians throughout Ecuador's mountains mobilized in July to protest the U.S. military base proposed for the Pacific port of Manta, finally bringing the government to the bargaining table. President Jamil Mahuad agreed on July 17 to a dialogue on the issue with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) following a two- week campaign of protests, roadblocks and occupations of television and radio stations. Some 8,000 indigenous protestors camped out in El Arbolito Park in Quito. More than 10,000 Indians arrived in Quito on July 14 after marching cross-country. Army troops attempted to stop them, placing barbed-wire barricades on the roads and hurling tear gas, but the Indians broke into smaller groups and filtered into Quito over hills and along creeks.

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PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 102 of 128 ECUADOR INDIANS PROTEST AGAINST MILITARY BASE

Indians throughout Ecuador's mountains mobilized in July to protest the U.S. military base proposed for the Pacific port of Manta, finally bringing the government to the bargaining table. President Jamil Mahuad agreed on July 17 to a dialogue on the issue with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) following a two- week campaign of protests, roadblocks and occupations of television and radio stations. Some 8,000 indigenous protestors camped out in El Arbolito Park in Quito. More than 10,000 Indians arrived in Quito on July 14 after marching cross-country. Army troops attempted to stop them, placing barbed-wire barricades on the roads and hurling tear gas, but the Indians broke into smaller groups and filtered into Quito over hills and along creeks. On July 16, thousands of Indians clashed with police just blocks from the national palace, which was guarded by army artillery.

The accord calls for the government to free all those arrested in the protests and to drop planned fuel price hikes. The government also agreed to discuss debt forgiveness for campesinos and other issues of rural economic survival. "Once more it has been demonstrated that only struggle makes the authorities listen to us," said indigenous leader Miguel Lluco.

Plans for the Manta base are on hold until after the meetings. Mahuad says the U.S. base would be a backup for the national armed forces, and authorized the first air operations in the area in May. Defense Minister José Gallardo says the armed forces are "profoundly concerned" about guerrilla troops and coca plantations on the Colombian border.

The Ecumenical Human Rights Commission fears the base will take an ecological toll. In 1997, the Pentagon commissioned a study on the environmental impact of the Canal Zone bases, which found that tests involving chemical weapons and spent uranium had been conducted in the area. The Commission asked, "Who can ensure that the same thing will not occur in Manta? Who will clean up afterwards?"

In early July, U.S. Southern Command chief Charles Wilhelm met in Quito with Minister Gallardo to present the results of the first air operations in Manta. In mid-1998, Ecuadorean and U.S. troops held joint exercises in the Amazon jungle region. Today, U.S. troops are helping build an anti-narcotics base in the region. Three more are planned in the rainforest and seven in other regions of Ecuador.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Civil rights; Culture; Federal government; Government; Human relations; Human rights; Indigenous people; Interpersonal communication; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Personal relationships

Location: Ecuador United States Ecuador United States

People: Mahuad, Jamil LLuco, Miguel Mahuad, Jamil LLuco, Miguel

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 103 of 128 Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 4

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

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Document type: Feature

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Consensus Denied: Holy War Over Global Warming Ewen, Alexander . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 26.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The institute sought to recruit a "cadre of scientists" and would train them in public relations. As many as 20 "respected climate scientists" would "inject credible science and scientific accountability into the global climate debate, thereby raising questions about and undercutting the `prevailing scientific wisdom.'" A team of five "independent scientists" would be identified, recruited and trained to participate in media outreach -- that is, radio and television talk shows -- and $600,000 was earmarked for science writers, editors and journalists. All, in the words of the institute, geared to "maximize the impact of scientific views consistent with ours on Congress, the media and other key audiences." Among those corporations actively involved in drafting this plan were Exxon, Chevron and the Southern Co.

The GCC is known as the "leading voice for business and industry in the climate change debate." In addition to individual corporate members, the GCC includes powerful industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute, the American Iron and Steel Institute, the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the American Forest and Paper Association, the Air Transport Association, the Association of American Railroads, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Mining Association, the Society of the Plastics Industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In short, a Who's Who of American heavy industry Its philosophy has been to insist, first, that "science -- not emotional or political reactions -- must serve as the foundation for global climate policy decisions," and second, that "policy decisions must consider the economic and social impacts of alternative policy choices." Any solution must be equitable for all countries, and "technology transfer" and free trade offer the best fixes, assuming that fixes are required. Although the mission of the GCC seems reasonable on its face, it barely masks its essential agenda, which is to prevent any attempt to regulate its members or hold them responsible for global warming and its effects. Although the GCC purportedly believes that science should rule the debate on climate change, like all of the industry-sponsored media initiatives, it has vigorously attacked any science that links global warming to greenhouse gases, and promotes any view that casts doubt upon global warming.

Of the three, Michaels, a climatologist from the University of Virginia, has been the most visible and his testimony and writings have been cited frequently by anti-regulatory critics of global warming accords. Michaels came to the attention of Western Fuels Association, a leading backer of ICE, in 1989, with an article he wrote in the Washington Post entitled "The Greenhouse Climate of Fear." In it he expressed his opposition to what he calls "apocalyptic environmentalism," which he describes as "the most popular new religion to come along since Marxism." Michaels considers the issue of global warming to be driven by "very powerful special interests" that exploit people's fears.

FULL TEXT Consensus Denied: Holy War Over Global Warming

In June of this year, the International Red Cross reported that more than 25 million people were driven from their homes in 1998 as a consequence of flood, drought, deforestation or other environmental problems. For the first

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 105 of 128 time, according to the World Disasters Report, environmental refugees outnumbered those displaced by wars and other social conflicts. Last year's series of natural disasters was the worst on record, and during the past six years, the number of people needing relief from hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and other natural events jumped from 500,000 to more than 5.5 million.

The survey attributed the increasing number of victims of nature's fury to two factors. First, that the number of natural disasters were increasing, driven most likely by climactic changes. Secondly, more and more people, many of them poor and living in substandard housing, were living in areas vulnerable to natural catastrophe. The report concluded that without an abatement of the current trends, it was just a matter of time before the world began experiencing "a new scale of catastrophe," dubbed the "super-disaster."

Coincidentally, the year 1998 was the hottest year of the century, if not of the entire millennium.

