Tag Archives: sustainability

M4, Entry 5: A framework to address climate change and sustainability

Module 4: Ecological Issues in Indigenous Education and Technology

Entry 5: A framework to address climate change and sustainability

In his essay, Cajete presents a framework for building resilient and sustainable communities through Indigenous science. What stood out to me was the definition he used for Indigenous science, “that body of traditional environmental and cultural knowledge unique to a group of people which has served to sustain that people through generations of living within a distinct bioregion”

This definition and the framework provided directly inform my project as two of my guiding principles to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being are Local Learning and working within a Collaborative Community.

Cajete, G. A., (2020). Indigenous science, climate change, and Indigenous community building: A framework of foundational perspectives for Indigenous community resilience and revitalization Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9569. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229569

M1 P4: Preserving Old Growth Forests

One of the units I teach in Science is about climate change and one of the topics I discuss is Old Growth Forests as it is a topic that is relatively unknown to my students. They have heard of planting trees after cutting down trees but what they may not have known was that these “second-growth” trees are not the same type as the ones that were cut down. The old growth forests are not economical for the forest industry as they take too long to grow so they instead grow trees that grow quickly so that they can cut them down and start the process again for manufacturing their products. This greatly affects the carbon sinks as the old growth forests absorb significantly higher amounts of carbon than the trees being used to replace them. I also talk about the Indigenous perspective regarding the logging of old growth forests and how it is affecting their culture and way of living.

Clayoquot Sound is an example of Indigenous-led conservation strategies being used to help preserve old growth forests and why the work that is being done there is significant.

https://www.natureunited.ca/what-we-do/our-priorities/investing-in-people/clayoquot-sound/

Below is a PDF with a few lessons relating to old growth forests:

https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/exhibits/living-landscapes/cbasin/oldgrowthforest/chapter2-looking.pdf

M1 P3: Cedar Harvest and Cedar Weaving

At my school, some of the classes are learning about the cedar harvest and how cedar was used by the Indigenous communities. One of the purposes that was discussed, was cedar weaving. This year, some of our primary grade classrooms were fortunate to be able to have a lesson about cedar weaving from Jessica Silvey through Zoom. They each made cedar bark mats and she talked about how the cedar was prepared and how the cedar had many uses. It was a valuable experience for the students that was hands-on and engaging.
I have included a link to her website below for people who may be interested in seeing her availability for hosting workshops.

https://www.redcedarwoman.com/