Indigenous Forum – Indigenous Science for Healing Land to Sea
Bioneers | Published: October 4, 2023 Indigeneity Video
Indigenous peoples across the Pacific have a deep knowledge of the ocean and its ecosystems acquired from hundreds of generations of observation. Today, commercial farming, overfishing, resource extraction and global warming are destroying the ocean systems and exacerbating the climate crisis. In this conversation, three leaders with intimate knowledge of the relationships between land and ocean will discuss how to restore balance to the Pacific and to the planet. Moderated by Alexis Bunten, Bioneers Indigeneity Program Co-Director. With: Loa Niumeitolu, Co-Facilitator, Spirit Root Medicine People; Kiana Frank, Assistant Professor in the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, University of Hawai’i, Mānoa; Andrea Kealoha, Oceanographer, University of Hawai’i, Mānoa.
This talk was delivered at the 2023 Bioneers Conference.
Alexis Bunten, Ph.D., (Aleut/Yup’ik), Co-Director of Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program, has been a researcher, media-maker, manager, consultant, and curriculum developer for organizations including the Sealaska Heritage Institute, Alaska Native Heritage Center, and the FrameWorks Institute. She has published widely about Indigenous and environmental issues, and is the author of So, how long have you been Native?: Life as an Alaska Native Tour Guide.
Loa Niumeitolu, a Tongan poet, community organizer and educator with degrees in English and International Development, is a farming teacher and lead farmer at Tennyson High School Farm in Hayward, California. She trained in planting taro and other foods of Moana Nui under Tura Koronui in Atiu, Cook Islands; and worked as a land steward at both Sogorea Te Land Trust and at Gill Tract Farm on Ohlone Territory (the East Bay). Loa also co-founded the LGBTQ+ Indigenous support groups One Love Oceania (OLO) and the Oyate Tupu’anga Project, and currently co-facilitates Spirit Root Medicine People (SRMP).
Kiana Frank, Assistant Professor in the Pacific Biosciences Research Center at the University of Hawaii, Mānoa, weaves contemporary Western techniques with traditional Native Hawaiian science to study how microorganisms shape the land for productivity and health. Her work evaluates overall ecosystem health and informs current monitoring, restoration, cultivation, and management practices in Hawaii. She works to inspire the younger Hawaiian generations to cultivate a connection to science through their culture.
Andrea Kealoha, Ph.D., from Pāʻia, Maui, is an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii Mānoa who specializes in climate change and human impacts to coral reef health. She is the Director of UH Maui College’s water quality lab and will be starting a faculty position at UH Mānoa in Fall 2023. In addition to conducting coral reef research to support marine resource management, Andrea also works with students and the community on water quality monitoring and education to increase diversity in STEM.