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Our Living Lands is a collaboration of the Mountain West News Bureau, Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and Native Public Media.

Understanding Indigenous knowledge and land amid the climate crisis

Black and white portrait of man with a long braid wearing a tie. He is looking to the right and resting his chin on is right hand.
Photo courtesy of Jason Brough
Jason Brough is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Tribal Member and a PhD candidate at the University of Maine

Amid the climate crisis, some Indigenous nations are reclaiming and rejuvenating their land. The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation recently reclaimed a piece of land in Idaho that was the site of a brutal massacre of their people. They are now in the midst of an ambitious project to restore the land and environment. Across the country, other tribes are also working to get their land back. Many of these projects are not just about reclaiming land and culture, but also about climate resilience.

Jason Brough is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation Tribal Member who has helped his tribe with its land back project. Brough, who is also a PhD candidate at the University of Maine, spoke to Our Living Lands Producer Daniel Spaulding about what the rest of the world can learn from Indigenous knowledge. “The key point to understand is that Indigenous peoples are not the cause of our current climate crisis,” Brough said. “We're trying our best to do our part for this, but we can't do it alone.”

I joined Boise State Public Radio as the Indigenous Affairs Reporter and Producer for Our Living Lands, a weekly radio show that focuses on climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities. It is a collaboration between the Mountain West News Bureau, Native Public Media and Koahnic Broadcast Corporation.

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