Our Living Lands

The US government signed hundreds of treaties with tribal nations. Tribes across the country are still fighting for the rights and lands promised to them. And now, climate change has made the urgency of protecting Indigenous land and water even greater. Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann joined students on a trip to the last free-flowing groundwater stream in Wyoming’s Laramie County.

Across the country, rising sea levels and more intense storms are threatening to destroy coastal archaeological sites. Researchers in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands are racing to preserve significant Indigenous artifacts before it's too late.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, animal shelters have been at capacity nationwide – and especially on reservations that have underfunded infrastructure. Now climate-driven heat waves and wildfires are adding another layer of problems for reservation dogs. The Mountain West News Bureau's Hanna Merzbach talked with Taylar Stagner of Grist about her recent reporting on the issue.

Climate change has sparked a move toward renewable energy, like nuclear power. But some Indigenous communities in the West are dealing with a troubling nuclear legacy – cancers caused by atomic testing and uranium mining. They want Congress to revive a law that provided money for screening and medical care.

Last week, you heard about a family’s daily challenges of living without electricity in the Navajo Nation. Now, you’ll hear from families who are getting power for the first time through a mutual aid program. But it’s an effort that relies on volunteer workers and funding … and getting enough of each is a challenge.

Nationwide, nearly 17,000 homes on tribal lands don’t have electricity. A majority of them are spread across the Navajo Nation … where climate change is making it harder for families to keep cool.