THE POLITICS OF WEATHER

In the Spring of 1998 -- as Mexico sweltered through its worst drought in more than 70 years and raging wildfires burned from Brazil to Florida -- the American Petroleum Institute drafted an ambitious plan to spend more than $5 million to convince the American public that there was no scientific basis for believing that global warming was under way, or, failing that, that the petroleum industry had anything to do with it. In particular the plan sought to create a favorable media climate that would complement the industry's well-financed political efforts to kill the Kyoto Protocol, which would place restrictions on the burning of fossil fuels.

The institute sought to recruit a "cadre of scientists" and would train them in public relations. As many as 20 "respected climate scientists" would "inject credible science and scientific accountability into the global climate debate, thereby raising questions about and undercutting the `prevailing scientific wisdom.'" A team of five "independent scientists" would be identified, recruited and trained to participate in media outreach -- that is, radio and television talk shows -- and $600,000 was earmarked for science writers, editors and journalists. All, in the words of the institute, geared to "maximize the impact of scientific views consistent with ours on Congress, the media and other key audiences." Among those corporations actively involved in drafting this plan were Exxon, Chevron and the Southern Co.

The new plan was necessary because the mainstream scientific view had largely come to the conclusion that global warming was an imminent and serious threat, and that the energy companies bore a high degree of responsibility for it -- and because the industry's own "hired guns" were losing their credibility.

Ten years before, during the warm summer of 1988, the energy industry, along with such large energy consumers as the automobile, aluminum, steel, and chemical industries, began to take notice of global warming -- in particular, of the potential effects that preventing it would have on their businesses. That year, James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, brought up the specter of global warming before then-Senator Al Gore's committee on Science, Technology, and Space. Although Hansen did not at that time directly attribute the abrupt warming pattern that had taken hold of the Earth since the late 1970s to increases in man-made greenhouse gases, industry leaders could see the writing on the wall. In 1989 they founded the Global Climate Coalition (GCC).

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 106 of 128 Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Mining Association, the Society of the Plastics Industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In short, a Who's Who of American heavy industry Its philosophy has been to insist, first, that "science -- not emotional or political reactions -- must serve as the foundation for global climate policy decisions," and second, that "policy decisions must consider the economic and social impacts of alternative policy choices." Any solution must be equitable for all countries, and "technology transfer" and free trade offer the best fixes, assuming that fixes are required. Although the mission of the GCC seems reasonable on its face, it barely masks its essential agenda, which is to prevent any attempt to regulate its members or hold them responsible for global warming and its effects. Although the GCC purportedly believes that science should rule the debate on climate change, like all of the industry-sponsored media initiatives, it has vigorously attacked any science that links global warming to greenhouse gases, and promotes any view that casts doubt upon global warming.

In addition to the formation of the GCC, industry began to move to counter the vast media attention devoted to the "Earth Summit," the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. In the years leading up to the UN conference, global warming had become an important issue for environmental groups, and in Rio the first international accords on regulating greenhouse gases were drafted. Before the conference, the energy and related industries organized a massive campaign to downplay the dangers associated with climate change. In 1991, the Western Fuels Association, a coal producer, spent $250,000 to produce a video called the Greening of Planet Earth. The video extolled the benefits of higher levels of greenhouse gases, promising a future of agricultural abundance that warmer climates would bring.

The GCC was able to muster the political clout necessary to block environmental regulations concerning global warming, but they found steering public opinion was a different story. Opinion was influenced primarily by the science surrounding the issue, which was coming to a consensus that global warming was a fact. The emerging evidence of global warming was in turn hyped incessantly by the environmental groups. Ultimately, the campaign against the Rio and Kyoto accords would require an attack on the scientific studies that were at the core of the global warming issue. This attack, however, could not be launched by industry associations -- only by other scientists.

THE DISSENTING GROUP IS CREATED

One of the main vehicles for attacks on climate change initiatives during the Rio Conference was a campaign known as the Information Council on the Environment "ICE," funded by energy companies -- in particular, Edison Electric Institute, the Southern Company, and the Western Fuels Association. Like the more recent initiative by the American Petroleum Institute, the ICE campaign, launched in 1991, was designed to put scientists in front of the media to portray global warming as "theory rather than fact," and plant stories that would minimize the seriousness of the threat. The ICE campaign introduced the country to three major scientific critics, who became known as skeptics of the global warming process: Drs. Patrick J. Michaels, Robert C. Bailing Jr. and Sherwood Idso.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 107 of 128 Michaels casts skepticism on the computer models used to forecast potential rates of global warming and their effects. The models, which attempt to analyze the complex interactions between the Earth, the oceans, the atmosphere and their various components, are known to be incomplete, have been revised continuously in the past decade, and are therefore easy targets for those -- like the energy industry -- who require "scientific certainty" before acting. Michaels also argues that although the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have fluctuated in the past, changes in greenhouse gas concentrations followed changes in temperature, rather than preceded them. In 1992, Michaels became associated with coal producers, who have a direct interest in the outcome of his research. Unperturbed by the association, he went to work for Western Fuels Association, editing their new journal, World Climate Review. In addition, Michaels eventually received funding from the German Coal Mining Association, the Edison Electric Institute and Cyprus Minerals, one of the leading backers of the anti- environmental Wise Use Movement.

Although Michaels has received more than $165,000 in research grants from the energy industry, his funding pales in comparison to Bailing, who by his own account has taken in more than $700,000 from energy interests. The Director of the Office of Climatology for Arizona State University, Bailing is the author of The Heated Debate, Greenhouse Predictions Versus Climate Reality. The Heated Debate was published in 1992 by the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policly, a group that advocates a "free economy, private initiative and limited government," as well as anti-environmentalism. Like Michaels, Balling's main argument has been that the computer models are wrong, and the warming that they have predicted has not materialized. Balling argues that the manner in which climate data has been collected over the past century is inaccurate, and that the various methods used to collect this data would only give different results anyway. In particular, Bailing argued that temperature gauges, many of them located at the airports, were affected by the increasing urbanization around them, which raises temperatures locally. Like Michaels, Bailing concedes a slight warming effect, and along with Michaels argues that the net effects of global warming will be minor and even beneficial. Unlike Michaels, who appears belligerent in the media while rarely authoring a scientific treatise on the subject, Bailing is more soft-spoken and publishes regularly.

