In a little less than three weeks, from Nov. 18 – 21, at the Mystic Lake Casino and Resort of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, Winona LaDuke and I will convene the second Native Peoples Native Homelands Workshop. Only 11 years ago, in the fall of 1998, the first Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop was convened in Albuquerque as the first U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change was being developed.

We now have a situation on the planet much worse than any scientific climate change forecasters predicted 11 years ago, but entirely consistent with centuries old prophesies and forecast by our indigenous wisdom-keepers. It is now time for indigenous peoples and our allies to reconvene – gather as we have always done when threats faced us – to address the very real climate change threats our peoples and homelands face.

In 1998, almost no one in the United States scientific community made the fundamental connection between Native peoples and Native homelands and climate change – not only with regard to impacts, but more tellingly with respect to the deep knowledges and wisdom that resided in Native homelands and with Native peoples.

We have a situation on the planet – our Mother Earth – that requires Native people to come together so we can acknowledge our inalienable responsibility to care for the beautiful and diverse life of our blue green Mother Earth. We must make sure the national governments of the world and their agencies, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector recognize tremendous practical knowledge about the planet’s situation and what might be done to address this already deadly global phenomena resides among American Indian and Alaska Native peoples who find their culture and identity emergent from the landscapes and seascapes they call home.

Several scientists made the connection, and with the leadership of Dr. Nancy Maynard, worked to bring the resources together to convene the first Native Peoples Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop in the fall of 1998. The results of that workshop were many including recognition that Native voices and the wisdom and knowledge they conveyed were important, The Albuquerque Declaration, and a final report “Native Peoples – Native Homelands Climate Change: Circles of Wisdom.”

However, with a growing recognition that indigenous knowledges are the result of deep experiential spatial knowledges of a people and place, this second workshop will capitalize on one of the most overlooked sources of wealth – our tribal colleges and universities.

The climate has indeed changed in the past decade in a social institutional and atmospheric sense. Tribal colleges and universities are now facilitating research on climate change-related issues and preparing our students to provide the critically needed professional and scientific expertise to serve our nations.

In partnership with federal agencies, national scientific research centers, NGOs and larger research universities, tribal colleges and universities are creating the next generation of indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, planners, scientists and teachers. Consequently, the second NPNH workshop will highlight the role of tribal colleges and universities in preparing our American Indian and Alaska Native peoples to address the dramatic climate change impacts many Native people have been observing on their landscapes and seascapes for decades.

Our workshop goal is to bring Native peoples together to analyze and examine climate change impacts on our peoples and their Native homelands and, just as importantly, share sustainable strategies and technologies for addressing these climate changes. Our indigenous languages and cultures hold great insight on how humankind might live well on this beautiful Mother Earth – even in dramatically changing conditions. Our histories are rich in examples of practical exercises of indigenous ingenuity – Indigenuity.

A report will be completed after the workshop and hopefully a Mystic Lake Declaration like the Albuquerque Declaration can be crafted by the workshop’s end to help governmental agencies and the public understand indigenous insights and perspectives on climate change. Such documents will also serve as useful guides for indigenous nations’ policy making and program development and for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations who want to work with our peoples. Such documents would make a nice addendum to the recently released national climate report. Join us at this workshop Indian county – we need your spirit and reason.

Dr. Daniel Wildcat is co-convener of Native Peoples Native Homelands and a faculty member at Haskell Indian Nations University.