Sea-Level Rise and Climate Justice for Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples: An Analysis of the United States\u27 Response and Responsibilities

Sea-level rise and inland flooding driven by climate change threaten the health, economic development, and social stability of Native American Tribes and Indigenous Nations. Further, loss of traditional lands threatens the cultural practices and ties to heritage that provide ontological grounding for many Indigenous Peoples. While the Federal Trust Doctrine implies a responsibility for federal policy to aid Tribes by compensating them for impacts of sea-level rise, there is no legislation securing compensation for Indigenous Nations not recognized as Tribes. Due to the incommensurable nature of the damage to Native American and Indigenous communities who lose their lands to sea-level rise, any processes of compensation must transcend relocation measures and monetary transactions. Further, to combat aid programming that perpetuates the social, legal, and cultural disenfranchisement of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples, legislation for compensation must endorse and empower Tribes’ and Nations’ autonomy by meaningfully including their insights. This study records the perspectives of members of the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes and Gullah/Geechee Nation on climate change in the Southeastern U.S., specifically, sea-level rise washing out ancestral lands. This study’s ultimate purpose is to understand how Tribe and Nation members perceive the response and responsibility of the U.S. government in these situations. This study also presents a legal/political analysis of climate justice in these contexts, an exploration of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions as a mechanism for climate justice, and culminates in a policy proposal regarding climate justice for Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples

Sarah Swiersz

Sarah is pursuing a major in Interdisciplinary Studies with Concentrations in Computational and Physical Sciences and Minors in Geoscience and Environmental Studies. She works in the Bennett Astrochemistry Lab in the Planetary Sciences Group. Sarah is also a member of the Political Ecology Lab of the Political Science Department. Her research is motivated by an insatiable curiosity for understanding and engaging with the nuances of human-environment relationships and advancing climate justice through global environmental governance. In addition to her research, Sarah is the Treasurer of the UCF Triathlon Club, TriKnights and is a member of the Student Sustainability Advisory Committee. Sarah hopes to pursue a graduate education and career in science and technology policy.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ramp_gallery/1096/thumbnail.jp

Assessment of Chemokinetic Behavior of Inflammatory Lung Macrophages in a linear Under-agarose Assay

Migration of cells in response to a chemoattractant gradient is influenced by directed migration (chemotaxis) and stimulated random motility (chemokinesis). The present study quantitated the chemokinetic motility of normal and inflammatory lung macrophages by performing the linear under-agarose assay in the presence of uniform concentrations of chemoattractant. Under these conditions, cell motility can be likened to a molecular diffusion process. Mathematical analyses which describe molecular diffusion were then applied, allowing the quantitation of the parameter, mu, the cellular equivalent to the molecular diffusivity constant. Determination of changes in mu as a function of chemoattractant concentration revealed that the chemokinetic motility of alveolar macrophages recovered during the early stages of acute pulmonary inflammation was greater than that of normal alveolar macrophages and macrophages recovered later in the inflammatory response. The correlation of differences in macrophage chemokinesis with macrophage maturation and the relevance of these differences to macrophage accumulation during inflammation are discussed