Idso's criticism of the mainstream scientific predictions of global warming is longstanding. An agriculturalist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Water Conservation Laboratory, Idso is the author of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change: Earth in Transition (IBR Press, 1989). He is a leading proponent of increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere as a positive attribute, contending that it would increase plant productivity. Idso argues that doubling carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would only translate into a minimal rise in the surface air atmosphere -- only four-tenths of a degree Celsius. Rather than destabilizing the climate and increasing the likelihood of natural disasters, the increased concentrations of carbon dioxide would spawn a green planet with bigger trees, bigger harvests, and more life. Idso's wife was the producer of the Western Fuels Association video, Greening of the Earth, which featured Idso himself. His two sons, both formerly under contract with Western Fuels Association, currently head the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, which promotes higher carbon dioxide levels.

The three scientists recruited by ICE were aided in their efforts by two prominent climatologists, Drs. S. Fred Singer and Richard S. Lindzen. Singer, formerly the first director of the U.S. Weather Satellite Service and professor emeritus of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, was retired and no longer producing original research. While the previously mentioned scientists, were funded by the coal companies, Singer was drafted by the oil industry, and served as a consultant to Exxon, Shell, Arco, and Unocal. AS with Michaels and Balling, Singer was critical of the computer models, but unlike Bailing, who actually conducted studies of temperature change, Singer fought against global warming largely on the strength of his reputation.

Of all of them, however, Lindzen was the most formidable. The Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lindzen was not only critical of the computer models' shortcomings in

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 108 of 128 predicting temperature change from increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, Lindzen also offered an alternative model of how the atmosphere would react to these increased levels. In his view, the principal greenhouse gas, water vapor, would act as a "negative feedback" to the process of global warming. At best the increased levels of carbon dioxide would only raise the temperature of the Earth less than one half of one degree, not enough to do any damage. Lindzen's criticisms of the global warming advocates were grounded more in science, and less strident than the rest. He was good at punching holes in the arguments of environmental groups such as Greenpeace, whose notions of science were little better than those of the energy industry Lindzen also managed to keep the energy industry at a safe distance, avoiding the big research grants that would have to be publicly acknowledged. Instead, he acted as a well-paid consultant to the affected corporations.

With the backing of the energy industry, these five scientists and their protégés began to undermine the work of more than 2,500 scientists working under the United Nations who were rapidly coming to the conclusion that global warming had the potential to become a global disaster.

THE BATTLE IS JOINED

The ICE campaign was not a success because the mainstream press exposed it almost before it began. However, the strength of the scientists was not so much their testimony before Congress, their frequent appearances on radio and television or their appearances in pro-business publications such as Forbes, Readers Digest, or the Washington Times. Their strength was to give some semblance of credibility to the forces seeking to develop global warming, including the fake grassroots organizations created by industry under the rubric of the "Wise Use Movement." In essence, if the industry scientists could neutralize the UN scientists, then the industry could outspend, out-hype, and out-hysteria the environmental groups.

At the Rio Conference, the energy industry had succeeded in requiring only voluntary controls on emissions, but the next few years found even naturally slowmoving government leaders considering mandatory controls. A coalition of island nations, who were threatened with actual disappearance due to global warming, and Europe, which was happy to shut down the inefficient and heavily polluting factories of the former East Bloc, brought pressure to do something concrete at Kyoto, Japan, in 1997.

Throughout the 1990s, the energy industry had spent millions every year to downplay the threat of global warming. The exact amount is hard to quantify, as it included everything from campaign contributions to research grants to funding Wise Use organizations to placing advertising in major media outlets. Major damage-control public relations specialists, such as Burson-Marsteller, who spun the Bhopal, Exxon Valdez and James Bay campaigns, were employed. Industry associations, such as the National Coal Association, the American Petroleum Institute, and others, made countering emission controls their number one agenda item. For years Mobil placed daily ads in the New York Times, prominently featuring the work of Balling and Singer as part of its claim that global warming was nothing to worry about. As the planning began in 1996 for the meeting in Kyoto, industry leaders began to consider a massive campaign that would expand upon the work they had done previously

The Global Climate Coalition, under chairman William O'Keefe, an executive for the American Petroleum Institute, set up a network of organizations that spanned the entire spectrum of the Wise Use Movement to mobilize against any potential global warming treaties. The GCC set up meetings and conferences with groups such as People for the West, a mining front group, to the Environmental Conservation Organization, run by the extremist property- rights advocate Henry Lamb, to 21st Century Science Associates, a Lyndon LaRouche spin-off. The groups then began a widespread campaign, portraying potential global warming accords as everything from government overreach to a UN-spawned conspiracy to deprive Americans of their land, sovereignty and way of life.

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New groups were created, such as the People for Vehicle Choice, and the "grassroots" campaign was waged largely in the pages of newsletters, automobile and travel magazines, farmers' journals, and other niche publications. First came articles that debunked the mainstream scientific vision of global warming, generally referring to one or more of the five scientists mentioned above. Then came letters and articles from "ordinary citizens" that would try to create a climate of fear by raising the specter of astronomical fuel prices and a sharp decline in the American standard of living. The GCC itself sponsored a group called the Global Climate Control Project, which spent more than $13 million in the months preceding the Kyoto Conference, mostly on advertising.

In the end, while the campaign seemed to do little to influence public opinion nationally, it was effective in Congress, which was bombarded by Wise Use groups. In July of 1997, six months before Kyoto, the Senate passed, by a 950 vote, a resolution declaring that any global warming treaty that exempted developing nations from worldwide emission cuts would not be ratified. Because the United Nations already had approved first-round exemptions for developing countries on the grounds of hardship, the resolution effectively said that any Kyoto treaty, no matter how limited, would never fly.

Behind the scenes was the work of Michaels, Bailing, Idso, Singer, and Lindzen. From the testimony of Wise Use advocates in Congress to the articles written by the Global Climate Coalition for mainstream newspapers -- most of which cited these five scientists -- the industry had managed to cast enough doubt on the science of global warming to at least give Congress some semblance of an excuse to undermine the Kyoto Conference. The victory had not come without a cost, however, and by the time of the Kyoto Conference, the combined reputations of the five were largely in tatters.

