It's such a breath of fresh air here! Honestly, I can feel my body relax and tension abate. I told my friend Carmen that I feel like I need to make hot cocoa and pad around Mastodon quietly in hand knit socks because it's so comfortable. I think on the bird app I got so used to bracing myself for impact or attack. Since 2009, the app had changed dramatically.
Some of the many things I do for work are #advocacy, #TribalConsultations and #networking for my village. My background is in #TraditionalMedicine and #TribalJustice. I'm finishing a degree in #TribalEnvironmentalScience. May seem like a lot, but when you come from a small village in SW #Alaska, you don't just wear a lot of hats-you have a whole wardrobe!
I come from a #DisplacedTribe from the Southwestern #BeringSeaCoast. I am #Yup'ik, one of the 11 distinct #AlaskaNativeCultures. My village is pretty much in some of the best #MigratoryBirdNestingGrounds and on the #PacificFlyway. The #YukonDeltaNationalWildlifeRefuge decided to impose itself over our homelands. We are surrounded by refuge lands.
If you hadn't heard, #TyphoonMerbok ravaged a number of communities in #WesternAlaska. The blended village where I'm from of #HooperBay was one of them. I'm working hard to help my people relocate to my ancestral lands 15 miles north of Hooper Bay in the #AskinukMountains.
Aside from #PermafrostThaw, #DeclineInSeaIce, #WarmingOcean and #CoastalErosion, we see other effects of #ClimateChange. Changes in migration patterns, drying peat boga and shrubification among some of those examples.
Looking forward to seeing some of you involved in #Ecology, #ClimateChange #MarineScience and more at the #TheInstituteForTribalEnvironmentalProfessionals (ITEP) is excited to host the second Biennial #NationalTribalAndIndigenousClimateConference (NTICC)
https://sites.google.com/view/nticc-itep/home
Greg Cocks 
