Saturday, July 21, 2012

Native American Communities Affected by Climate Change Plan for the Future | PBS NewsHour | July 19, 2012 | PBS

Native American Communities Affected by Climate Change Plan for the Future | PBS NewsHour | July 19, 2012 | PBS: ... HARI SREENIVASAN: Our series on Coping With Climate Change has included multiple examples of how Native American populations are feeling the impacts and adapting.

We took you to coastal Louisiana, where tribal people are experiencing relative sea level rise in a very personal way. Their islands are shrinking and their burial grounds will soon be underwater.

The Quileute Tribe in Washington State, whose reservation was down to its last square mile, until they recently won rights to move to higher ground in the nearby national park.

Last night, we showed you how the Swinomish Tribe is trying to plan ahead and adapt to faster glacial snowmelts, higher stream temperatures, and changes in fishing grounds.

Changes are being felt by Native peoples throughout the country, and it was the reason for the First Stewards conference at the Smithsonian Museum.

We sat down with a few representatives.

Joining me here at the National Museum of the American Indian to tell us how their communities are coping with climate change are Micah McCarty from the Makah Tribe in Washington, Kitty Simonds from Hawaii, Mike Williams from the Akiak Native Community in Alaska, and Jeff Mears from the Oneida Tribe in Wisconsin.