THE SECOND GENERATION

Of the five, Singer fell the hardest. Always a loose cannon, Singer also had campaigned against government attempts to control chlorofluorocarbons, a manmade chemical that causes ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere, endearing himself to the chemical industry but diminishing his reputation as a scientist. When in 1997 he resorted to deliberately falsifying and misinterpreting the work and statements of Dr. Bert Bolin, the chair of the UN's climate research team, Singer was finished as a climate authority. He was relegated to publishing his increasingly blatant defense of the energy industry through his own organization, the Science and Environmental Policy Project.

Michaels also did not fare well. By 1997, he was consigned mostly to writing op-ed pieces in the Washington Times and other right-wing venues. Even his scientific output was largely limited to writing rebuttal letters in Nature or Science. When he sought to discredit the work and integrity of Dr. B.D. Santer, one of the lead authors of a UN study released in 1995, Michaels, like Singer, lost what litde scientific authority he once possessed.

Lindzen was unable to keep up the attacks on the computer models as the science continued to move forward. His theories regarding the negative feedback of water vapor were duly taken into account by his peers, and then they moved on. Bailing continued to take temperature measurements at isolated sites around the world, and continued to report signs of a cooling, not a warming trend, but no one was taking him seriously Although Idso restarted his "carbon dioxide is good" campaign by forming the Greening Earth Society with the support of the coal industry, Idso's visions of a green planet were being taken less seriously as well.

The group also was hurt by blatant attempts to mislead scientists into signing petitions or declarations that downplayed global warming scares. Singer himself did not help when he circulated the "Leipzig Declaration," a

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 110 of 128 harsh critique of the Kyoto accords which he claimed was signed by a few prominent scientists and a host of unknowns, including amateur meteorologists. When the former president of the National Academy of Sciences, Frederick Seitz, attempted to peddle a petition critical of the treaty and included as background a paper that appeared to be an Academy-approved study -- but was not -- it sparked a harsh backlash from the scientific community.

Worse for all of them, their connections to the energy industry in particular the large sums of money they had all received, were becoming public, and they were spending just as much of their time defending their integrity as they were challenging the global warming process. Fortunately for the energy industry as their "hired guns" were fading, two new scientists had joined the fold.

Dr. Sallie Baliunas had strong credentials. Senior staff physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, she was also the deputy director of the Mount Wilson Observatory The author of more than 200 scientific research articles, she was a former recipient of the prestigious Newton-Lacy-Pierce Prize from the American Astronomical Society Baliunas argued that any observed global warming was the product of natural variations in the sun's thermal output. She had taken the normal 30-year cycle of sunspot activity, an indicator of the sun's output, and compared it to temperature readings on the Earth, and found a neat match. Those years that sunspot activity was highest were also those years that the Earth's temperature was warmest. Baliunas took her findings further and argued that the sun's activity was far more important to the global warming process than greenhouse gases, and therefore it was no use limiting the energy industries' emissions. The only problem with her findings was that although they worked well for the first three-quarters of the century they did not account for the rapid global warming that surface measurements were finding increasingly prevalent after 1980.

At the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Dr. John Christy had the answer to that problem. A former Baptist minister in Kenya, Christy was a professor of atmospheric science at Alabama's Global Hydrology and Climate Center, where he tracked the data from U.S. weather satellites. For the past 20 years, the satellites, by measuring microwave radiation, had been keeping a record of the temperature of the Earth, and that record showed little, if any, warming. Most importantly, even if the surface temperature was warming slightly, the bulk of the atmosphere was not, apparently either giving credence to Balling's old argument that the surface temperature gauges were flawed, or helping Lindzen's view that feedback mechanisms would dampen any warming effect. Regardless, the mismatch between surface and satellite temperature data was seized by skeptics and used effectively to counter the idea that global warming was even possible, much less under way.

THE HOLY WAR

On Oct. 29, 1997, The Fraser Institute held a conference in Vancouver entitled "The Science and Politics of Global Warming." The keynote speaker was Steven West, Alberta's Minister of Energy but the main speakers were Drs. Patrick Michaels, Robert Bailing, Jr., Sallie Baliunas, and John Christy. Although Lindzen was not present, his colleague from the Cato Institute, Thomas Gale Moore, was. Moore, an economist from Stanford University, was known for his historical writings arguing that civilizations flourished when the climate was warmer, diminished when climates were cooler, and thus any global warming would be a boon to society.

This was by no means the first time these scientists had come together. Baliunas, Bailing and Michaels serve as advisers to Sherwood Idso's Greening Earth Society and the four of them are advisers as well to the Wise Use Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). What was interesting about the Vancouver conference was that it gave a slight insight into the ties that bound these scientists together. The Fraser Institute, like its counterpart the Cato Institute in the United States and dozens of other similar institutions across the world, are the think tanks

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 111 of 128 for competitive markets. It was not so much energy industry money, but their ideological belief in the free-market economy that had brought these men and women together, a belief so strong that it had become a part of their science.

Although Michaels had once argued that environmentalism was the most popular new religion since Marxism, what he did not state was that he was engaged in a religious war. This was a holy war against environmentalism, for environmentalism stands in the way of progress. As CFACT pronounces: "Already, we have the capability to greatly increase crop yields through agricultural chemicals, to harness the power of the atom for electricity, and to eliminate many life-threatening diseases through biotechnology One can only wonder at the possibilities that lay ahead." In this view, it is science and scientists that create a brighter future for humanity, a future of prosperity, of plenty.

According to these global warming debunkers, environmentalists are in favor only of "slowing our economic growth and lowering our standards of living" in an attempt to solve the world's problems. For Michaels and the rest, the environmentalists don't understand that humans are a part of nature, and the most fundamental tenet of human nature is self-interest. For the Cato and Fraser Institutes and others like them, a free-market economy is the natural state of humans -- it is perfect, it will create the perfect world, and it could not possibly cause a global "super-disaster."

It would be simplistic to assume that Michaels, Baliunas, Lindzen, and the rest were in it for the money, even though they may have accepted money from energy and free-market interests. In many ways they are engaged in a holy war against environmentalism, which they see as a religion, and which threatens their own.

In mid-1998 the American Petroleum Institute's plan to recruit a new cadre of scientists was exposed by the press and the plan was shelved. Later that year it was also determined that atmospheric drag had caused the U.S. weather satellites to dip closer to the Earth in their orbits, and thus skew their data collection. When the new orbits were integrated into the temperature analyses, they showed a definite warming trend, overturning Christy's work.

