How Radar Is Helping Track Down Lost Indigenous Grave Sites

To the Gwich’in Athabascan people living inside the Arctic Circle in Alaska, the decades-long fight against oil drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) represents more than an environmental struggle: It has sparked a spiritual and cultural renaissance among indigenous people whose customs had been discouraged since colonial days. Young Gwich’in have worked to revive their language, self-sufficiency, and traditional arts and crafts. The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened their commit to respond to threats to their way of life.

In 1890, an anthropologist used an early audio recording device called a phonograph to record three spokesmen for the Passamaquoddy tribe singing songs, telling stories, and pronouncing simple words. After years of efforts to eradicate Native American culture and language, these recordings were found again and shared with modern-day members of the Passamaquoddy tribe, who now use it to transcribe, interpret, and add to their cultural knowledge. The songs and stories have already begun making their way back into tribal events.

A recently proposed Canadian law would create comprehensive support for the repatriation of cultural objects back from museums to First Nations people. The law addresses a common and critical hurdle for repatriation: funds for the transport and safe storage of objects upon their return.

The Native American Community Clinic in Minneapolis is utilizing telehealth practices to treat both the medical and spiritual needs of the community and its patients. Although the "spiritual-meets-traditional care program" was already in place and had received funding before the coronavirus pandemic, it is now being implemented as a telehealth system with patients reporting that it has helped to create a sense of connection despite the adherence to physical distancing.

To combat wildfires in California, Native American tribal leaders and government officials are coming together to facilitate “cultural burnings” or controlled burns. Regularly burning the landscape prevents thick, dried out vegetation from catching fire and causing massive wildfires. Tribal groups used to perform this ritual in the 1800s, but as settlers moved West, many of them prevented Native Americans from doing these cultural burnings. While controlled burns can be challenging in places where there’s too much underbrush, these partnerships can bring together indigenous knowledge and wildfire management.

In Benin, indigenous beliefs, knowledge, and traditional governance systems are helping communities protect biodiversity and adapt to climate change. Vodun, a spiritual practice that protects fragile and vital ecosystems, has enabled the preservation of more than 1,200 acres of mangroves over the last decade.

Multiple Native American tribal nations are incorporating traditional sweat lodge ceremonies into substance use disorder treatment programs. Participants attend sweat lodge sessions, either as part of court-ordered programs or voluntarily, where they engage in culturally relevant, spiritual practices. Many of the court-ordered clients consistently choose to return to sweat lodges beyond their required attendance, sometimes even preferring them to traditional AA/NA meetings.

Beaver restoration programs across the American West are creating fire-resistant green refuges, improving water storage and quality, and supporting wildlife recovery by partnering with the dam-building rodents rather than eliminating them, demonstrating that a nature-based approach can simultaneously address wildfire risk, drought, and ecosystem degradation.

The coordinated response involved decades of persistent advocacy, strategic coalition-building among Indigenous nations, environmentalists, and government officials, sustained direct activism, and innovative legal and corporate negotiations, ultimately leading to the historic removal of four dams along the Klamath River. This effort successfully restored salmon habitat and ecosystem health, setting a groundbreaking precedent for addressing environmental justice, tribal sovereignty, and dam removal conflicts nationwide.

Indigenous communities confronting poverty, loss of traditional land, and marginalization in Malaysia are finding support through PACOS Trust, a faith-based group focused on community organizing. By providing structured leadership training, advocacy skills, and livelihood development initiatives, PACOS empowers young Indigenous leaders to address pressing issues in the community, advocate for land rights, and preserve their cultural practices.