Interview: Lessons from Indigenous Peoples on climate change
- Media Manager
- Feb 8, 2019
- 2 min read
Canadian Geographic
Written By: Michela Rosano
Published: February 8th, 2019
Jocelyn Joe-Strack has a message about how to mitigate climate change: take a lesson from Indigenous Peoples. The scientist and geographer from the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in Yukon and northern British Columbia is embarking on a four-week tour of Canadian embassies in Europe to share her nation’s perspective on healing people, fostering greater connections with the land and valuing the Earth over financial gain. Here, she discusses her message, why numbers don’t tell the whole story and how Indigenous Peoples can lead climate discussions.
On bringing her message to Europe
I think people are expecting me to discuss how the climate is changing in the north and how it’s impacting our way of life, which is true. As a girl growing up in Whitehorse, I never used to go running in the rain, and our animals are certainly in decline or shifting. But my message is actually derived more from my nation’s vision for prosperity and leadership. We have always worked hard to ensure that the land is available for generations to come, and that’s a central part of our culture now. We are a people overcoming oppression and colonization, and we’ve evolved into a culture of healing and wellbeing. The best way to heal is to strengthen our connection with our language, our land and our culture. And as we do that, we increase our sense of community. We’ve become so dependent on the culture of consumerism, convenience and entitlement, that it’s crippling us, and society as a whole. If people around the world are strong in their integrity and have a good sense of right and wrong, I argue that will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, on consumerism — the drivers of climate change. This is not something I am presenting as a solution; it is something that I’m taking to Europe to explore. This is a message I have come to understand from working with my community to develop a land use plan, from my experience as a hydrologist and microbiologist, and from being raised by leaders. Humanity is the caretaker of the Earth, but we all know that to be a strong caretaker, you must be well yourself. And right now, humanity is not well.