In June of 1999, the South Pacific islands of Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea in the nation of Vanuato disappeared beneath the ocean, the first victims of the global rise in sea levels.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

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Subject: Environment; Global warming; International relations

Location: North America South America North America South America

People: O'Keefe, William O'Keefe, William

Company: United Nations UN United Nations--UN

Ethnicity: Native People

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 112 of 128 Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 26

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

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INDIGENOUS LEADERS DEMAND ACTION AT UNITED NATIONS, ORGANIZATION OF

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 113 of 128 AMERICAN STATES Publication info: Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 4.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Earlier this year, indigenous women from throughout Latin America met in Mexico for a conference sponsored by the Organization of American States, and similarly protested the lack of progress in that body. An OAS indigenous rights statement has been stalled for more than 10 years by endless objections. Participants in the Continental Forum of Indigenous Women of the Americas called for the inclusion of gender issues. Indigenous leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela participated.

FULL TEXT INDIGENOUS LEADERS DEMAND ACTION AT UNITED NATIONS, ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

Indigenous representatives from around the world met Aug. 9 at the United Nations to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous People, and came away disappointed that a declaration on Native rights remained stalled after more than a decade of debate.

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, president of the American Indian Law Alliance, said the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand fear that self-determination could lead to secession. "That certainly is not what indigenous peoples are talking about," she said.

While the declaration will not be legally binding, Frichner said it would be an important guide to national governments on the rights of their forgotten peoples.

"Indigenous people...are some of the poorest of the poor, and are also some of the most excluded in the development process," admitted Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, the World Bank's UN representative.

Earlier this year, indigenous women from throughout Latin America met in Mexico for a conference sponsored by the Organization of American States, and similarly protested the lack of progress in that body. An OAS indigenous rights statement has been stalled for more than 10 years by endless objections. Participants in the Continental Forum of Indigenous Women of the Americas called for the inclusion of gender issues. Indigenous leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela participated.

Participants said the Inter-American Indigenous Institute -- the OAS body that organized the conference -- should provide for a higher level of participation by indigenous representatives. Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu said the declaration remained "in limbo."

The OAS draft states that governments must guarantee respect for indigenous rights and recognize indigenous languages. It also calls for the return of alienated lands, and for governments to share profits from natural resource exploitation on indigenous lands with indigenous communities. Indigenous organizations hoped that the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 114 of 128 two documents would be approved after the United Nations declared a Decade of Indigenous Peoples in 1993.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Civil law; Civil rights; Culture; Indigenous people; International relations; Law; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: United States Canada Australia New Zealand Latin America United States Canada Australia New Zealand Latin America

People: Sfeir-Younis, Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, Alfredo

Company: United Nations UN United Nations--UN

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 4

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

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COLOMBIA: PURGE OF GUERRILLA UNIT ALLEGED FOLLOWING WASHINAWATOK SLAYING Weinberg, Bill . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 3.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) On May 20, the Colombian Armed Forces launched "Operation Nemesis" against the guerrillas, with the added mission to capture regional leader "Grannobles" (German Briceno Suarez). On June 17, at a public hearing attended by 2,500 citizens in Saravena, Arauca, a broad coalition of social organizations denounced the Colombian Army, FARC and National Liberation Army guerrillas, and the right-wing paramilitary groups for atrocities and human rights violations. The coalition demanded that the unarmed civilian population be left out of the escalating war and asked the Interamerican Human Rights Commission to set up an office in Arauca. More than 23,000 peasants from all seven municipalities of Arauca came to Saravena to show their support.

Grannobles, under almost constant pressure from government forces since February, has seen at least 10 percent of his men killed this year. With training, equipment and intelligence supplied by the United States, the Colombian forces are using new strategies based on air support and night fighting. Agence France Presse (Sept. 2) and the Bogota weekly La Semana (Sept. 6) reported that 47 guerrillas were killed in early September in heavy fighting around the town of Hato Corozal in the oil-rich department of Casanare. Among the dead were "Rogelio" (Napoleon Herreno), second in command of FARC's 10th Front and a close confidant of Grannobles; and "Robledo" (Pedro Rangel), another leader of that front. Army Commander Jorge Rangel said Rogelio was one of the killers of the three activists.

FULL TEXT

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 116 of 128 COLOMBIA: PURGE OF GUERRILLA UNIT ALLEGED FOLLOWING WASHINAWATOK SLAYING

As counterinsurgency war spreads in Colombia, an Army general claimed that the 10th Front of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) -- which killed three U.S. indigenous rights activists in March had carried out a violent purge related to the crime. In a further development in early September, government forces killed a guerrilla alleged to be one of the killers.

The March 4 slaying of Ingrid Washinawatok (Menominee) of the Fund of the Four Directions, Native Hawaiian leader Lahe'ena'e Gay and environmentalist Terence Freitas shocked world opinion. The three had been visiting the U'wa Indians in the foothills of the Colombian Andes to help design a culturally appropriate educational program for U'wa children. They were abducted Feb. 25 near the border of Arauca department. The victims were slain across the border in Venezuela a week later (see Native Americas, Summer 1999).

On May 20, the Colombian Armed Forces launched "Operation Nemesis" against the guerrillas, with the added mission to capture regional leader "Grannobles" (German Briceno Suarez). On June 17, at a public hearing attended by 2,500 citizens in Saravena, Arauca, a broad coalition of social organizations denounced the Colombian Army, FARC and National Liberation Army guerrillas, and the right-wing paramilitary groups for atrocities and human rights violations. The coalition demanded that the unarmed civilian population be left out of the escalating war and asked the Interamerican Human Rights Commission to set up an office in Arauca. More than 23,000 peasants from all seven municipalities of Arauca came to Saravena to show their support.

Heavy combat continued in western Arauca through the summer. According to intercepted communications, Grannobles, the regional guerrilla commander and brother of FARC's top military strategist Jorge Briceno Suarez ("Mono Jojoy"), found his units seriously outnumbered and asked the supreme secretariat for all possible support. The Army had not determined whether Grannobles was still in the area, but intercepted communications indicated that he was in the rural zone of Saravena, where confrontations continued.

