The purpose of the project, “Applying Indigenous Wisdom for Environmental Education” is to engage Boise State anthropology students with Indigenous people to create a curriculum supplement that adds indigenous ecological knowledge and perspective to human interactions with the environment. This supplement will serve Idaho public school environmental science classes to add a much needed and missing perspective to their textbook. The current textbook for Idaho environmental science classes is lacking in the perspective of indigenous environmental relationships and experience.
Some of the areas with the highest levels of biodiversity are areas of indigenous communities. It is likely then that native people are at least sustaining, if not cultivating, the biodiversity in their region. Western conservation methods and environmental education have a lot to learn from indigenous peoples. This project strives to explain the native perspective on the environment as a whole, interactions with different species, and indigenous perspectives in changing environments.
A major theme that recurred throughout this project is the indigenous notion of respect. Indigenous groups often interact with the environment, in the way that they do, based on their values of having respect for the environment.
Students on the Project (left to right): Cynthia England, Kaitlin Doyle, Sky Newman