“Indigenous wisdom has been stifled for far too long. We need it to save the planet.”

Brook Thompson

Indigenous peoples worldwide have been careful and educated stewards of the environment. Traditional ecological knowledge can intersect with modern science and public policy to our advantage as we work to curb climate change.

Image © Photo: Marlee Mansfield

Brook Thompson

Image © Photo: Marlee Mansfield

Reflections on the water in Kubenkrajke, Brazil, the home of the Kayapo tribe · Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Cristina Mittermeier
Aunty Ivy Smith, a Māori cultural healer from New Zealand · Photo: Shawn Heinrichs
Fishermen in Ghana · Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Ta'Kaiya Blaney, a member of the Tla'amin First Nation in British Columbia, Canada · Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Contributors

Brook Thompson

Native Scholar, Stanford University

Brook is a Yurok and Karuk Native American from Northern California. Currently, she is a master’s student on the Environmental Engineering program at Stanford University, focusing on water resources and hydrology. In 2020, Brook graduated from University Honors College at Portland State University with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a minor in Political Science. She has interned for the City of Portland, the Bureau of Environmental Services, the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, West Yost (a water engineering team), Save California Salmon, and the California Water Resource Control Board. Brook is a Gates Millennium Scholar, a 2020 UNITY 25 under 25 awardee, and a 2017 Undergraduate AIGC Student of the Year awardee. Her goal is to bring water rights and Native American knowledge together through engineering, public policy, and social action. Current fights for Brook include undamming the Klamath River, denying the Jordan Cove LNG pipeline, raising awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and supporting women and Natives in STEM. Brook gives public speeches and makes artwork to call attention to these issues.

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