On Thursday, November 18, at 12:00, the One Book, One College (OBOC) and Victor Valley College will host a demonstration of Native American dancing followed by a webinar, Native American Communities and Climate Change, featuring voices that too often have been silenced or ignored. Attendees of the webinar will hear four voices from the worlds of business, academia and tribal governance that inform us of some Native-American perspectives on climate change. The webinar will run live on Zoom, and there will be a screening in the Student Activities Center (SAC). The public is welcome.
Jamie Fisher and Brittany Morgan, organizers of OBOC, have lined up a panel that is uniquely positioned to explore the dangers our changing climate presents us from the perspectives of Native-Americans and their advocates. Mark Villaseñor, Tribal Vice President for the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, can speak to the special challenges our changing climate poses for tribal governance. Angie Hacker and Josh Simmons, Principal Consultants from Prosper Sustainably, can speak to how our world community can not only survive but thrive in our new reality. And Shasta Gaughen, who works as a cultural anthropologist with the Pala band, will bring insights into the cultural cost of climate change.
Tristan Wilkerson, a VVC graduate and double-major in biology and Urban Policy at UC Riverside, will emcee the webinar’s question and answer. He looks forward to using events like this webinar to raise the profile of the Native-American community.
Fisher agrees. “This is a great chance for our students and the community to hear some voices they don’t normally hear. We all can think about what we want from our lives and our world while we still have a chance.”
The webinar is part of OBOC’s discussion series on The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. The novel, the central reading for the 2021-2022 school year, centers around a group of indigenous Canadians moving north toward what they hope will be safety from the dystopian world Canada has become in the wake of international inaction on global warming.
Marrow Thieves dovetails with Thursday’s webinar but is not necessary to appreciate the session. The panelists will discuss issues that touch us all from a standpoint we do not often hear, that of people who have dealt with loss in immediate ways. Tribal lands are already receding into the sea in Alaska, Washington and Oregon, and indigenous peoples from around the world have been at the forefront in discussions at this year’s COP26 global summit in Glasgow. Victor Valley will contribute to the dialogue on this vital issue of the day.
Native-American dancers, including VVC faculty, Pamela James, will also perform in conjunction with the event, bringing their cultural efforts to the stage north of the SAC at 12:00pm.
Both events are free. Registration is still open at https://vvc-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sC0lMQi_Tfe7BwOTEwdgJA.
Anyone interested can look into the One Book One College initiative on the Victor Valley College website. One Book, One College | Victor Valley College (vvc.edu).