NTC television news in Colombia reported on June 27 that bodies of 21 guerrillas from the FARC unit that killed the three Americans were found along several rivers in Arauca near the Venezuelan border. According to the report, the guerrillas were killed in an internal purge of the unit, headed by Grannobles, who remains under arrest orders by Colombian authorities for ordering the deaths of the activists. Neither the guerrillas' identities nor the reason for the alleged purge was reported.

Colombia's indigenous peoples are the real losers in the fighting. Leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and Army and police forces operate with impunity on indigenous lands -- against the will of the communities, which want to remain outside the armed conflict.

Occidental Oil still plans to begin test drilling on land within traditional U'wa territory The U'wa are suing the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 117 of 128 Colombian government, petitioning the Organization of American States, appealing directly to Occidental's top executives and reaching out to shareholders. Oxy's original partner in the exploration, Royal Dutch Shell, pulled out last year, saying it did not want "another Nigeria" -- referring to the negative publicity Shell suffered after being accused of involvement in killings of Ogoni activists in West Africa.

Over the past year, rightist paramilitaries have killed, abducted or threatened numerous members of the Embera community in the department of Cordoba, forcing dozens of families to flee. Seizures of Embera land continue under threat of massacre, which the paramilitaries justify by accusing the Indians of collaboration with the FARC. In the north of Cauca department, the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) charges that Colombian army planes have carried out bombing raids on Paez indigenous communities this year, killing residents and livestock and destroying forests.

On June 28, El Espectador reported on indigenous Huitoto communities (Boras, Ingas and Ocainas) in the Predio Putumayo reservation along the Igara-Parana River in the remote jungle department of Amazonas. FARC units moved into the area after the army abandoned a small base in July 1996. A FARC report obtained by the newspaper tells of "the usefulness which this region, abandoned by the State, has for [our] Organization." According to the report, "there is no visible authority and the communities live with no major risks or threats. We have given them the opportunity of interchange with the modern world and the development they need." It is true that food and medical supplies have reached the area.

But the Indians say they are afraid.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (Ingrid Washinawatok)

DETAILS

Subject: Armed forces; Culture; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans; Politics

Location: Colombia United States Colombia United States

People: Washinawatok, Ingrid Washinawatok, Ingrid

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 3

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Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000002

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INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: ADVANCES IN VENEZUELA AND GUYANA Weinberg, Bill . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 7.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) Civil unrest over the contested 1997 elections resulted in the Constitution Reform Commission Act of 1999, which established a 20-member commission to reform Guyana's 1980 Constitution. Lobbying by Guyana's Amerindian Peoples Association ensured one indigenous seat on the commission. APA's Jean La Rose was chosen as the indigenous representative by the three national indigenous organizations and toshaos, traditional village elders, at a meeting in January Two weeks later she was elected CRC vice-chair. She presented a proposal entitled "Statement of the Amerindian Toshaos and Amerindian Organizations of Guyana Concerning Reform of Guyana's Constitution," or simply the "Toshaos Statement." The document redefines political, economic and cultural relations between indigenous peoples and the Guyanese state, recommending recognition of Guyana as multicultural. It rejects assimilation, and calls for the Minister of Amerindian Affairs to be directly elected by the indigenous peoples.

FULL TEXT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: ADVANCES IN VENEZUELA AND GUYANA

On Aug. 3, 1999, three prominent indigenous leaders took their seats in the National Constitutional Assembly called by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Outside the Assembly in Caracas, nearly 75 indigenous leaders danced and sang in their traditional attire in support of their representatives. The Assembly of 131 elected representatives was convened to write a new Venezuelan constitution. Indigenous leaders called for the new constitution to include recognition of land and cultural rights.

Noeli Pocaterra, a Wayuu leader and one of the three elected to the Constitutional Assembly, called it a victory for "more than half million indigenous peoples who live in Venezuela." She has called for a constitution that better reflects the multicultural society and one that includes protections for women, children, ecologists, rights advocates, peasants, poets and artists.

The other elected indigenous leaders are José Luis Gonzalez of Bolivar state's Pemon people and Guillermo Guevara, a Jivi leader from Amazonas state. All three were elected in the Extraordinary Congress of Indigenous Peoples held in Bolivar in March, convened by the National Indigenous Council of Venezuela. However, the National Electoral Council required the indigenous populace to reconvene another assembly according to its established rules. The results of both elections were the same.

Meanwhile, neighboring Guyana's Constitution Reform Commission submitted its report to Parliament July 17, the culmination of six months of public hearings and testimony. The involvement of indigenous peoples resulted in a number of recommendations on indigenous rights.

Civil unrest over the contested 1997 elections resulted in the Constitution Reform Commission Act of 1999, which established a 20-member commission to reform Guyana's 1980 Constitution. Lobbying by Guyana's Amerindian Peoples Association ensured one indigenous seat on the commission. APA's Jean La Rose was chosen as the indigenous representative by the three national indigenous organizations and toshaos, traditional village elders, at a meeting in January Two weeks later she was elected CRC vice-chair. She presented a proposal entitled "Statement of the Amerindian Toshaos and Amerindian Organizations of Guyana Concerning Reform of Guyana's Constitution," or simply the "Toshaos Statement." The document redefines political, economic and cultural relations between indigenous peoples and the Guyanese state, recommending recognition of Guyana as multicultural. It rejects assimilation, and calls for the Minister of Amerindian Affairs to be directly elected by the

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 120 of 128 indigenous peoples.

Most of the proposals, including all references to land rights and even bilingual education, were rejected by the majority of the CRC. However, these proposals will be resubmitted following the convening of an indigenous peoples' commission.

Potentially disastrous development projects on indigenous lands continue despite the pending constitutional changes. In July, the government of Guyana granted an 8 million acre "reconnaissance permit" to a South African mining company, Migrate Mining. The area encompasses 22 indigenous communities, who were neither informed nor consulted. It also includes 3,000 square miles presently subject to a suit by six Upper Mazaruni, Akawaio and Arecuna communities seeking title to land and resources. The grant to Migrate follows another grant of 4.1 million acres to Canada's Vannessa Ventures on land of the Wai Wai, Wapisiana and Macuxi peoples.

Article copyright Cornell University.

Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

DETAILS

Subject: Constitutional law; Culture; Indigenous people; Law; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Venezuela Guyana Venezuela Guyana

People: Chavez, Hugo Chavez, Hugo

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 7

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 121 of 128 Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Feature

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000008

ProQuest document ID: 224754936

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In the Arctic, Ice is Life: And it's Disappearing Moreno, Fidel . Native Americas ; Ithaca Vol. XVI, Iss. 3&4, (Dec 31, 1999): 42.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT) The causes of the disintegration of ice are the warm water and warm temperatures; whether it is global warming or local warming, we're feeling the effects of what is happening with the warming trend. While the effects we're seeing today are dramatic on our people in the present, the effects for our future generations are going to be much greater. When I mention that the ice melts earlier, in the springtime, in March, when the seals are having their pups, and the ice breaks up, their pups will not be fully weaned so a lot of them will starve and will not be fully developed. Twenty years from now, we'll see a reduction in animals because that generation of pups will not reproduce. We'll see a major reduction in seals that we depend upon. So our future generations will feel a major impact as a result of what's happening today. It will be felt in 20 years.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 122 of 128 pollutants. We're looking at the reproductive tracts for their productivity of the animals in the event that in the future there are changes in the animals, we'll be able to tell these changes. With the teeth we're looking at the age samples, so that if there is a change in the age structure in the animals, in the future, we can go back and look at the samples of today and examine the changes. We are also collecting baseline harvest data. How much people are catching, what sex, what age group, so that we can compare it to the future catches. Same thing with the fish. If there are changes we will be able to take a look at the changes that are occurring.

CP: Science is very exacting. You have to have positive proof of what is causing this occurrence. If you don't have a silver bullet that says this is what is musing this change, they are not going to say, I'll put my Ph.D. on what is causing this warming. Science is limiting. We are feeling the effects and we need to work with that. The other problem that we're seeing is an economic impact. I was in Greenland last summer and one of the presenters said, `If you can't show that your economy is impacted in taxes or in government labor statistics, it doesn't exist.' And that's how we are. Our subsistence economy, living off of seals, gathering of plants, is nonexistent. If there was a disaster today and the seals died, a lot of the birds died and plants were gone, the government is not going to say, `We are going to come and help you.' Unless I was a commercial fisherman or a tour operator who can show economic loss, [the loss] doesn't exist. I cannot get economic help from the government because I cannot prove the loss. These are some of the things that we need to address. We have to get the government and the state to recognize that [subsistence] is an economy that we live off of.

FULL TEXT In the Arctic, Ice is Life: And it's Disappearing

Last November in Albuquerque, N.Mex., Native leaders, elders, researchers, and community members from throughout Indian Country were brought together with some of the leading NASA scientists and researchers to discuss local, regional and global climate changes and to listen to Native experiences and observations. At the "Circles of Wisdom" Native Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop, Caleb Pungowiyi, a Yupik Native from Nome, Alaska was among the presenters. Pungowiyi, the director of natural resources with Kawerak, Inc., and a member of the Qewami clan, addressed the impact of climate change in the Arctic region and the effects on Native peoples. Fidel Moreno, a Yaqui/Huichol writer, interviewed many of the conference participants. Native Americas has excerpted Moreno's interview with Pungowiyi here.

Native Americas: Caleb, you come from a community that survives by the ocean. Tell us more about your life there.

Caleb Pungowiyi: The village I come from, Savoonga, is a very small community of about 500 people. Savoonga means the land where the water is squeezed out of it. We primarily live off of resources from the sea. We are a small island, harvesting seals, walrus, polar bear, whales, and other food from the sea such as salmon, trout, whitefish, and other fish. Before the white man came, we had about 20 communities on the island that we could identify. Then when the whalers came in the 1800s, and started decimating whales and walruses in the Bering Sea, it had a dramatic impact on our people. Between 1880 and 1881, 80 percent to 90 percent of the people starved on our island. Today our village is a very modern community in terms of modern housing, water and sewer, electricity, television, telephone, etc., although our only means of transportation in and out of the community is by air since we are not connected to the mainland.

NA: How does your community sustain itself?

CP: Most people depend on sealskin products, carvings, slippers, jackets, mittens. Many people are very skilled artists and make things like dolls, figurines, sculptures.

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NA: What are some of the changes that your community is experiencing in terms of the water, the land, the air? What changes are you seeing as a result of global climate change?

CP: Our community has seen real dramatic effects as a result of the warming that is occurring in the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic environment. In the springtime we are seeing the ice disappearing faster, which reduces our hunting time for walrus, seals, and whales. The ice freezes later. Ice is a supporter of life. It brings the sea animals from the north into our area and in the fall it also becomes an extension of our land. When it freezes along the shore, we go out on the ice to fish, to hunt marine mammals, and to travel. Ice is a very important element in our lives. We see ice in different ways. When the quality of ice, in other words, its hardness, its durability, and our ability to walk on it, hunt on it, changes, then it affects our lives. And it affects the animals too. They depend on the ice for breeding, for pupping, denning, lying, and having their young. They molt on it, they migrate on it. And so ice is a very important element to us. When it starts disintegrating and disappearing faster, it affects our lives dramatically

Ice forms in two ways: one from the cold air from the top and in the fall time when the Earth cools, it forms on the bottom of the ocean in the shallow areas. This ice that forms on the bottom of the ocean carries with it sand, mud, sediment, and nutrients from the bottom of the ocean. In the springtime, when this ice starts melting, these nutrients are food for the shrimp and other plankton and species in the ocean. So it is a cycle that creates the productivity of the Bering Sea. Now with the water so warm, the ice doesn't form on the bottom like it used to. Now it is forming from the top and reduces the productivity of the ocean. It has tremendous impact.

NA: What is causing the disintegration, the meltdown of ice?

CP: To us, it is warming. There is no doubt the cause of the ice disintegrating and the changes that we see in the Arctic are caused by global warming. The exact cause is probably debatable, but it is most likely a result of emissions from the developed countries; the greenhouse gases that are being emitted into the air are causing the Earth to warm up. But nobody has a silver bullet and nobody will step forward and say we have to do something about it.

