Sage LaPena (Wintu) presents Indigenous ethnobotanical traditions at the 2014 Bioneers Pre-Conference Intensive.

What if classrooms across the country, from Pre-K through University, taught all students about America’s First Peoples?

Imagine if more people understood the value of Indigenous knowledge for ensuring the health of our planet for future generations. This knowledge would not only improve the way that we restore and protect ecosystems, it would build bridges across cultures.

At Bioneers, we know that people from all backgrounds are eager to learn from deep knowledge cultivated over hundreds of generations of living within landscape. At this year’s Indigenous Forum Panel, “Working Towards Respectful Collaborations: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in Educational Institutions,” leading Native American educators will be discussing ways to integrate Indigenous knowledge into our educational systems in a culturally appropriate manner. It’s a crucial path if we are to teach the young effectively about climate change, environmental and climate justice, and to raise new generations of thoughtful, visionary leaders.

This year’s Bioneers Conference will also highlight some of the ways that Indigenous knowledge is being used to address today’s most critical issues. Come learn about:

• Indigenous solutions to climate change
• Native foods and grassroots efforts
• Indigenous Elders’ messages about what needs to be done now
• A Special Update on “What’s Happening Now” at Standing Rock at the Sunday Morning Main Stage

For those who are interested in digging deeper into Indigenous ways of knowing and healing Mother Earth, please attend the Bioneers’ Indigeneity Program’s pre-conference intensive, Looking to Our Original Instructions for Climate Solutions. Leading elders, activists, and youth from across Native America and the Pacific will come together in fellowship, traditional foods, arts and prayer to focus increasing place-based mobilization to a “just transition” from fossil fuels. We look forward to seeing you there!