This animated video interviews Alexis Raeana, a model, musician, and member of the Lumbee tribe, about Indigenous solutions to climate change and her suggestions for climate action.
Alexis discusses the #LandBack movement, seventh-generation stewardship, extractive industries, violence against women, native principles, and environmental protection.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This engaging and easy-to-follow interview is a great way to introduce students to environmental justice and how Indigenous peoples can contribute to solving climate change.
The video provides a critcal perspective on approaches to solving climate change.
Additional Prerequisites
To provide context, students should have a basic understanding of the effects of natural resource extraction and climate change on Indigenous peoples and the historical treatment of Indigenous peoples in the United States.
As the video covers many topics, it may be best to stop at different points to discuss them as a class.
Be mindful of any indigenous students in your class who may be more sensitive to topics like murdered and missing Indigenous women, as this topic is addressed in the video.
Differentiation
It may help to show the closed captioning on the video for some learners.
This resource can be used in civics classes during lessons about the importance of inclusion and diversity in policy-making and in health classes during lessons about the disproportionate impacts of different industries and policies on the health of marginalized peoples.
This lesson can be used to learn more about the relationship between indigenous communities and the environment.
Scientist Notes
This video is an interview with Alexis Raeana Jones, a musician and activist from the Lumbee tribe from South Carolina. In this interview she answers questions about Indigenous approaches to caring for the land, climate change, and the "land back" movement. She also mentions how pipeline works affects the environment and Indigenous people, specifically women. The video does briefly mention politician’s climate solutions versus Indigenous climate solutions, and oil pipelines which can sometimes lead to intense discussions; however, she presents accurate information. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.12.9-12 Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
D2.Civ.14.9-12 Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.10.9-12 Evaluate how changes in the environmental and cultural characteristics of a place or region influence spatial patterns of trade and land use.
Dimension 2: History
D2.His.14.9-12 Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
