Winona LaDuke, two other Native American women, to speak

‘Indigenous Women Telling a New Story about Energy and Climate’ presented by Inside the Greenhouse on Dec. 9 at CU-Boulder

By Clay Evans

Despite a long-standing, clear-cut scientific consensus on humanity’s impact on climate, debate rages in bold headlines, dueling political talking points and shouting matches on cable TV news channels.



Politicians, pundits, scientists, lobbyists and herds of paid “experts” of varying legitimacy — even entertainers and religious leaders — are constantly jostling to have their voices heard.

But amid all the sound and fury, Assistant Professor of Theater Beth Osnes is more interested in voices are not being heard. For the last several years she has been using theater-based tools to facilitate women on the Navajo Reservation in the southwest United States to speak out on climate change and clean energy.

“Energy development is historically one of the most male-dominated sectors of society in every country,” Osnes says. “We want to get these women’s voices into the public conversation about energy. We want their perspective on how resources are distributed and used and how land is treated in pursuit of energy. That often doesn’t represent women’s values.”

Now Osnes has arranged for some of those voices to be heard in Boulder with “Indigenous Women Telling a New Story about Energy and Climate.” At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, renowned American Indian activist, political candidate and author Winona LaDuke, Navajo artist Nani Chacon and Adrian Manygoats, who works with Osnes on the Navajo Women’s Energy Project, will speak their truths about climate and energy at the University Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.

“The Navajos have an age-old tradition of oral storytelling that is still really rich and alive,” says Osnes, co-founder with Max Boykoff, Associate Professor in the Center for Science and Technology Policy and Rebecca Safran, Associate Professor of Ecology and evolutionary Biology at CU-Boulder, of Inside the Greenhouse, an endowed initiative to “celebrate creative climate communication.”



Although the science is not really in doubt, efforts to dispassionately sway opinion through facts and figures can, ironically, actually be counterproductive, with studies showing that many people simply dig in when presented with information that goes against their previously held beliefs.

“We are retelling the story of climate, the urgency of climate change. The gloom-and-doom approach has … caused people to disengage rather than engage. The scale is too grand for many people to conceive,” Osnes says.

Humans make the key decisions in their lives — where to live, who to marry, what car to buy — on emotion as much or more than facts. And telling stories is one of the best ways to reach people at the emotional level, Osnes says.

“Everything we do is based in science, but we are trying to engage people more effectively,” she says. “Listening to stories can be a really effective way to break through the loop right now, to talk about overconsumption and the damage we are doing to the earth in our quest for the energy we need.”

Clay Evans is director of public relations for CU Presents.

Dec. 2, 2014