As President Obama opened up the Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement, and Resilience conference in Anchorage, he lamented the failure of all the nations represented — including the United States — to take concerted action to address climate change. Obama’s comments — perhaps masking some hypocrisy — illustrated his frustrations and feelings of dejection. Days earlier, he announced the return of Mount McKinley to its original name: Denali. As we aim to address climate change in the coming years, we must more seriously consider Native American peoples to avoid the destruction of both their communities and their cultural heritage.
For the past decade or so, climate change has been a well-recognized menace. While many have been frustrated with a lack of legislative action, most Americans operate in a sphere so distinct and separate from the natural world that for many of us — perhaps the majority — the effects of climate change seem distant if real at all. The same cannot be said for Native Americans, particularly those in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, “tribal communities are especially vulnerable to climate change because they are place-based and depend on natural resources, such as salmon, shellfish, game, timber, and rangelands to sustain their economies and traditional way of life.” This notion applies not only to Native Americans but also to indigenous peoples worldwide. According to the United Nations, “Indigenous peoples are among the first to face the direct consequences of climate change, owing to their dependency upon, and close relationship with the environment and its resources.”
At 20,320 feet, Denali is the highest peak in North America. Appropriately, its name means “The High One” in Athabascan. The mountain was named McKinley in 1896 after the nomination of Ohio’s William McKinley for presidential office. The return of Mount McKinley to its original name should be the first in a series of efforts to recognize the importance of Native Americans to the country’s future. Discourses about climate change — both colloquial and in the media — underestimate that extent to which issues of climate change and cultural identity intersect.
Richard Peterson, president of the central council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes, responded to the renaming of McKinley in Politico: “It symbolizes that our first people of Alaska are still here.” The presence and vitality of these indigenous groups should be held in high importance when deciding on climate change action.
Native American groups are not only a key and fundamental pillar of American history, but are disproportionately dependent on the government, and not of their own volition. The median income for Native American and Alaskan Native households, as of 2011, is $35,192, significantly lower than the median income for the nation as a whole, which is $50,502. As is often the case, the voices that have been left out of the discussion are those to which we should be making the most efforts to bring to the table.
The principle of self-determination — a pillar of the United States’ philosophical foundation — is too often misunderstood and rejected by this nation’s lawmakers. The mistreatment and neglect of issues facing Native American groups is the most potent example of this. Just as issues of discrimination, sexism and income inequality disproportionately affect certain groups, we would be remiss to imagine climate change will affect all Americans the same way.
At the GLACIER conference, Obama expressed intent and commitment to solving the problem of climate change, saying, “Even if we cannot reverse the damage that we’ve already caused, we have the means — the scientific imagination and technological innovation — to avoid irreparable harm.” While consequences of climate-regulating technology remain distant for most of us, indigenous peoples all around the world are experiencing the effects of global warming on an immediate basis. For them, dependence on potential future technological innovation is not enough.
Mary Russo is a Senior Associate Editor for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at m.russo@cavalierdaily.com.
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