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Disaster News Redux

Flint Water: From Crisis to Crime

By Jolie Breeden

Widespread contamination of the City of Flint's water has lead to public outrage and greater awareness of lead poisoning. Now, it's also lead to criminal charges levied against goverment workers. Take a look at the latest events to unfold.

Participation Please

Barriers to Tribal Mitigation Planning

By Lucy Carter and Lori Peek

American Indian and Alaska Native tribes have made strides in terms of working with the U.S. government to plan for disaster. However, participation rates in mitigation program remain quite low, especially in some of the most disaster prone regions of the nation.

Losing Place and Losing Hope

Newtok's Challenging Journey to Higher Ground

By Elke Weesjes Sabella

The Alaska Native town of Newtok is expected to be under water by 2017, according to the Army Corps of Engineers (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2009). The town is hardly an exception; there are eleven other tribal communities in the Arctic Circle that are in the same predicament (GAO, 2009). However, it is unlikely that these towns will be able to move to higher ground any time soon without the creation of a federal framework that can assist, overlook, and fund their relocation.

Climate Conversations

Merging Traditional Knowledge and Western Science

By Karletta Chief and Alison Meadow

Scientists can play important roles in helping indigenous communities better understand and adapt to climate change. They can provide climate model projections as well as tools for adaptation planning. However, it is critical that such information and tools be developed in collaboration with the communities themselves.

The Rising Voices

Building Bridges Between Scientific and Indigenous Communities

By Heather Lazrus, Bob Gough, and Julie Maldonado

The Rising Voices program is premised on the belief that indigenous people make valuable contributions to mitigating the causes of climate change and adapting to its impacts. To encourage this understanding and collaborations between indigenous and scientific communities, Rising Voices has created a list of recommendations for tribal, state, national, and international policy makers that was distributed among participants of COP21 in 2015.