LOCALadk Magazine

22 Spring 2016 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk af wind turbines that powered the conference site; efforts in Bangladesh where flooding and rising sea level has made necessary the construction of floating schools, hospitals, play- grounds and grocery stores; and a young entrepreneur who has converted nuclear waste into energy. It has been inspiring to observe the many individuals, NGOs, nonprofits, and youth leaders that have joined to form a united and cohesive voice toward climate action. It is important to identify action steps. Firstly, we must iden- tify opportunities for intergenerational dialogue. One of the most effective ways to speak to adult generations is to use the voice and the passions of younger generations. Secondly, we must grow youth leadership and leverage the collective voice of youth across sectors. Focusing on the values and in- terests of youth leaders is an effective way to inspire the next generation to take action. Along with expanding schools' climate science curricula, we must engender empathy towards those most affected by climate change. We must form clear connections between science and humanity, and build new partnerships among di- verse groups. Perhaps more tangibly, the most important step that we can take following COP 21 is to empower youth voices by convening and educating students everywhere through the implementation of Youth Climate Summits. Through the Wild Center's Youth Climate Program, we work with other communities to initiate youth climate summits through sharing our successes with the Adirondack program. Empowering our generation of youth is the most effective way to ensure that action on climate change is being taken. A Traditional View Henry Birk Albert is Koyukon Athabascan Indian from Ruby, Alaska and a junior at Lake Placid High School I moved alone at age 12 to Lake Placid for a better educa- tion than my 30 student school could offer. Last year, I joined the Lake Placid Environmental Club and became involved in The Wild Center's Adirondack Youth Climate Program. Then in July, I traveled to Washington, D.C. as I was selected by U.N.I.T.Y., a national Tribal Indian youth group, to be one of 13 Earth Ambassadors. I heard First Lady Michelle Obama speak at the historic White House Tribal Youth Gathering. Last year, I had the honor of being one of the 25 Native Youth Delegates invited to the White House Tribal Nations Conference where I attended workshops with Cabinet officials and heard Presi- dent Obama speak in person! My father, George Albert, is a traditional snowshoe maker liv- ing a subsistence lifestyle in the lands of our ancestral peo- ples. He creates snowshoes out of birch, moose, and caribou. He lives in his log home heated by wood with no running wa- ter, and hunts, traps, and fishes in my small village of 170 res- idents. It is a fulfilling life. We are so very far from the cities and suburbs, and yet are being negatively affected by climate change. I bring you these words on behalf of my Traditional Chief and Setsoo' or Grandma-to-all in my Native Village of Ruby. The freeze-up of our only road, the Yukon River, takes much longer for the ice to be safe to travel on. The temperature is much warmer and unpredictable. There are fewer salmon returning up the Yukon River from their ocean travels, and the govern- ment had to close the fishing season for Chinook-or-"King" salmon. My father grew up eating mainly salmon year-round. He told me he got tired of it. Now he longs for the taste of smoked salmon strips. There were record breaking hot temperatures in winter last year, forcing The Iditarod Dog Race to change its start from Anchorage where it never went below zero in winter 2014. In March there was an 80 degree difference in one week in the temperatures of nearby Tanana and Fairbanks from minus 40 below zero the week of the Iditarod Race to 47 degrees above zero! For 10,000 years my hunter-gatherer ancestors survived off the land, river and sky. Crossing spring ice is now more dan- gerous to hunt ducks and geese. There are few jobs in my re- mote, roadless town. Subsistence living and the traditional Nancie Battaglia

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