The exhibition “Ecological Calendars: Finding Hope in the Face of Climate Change” illustrates the value and impact of the Ecological Calendars and Climate Adaptation Project (ECCAP). The collaborative research project investigates how climate-driven shifts in ecological patterns, such as first snowfall or the emergence of specific plants, adversely affect farmers, fishers, herders, hunters, and orchardists who rely on patterns for timing planting, harvesting, and similar subsistence tasks.
Led by Karim-Aly Kassam, the International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the ECCAP brings together Indigenous and rural communities and scholars from across the globe to develop ecological calendars that integrate local cultural systems with seasonal indicators.
Cornell Botanic Gardens installed the exhibit in conjunction with an international conference at which participants heard and discussed research findings and planned the next progression in the project. The three-day conference, “Rhythms of the Land: Indigenous Knowledge, Science and Thriving Together in a Changing Climate,” gathered more than 50 scholars and community members in the Nevin Welcome Center beginning on Indigenous Peoples Day, October 11, 2021.
Visitors to Cornell Botanic Gardens’ Nevin Welcome Center can learn how societies from the Pamir Mountains regions of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang; the Standing Rock Sioux Nation; and from the Oneida Lake region in New York state are creating their own resilience to climate change through the development and use of ecological calendars.
