Monday, August 3, 2009: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
Taos, Albuquerque Convention Center
SYMP 3 - Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities, Locally and Globally
Human impacts on local and global sustainability and resilience are forcing us to critically re-examine our relationships with nature. By pooling the collective insights of diverse scholars in collaborative research, community engagement, and ecological education, this symposium bridges major gaps in sustainability issues today, such as between ecological theory and practice, science and policy, individual wants and collective needs. We focus not only on ecological science, but also on the socio-cultural processes that can impede information transfer between and among researchers, educators, policy-makers, and the public. Local indigenous, urban, and faith-based ecological knowledge holders and practitioners will dialogue with internationally recognized scientists on global sustainability challenges in science and policy decision-making. They will identify strategies of how to incorporate diverse ecological knowledge into sustainable planning initiatives and assessments of local and global impacts, particularly the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The chasm between what we know is needed and what we do in practice, vis-à-vis our relationships with nature and her resources, largely reflects incongruent values and incentives between individuals and society. This may be rooted in a lack of ecological understanding of the impacts of our actions on those affected. Greater awareness of the collective impacts of individual consumption was stimulated by environmental policies, by mobilizing local community members to form alliances to reduce their ecological footprints, while socio-economically underprivileged communities, the least represented in science and policy, are often the most ecologically vulnerable. By authentically engaging with all communities of stakeholders, applying diverse sources of ecological knowledge, and informing citizens to act responsibly, ecologists can contribute to building not only a sustainable, but just global society. The symposium audience will witness protocols of respectful listening and sharing within an indigenous talking circle, presentations of the best ecological science currently informing environmental policy, and an open dialogue tackling key sustainability challenges, locally and globally. Symposium participants will address sustainability issues threatening basic human needs and values, such as related to land, water, air, food, and energy. They will offer specific strategies of how to secure human well-being, notably, by improving science and technology, partnering with local indigenous, urban, and faith-based communities, and engaging the public in policy decision-making and implementation plans. Perhaps most significantly, they will actively demonstrate reciprocal sharing of ecological knowledge to open communication and create the synergy needed to alleviate social injustices, one relational pathway to global sustainability and resilience.
Organizer:	Mimi E. Lam, University of British Columbia and University of New Mexico
Co-organizer:	Leanne M. Jablonski, Marianist Environmental Education Center
Moderator:	Gary P. Kofinas, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Endorsement:	ESA Education and Diversity Programs Office, ESA Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section, ESA Environmental Justice Section
1:30 PM			Introduction
1:40 PM			Indigenous Talking Circle Opens
1:45 PM	SYMP 3-1		Foundations for sustainable indigenous environmental education and community re-vitalization Gregory A. Cajete, University of New Mexico and Santa Clara Pueblo
2:00 PM	SYMP 3-2		Open access and research: Collaboration or commodification Donna House, Dine (Navajo Nation)
2:15 PM	SYMP 3-3		How territorial systems contributed to socio-ecological resilience of Pacific Northwest Indigenous communities Ronald L. Trosper, University of British Columbia
2:30 PM	SYMP 3-4		Legitimization of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment for local and Indigenous stakeholders Dennis Martinez, Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network
2:45 PM	SYMP 3-5		Climate change in Indian country:  Learning from traditional technologies to live sustainably Daniel R. Wildcat, Haskell Indian Nations University
3:00 PM			Break
3:10 PM	SYMP 3-6		Carbon and nitrogen inequities on a changing Earth Elisabeth A. Holland, National Center for Atmospheric Research
3:30 PM	SYMP 3-7		Humans and the sea: Valuing our relationships with marine ecosystems Mimi E. Lam, University of British Columbia and University of New Mexico
3:45 PM	SYMP 3-8		Climate change and sustainability education in religious organizations:  An ecological bridge to environmental justice Leanne M. Jablonski, University of Dayton, Gregory F. Hitzhusen, The Ohio State University
4:00 PM	SYMP 3-9		Strategies to diversify the local foodshed in response to state environmental policies Bruce T. Milne, University of New Mexico
4:20 PM			Dialogue
4:50 PM			Synthesis by Gary P. Kofinas

See more of Symposium

See more of The 94th ESA Annual Meeting (August 2 -- 7, 2009)