The causes of the disintegration of ice are the warm water and warm temperatures; whether it is global warming or local warming, we're feeling the effects of what is happening with the warming trend. While the effects we're seeing today are dramatic on our people in the present, the effects for our future generations are going to be much greater. When I mention that the ice melts earlier, in the springtime, in March, when the seals are having their pups, and the ice breaks up, their pups will not be fully weaned so a lot of them will starve and will not be fully developed. Twenty years from now, we'll see a reduction in animals because that generation of pups will not reproduce. We'll see a major reduction in seals that we depend upon. So our future generations will feel a major impact as a result of what's happening today. It will be felt in 20 years.

NA: When you were growing up did you hear your elders talk about what changes were coming? Did they talk about those changes, could they see the changes coming?

CP: I think my father and his father saw some of the changes that were coming. We had prophets like any other group around the world. Some of the other Inuit people have talked about the seven disasters that will happen to the Eskimo people. We have experienced four of them. We have three more to go that are not yet identified as to what they are going to be. The first one was a flood. The second was the Ice Age, when the world froze. The third one was starvation that our people encountered. The fourth one was the diseases that our people died from, diseases that the white man brought. The [next] three -- we don't know what they are going to be. But we know they

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 124 of 128 are awaiting and will eventually come around.

NA: Is there something positive that can happen to avert the disasters? Something that can be changed?

CP: The seven disasters are warnings of things that are going to happen to our people. Whether we can avert them, I don't know. We can only try to prepare for them. For example, with the global warming, as part of our preparations for the effects, in our region we're collecting samples from seals, from walruses and whales. We're collecting blubber and skin, reproductive tracts, and teeth. We're having some of these tested for contaminants and pollutants. We're looking at the reproductive tracts for their productivity of the animals in the event that in the future there are changes in the animals, we'll be able to tell these changes. With the teeth we're looking at the age samples, so that if there is a change in the age structure in the animals, in the future, we can go back and look at the samples of today and examine the changes. We are also collecting baseline harvest data. How much people are catching, what sex, what age group, so that we can compare it to the future catches. Same thing with the fish. If there are changes we will be able to take a look at the changes that are occurring.

NA: What is the significance of this conference having brought together scientists, federal agency people with Native people? And what do you think can come of this?

CP: The significance of our gathering is very important. We are trying to tie in scientific data with what we, as permanent residents in the Arctic, are experiencing. If the Arctic should melt, our people are not going to move south, or someplace else where it is easier to live, because this is our homeland. This is something we are going to have to live with. So by gathering what we know, what we observe, it will help the scientists and us understand the changes that are occurring and help to mitigate or address the problems that are going to be brought forth by global warming.

NA: As a result of this process, do you think the science community is arriving at the same findings and understanding that Native people have known for so long?

NA: What do you think will happen if the science community does not work with Native people to understand the impact of these changes?

CP: I don't know if the science community is the decisive [factor]. It is the politicians, administrators, and the leaders that are going to decide how to address some of the problems that are occurring. Science can definitely play a role, but many times scientists will not become political. They will not go to Congress or policy makers and say this is our finding and this is what you should do and here is how to do it. We need to make that connection

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 125 of 128 between the findings of the scientific community and the policy makers to make those changes.

NA: Why should the public, why should science, why should federal agencies listen to Native people about what is happening in the communities and the changes we are seeing in the Earth?

CP: The scientists and the leaders of our countries need to listen to us because, as Native peoples, we are the ones that live the closest to the land, to Mother Earth. We live with it, we experience it, with our hearts and souls, and we depend upon it. When this Earth starts to be destroyed, we feel it. We have to do something before it is too late. We can't wait until the economic community of the world is destroyed and we finally come to our senses. If we don't do something now, that economy is going to be impacted in an even greater way further down the road. It is something that needs to be done now. The world has to address the problem now in order to avert a future disaster.

NA: If you could give a message to the Native youth, or all young people, what would you tell them?

CP: The message that I would send to young people in terms of the impacts of future problems associated with global warming would be to keep passing on our knowledge, our values associated with nature, the love for Mother Earth, and protection of the environment. The other day I talked to my kids about some of the things that I feel are occurring and it seems to go in one ear and out the other. But then I think back to my youth, and my father talked to me and taught me. I think my father felt the same way, that it all went in one ear and out the other and that I didn't learn anything. But when I think back, I value those things that I was told. Whether we think they are listening or not, we need to keep telling the younger generation about our values, our beliefs, and how we need to protect the environment. They'll pick it up. There is no doubt in my mind that the younger generation will continue with the things that we believe in.

NA: What would you tell other Native people about what you have experienced in the north and what might we do as communities of indigenous peoples?

CP: You need to work on your own people and your own communities and with the scientific community to make sure that your community is going to be assured of its future. In many ways our people are going to be the ones that are going to be the Green Belt. We will probably be the last ones to have the last green areas remaining on the Earth in the future because of all the development in other areas. And we should continue to hold our values. We treasure nature and it shows in our Native lands. When it comes to development, we have, for the most part, been very cautious about how we developed the land and our resources. And I think that this is something our Indian brothers should continue to do.

NA: Do you think the government will hear what Native people have to say? It seems like if we don't remember the lessons of the past, we are condemned to repeat them.

CP: I think the United States government, if it wants to be a leader in the world, in terms of convincing other countries of the problems associated with global warming, they need to listen to the First Peoples who have the closest relationship with the Earth, who are feeling the effects. We can be a useful resource for the government to send this message to the rest of the world saying, `Hey, we have got to do something. It is already happening and we have to do something in order to protect the future of our world.'

Article copyright Cornell University.

PDF GENERATED BY PROQUEST.COM Page 126 of 128 Article copyright First Nations Development Institute.

Photo (When the ice changes in the Artic, all life is threatened)

DETAILS

Subject: Culture; Environment; Global warming; Indigenous people; Minority ðnic groups; Native Americans

Location: Albuquerque, NM Albuquerque, NM

People: Pungowiyi, Caleb Pungowiyi, Caleb

Ethnicity: Native People

Publication title: Native Americas; Ithaca

Volume: XVI

Issue: 3 &4

Pages: 42

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1999

Publication date: Dec 31, 1999

Publisher: Akwe:kon Press, American Indian Program, Cornell University

Place of publication: Ithaca

Country of publication: United States, Ithaca

Publication subject: Native People, Native American Studies

ISSN: 10923527

Source type: Scholarly Journals

Language of publication: English

Document type: Interview

Document feature: Photo

Accession number: SFLNSNTMR0400NSMY164000012

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