{"id":6478,"date":"2021-07-29T15:52:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T22:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/?page_id=6478"},"modified":"2025-06-17T11:33:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:33:55","slug":"indigenous-rights-and-environmental-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/humanrights\/projects\/indigenous-rights-and-environmental-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous Rights & Environmental Sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Hands of Future Generations: Tribal Youth and UW Students Responding to Climate Grief through Restoration Action, Research, and Video Storytelling<\/b><\/h1>\n
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UW faculty Patrick Christie and Jonathan Warren, and UW student Will Burnham planting at the CLS Native Food Forest with CLS staff and students.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Through a UW-Chief Leschi Schools collaboration of over two years, one of the central concerns that emerged among Puyallup and Nisqually community members was a recognition that their children were increasingly disconnected from Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), environmental stewardship roles, and opportunities to support health and wellness. This project, a collaboration between the University of Washington, Chief Leschi Schools<\/span><\/a> (CLS), <\/span>Nisqually Cultural Center<\/span><\/a>, Department of Natural Resources, and <\/span>Nisqually Land Trust<\/span><\/a>, aims to reconnect Puyallup and Nisqually youth with TEK and addresses health and wellness surrounding climate resilience and traditional foods. This project also emphasizes the importance of non-Tribal students learning how to work collaboratively with Tribal communities, understanding how to honor treaty rights and respect Tribal sovereignty. <\/span>By fostering these partnerships, the project brings people together to share experiences, build meaningful relationships, and take collective action that supports community well-being and ecological restoration.<\/p>\n

This project builds off of<\/span> ideas that surfaced in student-created digital stories made in 2022-2024 in collaboration between CLS and UW students and faculty members, with support of the UW Center for Human Rights and other financial supporters. These themes included culture, dance and language revitalization underpinning environmental stewardship, the centering of Indigenous rights, and youth collaboration that bridges divides.<\/p>\n

These digital stories are available at:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Eyes of our Children: Canoe Journey<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Eyes of our Children: Language revitalization<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Eyes of our Children: Dance<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Eyes of our Children: Overview<\/a><\/p>\n

Through the next leg of this project we hope to nurture future generations of climate leaders by engaging students in the creation of two traditional plant food forests, one on the campus of CLS and one at the Nisqually Cultural Center. <\/span>Food forests are multi-story cultivated areas that use native plants to restore ecological function, promote food sovereignty, address cultural significance, and foster a connection to a place. In contrast to a garden or other typical cultivation spaces, food forests are designed to enhance biodiversity and mimic the natural structure of a forest, providing a variety of edible products, such as bulbs, berries, fruit and shoots, but also a variety of cultural products, such as medicine and bark for weaving. The higher ecological complexity and biodiversity will serve to increase the climate resilience of these areas. Furthermore, the food forests are conceptualized as spaces for education, community gathering, and cultural revitalization, including the transmission of TEK and the promotion of the Lushootseed language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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CLS student and UW student Thor Belle planting salmonberry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Public planting events at CLS and the Nisqually Cultural Center, and interviews with participants, will be recorded to create a film about intercultural collaboration and community-driven restoration efforts. These events will highlight the integration of TEK and modern ecological science, demonstrating how collective action can address current environmental challenges while promoting health and wellness for future generations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, we believe such efforts can aid in fostering health and wellness by catalyzing intercultural collaboration between Tribal and non-Tribal students, shaping shared understandings of the challenges before us, and ensuring a lasting legacy of cross-cultural environmental education and effective communications capacity. These food forests\u2013by intertwining cultural knowledge, traditional food access, and ecological restoration\u2013serve as a model for climate resilience and tribal and food sovereignty, strengthening the interconnectedness of all.<\/span><\/p>\n

OBJECTIVES<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Tribes play leading roles in restoration efforts in the Puget Sound. This project has been designed to support Tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, Tribally-led environmental protection and restoration policies, and ultimately the recovery of the Puget Sound by:<\/span><\/p>\n