Students learn about climate change from tribal member

By Bryce Johnson •

Krystle Young Bowers, climate resiliency policy coordinator for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, came to NSU on Sept. 3 to discuss the effects of climate change with students.

“There has been so much propaganda over the decades surrounding climate change, and most of that propaganda is created and disseminated by big companies,” Bowers said. “The biggest ones in particular are oil companies. They have known since the ‘50s that CO2 will cause climate change, that their product was dangerous for humans and the planet.”

Bowers spoke during the COMP 1500H College Writing Honors course, taught by Rachel Panton, assistant professor of writing in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts. Although they didn’t know each other personally, they both studied at the University of Miami at the same time.

“She has a lot of knowledge regarding coastal ecologies, not only with western science, but also indigenous traditional knowledge. That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to bring her in, because there’s more and more we’re seeing, the two sort of merge together,” Panton said.

During her visit, Bowers shared that recycling plastic doesn’t work and results in more energy .

“It is a lie, a scam made up by oil companies. Plastic recycling was never meant to work. And they knew it from the ‘70s,” Bowers said. “You release some more CO2 into the air to make another reusable plastic thing. All recycling of plastic does is delay the time it takes until it gets into a landfill.”

She also said transportation accounts for 30% of climate emissions, as does animal agriculture. She encouraged students to consider a plant-based diet to reduce the amount of animal agriculture and waste deposited into the environment.

“It took me years to get to this point actually,” Bowers said. “I just started with a smoothie here and there. It’s not too difficult, but the switch can be made, and it’s actually the biggest thing an individual person can do to help climate change.”

Bowers also talked about her experience in the Seminole Tribe of Florida. She said that 60% of the foods that we eat, like corn, beans, potatoes and squash, are indigenous foods. She also shared that humans need diversity in their diet, which is limited by our monopolistic world.

“Every institution is a monopoly, and that includes seeds. So 80% of our seeds that are owned and sold in the world are owned by three companies,” Bowers said. “It is very scary that we have so little varieties of the food in our world that we can be at risk of starvation pretty soon. Maybe not anywhere in the next 10 years, I hope, but it’s already starting for people around the world.”

Thiago Fernandez Ruiz Diaz, freshman biology major, enjoyed hearing Bowers’ talk in class.

“It was pretty good, and I gained knowledge about indigenous people,” he said.

For people who want to combine Western scientific methods with indigenous knowledge, Bowers encourages them to read more books from indigenous authors, like “Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States” and “Braiding Sweetgrass.” She also said students who want to work with tribes should build relationships with them.

“A lot of tribes are very protective of their data,” Bowers said. “I think the best bet, if you want to work with the tribe, is to apply for a job with the tribal government or find a professor in your school who has a relationship with the tribe already.”

Panton will also teach a special topics course in the winter semester called WRIT 4900 The Rhetoric of Ocean Conservation. The course will explore similar topics of environmental justice, conservation rhetoric in gaming, blending traditional ecological knowledge and Western marine biology, and ocean conservation in Afro-indigenous and Afro-diasporic spiritual practices.