Introduction to Climate Change from an Indigenous Perspective
This is a novel semester-long undergraduate general education science course taught from the perspective
of the traditional ecological knowledge held by native peoples of North America. It is designed to
transmit the excitement and importance of Climate Science to freshman and sophomore undergraduates
while providing a strong contextual setting for Native American students based on their own culture and
traditional ecological knowledge. The course introduces students to climatology from a place-based
perspective on local climate. Students learn about and compare traditional knowledge of their local
climate and its relationship to plants, animals, land and water resources with western science
understanding of climate processes and effects. The course addresses the concept of climate change by
exploring how climate has changed in the past, how it is changing now, and the contemporary causes of
climate change. Climate change topics focus on the ecological impacts and social consequences for tribal
lands and Native communities. Class discussions develop and share ideas on how Native American
Nations can respond to a future of changing climate. By integrating traditional and Western science
perspectives, the course is intended to provide both the intellectual and cultural foundations for students
to pursue climate science and the natural sciences more generally both at their respective Tribal Colleges
and through eventual transfer to regional four-year and graduate programs.
Conceptual Organization of the Course
This course uses the four directions and the sacred hoop, or medicine wheel, as an analogy for the interconnectedness of the earth, air, water and the energy that binds them. It uses the images, stories, and
values of the medicine wheel to examine the interconnected effects of a changing climate on the four
elements of the earth system.
The concept of climate is at the center of the medicine wheel. It is further embodied by the four
directions and their representation as the four elements of fire, water, air and earth. The spokes of the
medicine wheel radiate from the climate center and depict the many aspects of changing climate and its
impacts. The entire medicine wheel is encircled by indigenous knowledge, a connected band of learning
that has evolved to contain people’s cumulative experience through time about the climate, the four
elements, the earth sciences, and how we can adapt to climate change. As you the medicine wheel is
turned, the spokes circle and illustrate the interconnectedness of all aspects of climate and earth systems.
The course begins at the center of the medicine wheel by defining climate and by looking to American
Indian knowledge held in the Creation stories. It then circles the medicine wheel once to provide an
overview of the earth’s system from the perspective of the four elements. The course then circles again
around the medicine wheel, passing through all 16 spokes, and covering earth science topics on climate,
climate change, change impacts and possible responses.
Thus the medicine wheel for this class has four concentric circles: the center (climate), the four directions
(holistic overview of earth’s climate and interconnectedness), 16 spokes of the medicine wheel (more in
depth view of all climate-related topics), and the outer circle of humans and culture (indigenous
knowledge).
This course was developed collaboratively by 17 faculty members from twelve TCUs through support
from NSF’s Geosciences Education program. The course was designed to allow for a distributed
instructional model in which faculty and students from multiple institutions can participate in lecture and
discussion activities. The course syllabus and all materials developed for the course are being made
available to all of the Tribal Colleges.