[DLS] Cristina Eisenberg (Oregon State)

“Braiding Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Sustain Climate Resilient Forests and Human Communities”

Dr. Cristina Eisenberg will share why partnerships with Tribal Nations in co-stewardship of national forests can increase their climate resilience. Given the speed of anthropogenic climate change and its impacts on forest resilience to wildfires, such partnerships are vital. Indigenous Peoples’ wisdom about forests and how they have changed since time immemorial provides powerful lessons. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and practices such as cultural burning can deeply inform how humans steward forests. By bringing together IK with Western Science, known as Two-Eyed Seeing, one develops the insights to steward forests for climate-resilience across cultures. Cristina will discuss the Braiding Sweetgrass Report her colleagues and she created for the USDA Forest Service and will provide an overview of its recommended strategies to sustain climate resilient forests and human communities.

EAPS Department Lecture Series
Weekly talks aimed to bring together the entire EAPS community, given by leading thinkers in the areas of geology, geophysics, geobiology, geochemistry, atmospheric science, oceanography, climatology, and planetary science. Runs concurrently with class 12.S501.

Contact: eapsinfo@mit.edu