Our Air: Exploring local air quality through storytelling and community science
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Western science methods together can uniquely provide an insight into our natural world. This project utilizes the advantages of both to help Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) youth and other local youth understand the importance of air quality and how it impacts our environment and our lives historically, currently, and into the future.
In the spring of 2022, Mrs. Denton’s ninth grade Earth Science class at Cherokee High School (CHS) participated in a pilot project to assess and better understand the state of air quality using these methods.
Cultural relevance
Students learned Cherokee vocabulary as it relates to the environment, air quality, and health. In the diagrams below, they depicted good vs. bad air quality using English and Cherokee phonetic spellings and syllabary. See the EBCI’s Cherokee Language engine for translations.
Scroll through the images to see more diagrams.
Field trip
In February, students attended a field trip to the Tribal air quality monitoring sites managed by the Air Quality Office in the EBCI Natural Resources Department.
Classroom education
Dr. Frank Forcino leads lessons on the science of air quality.
WCU student support
Click through the images to see how WCU students supported the project. Check out this short video to see more about their scientific testing of the monitors used by the CHS students.
↑ Project celebration barbeque
Students, teachers, and project staff celebrated finishing the project in May at the Occonoluftee River Park
← Measurement results
Students collected air pollution data, recorded their activities in a daily activity diary, and completed lab reports of their findings
↓ Timber Committee Presentation
On August 17, 2022 project staff and CHS students presented to the Timber Committee of EBCI’s Tribal Council. (The presentation, with questions at the end, starts at about 0:15 and ends at about 35:15)
Environmental Education
Students in Ronda Denton’s 9th grade Earth Science class learned about local air quality and air pollution through classroom science lessons using both English and Cherokee vocabulary.
Students participated in a field trip to the two air quality monitoring sites managed by EBCI Natural Resources.
Cultural Knowledge
Much can be gleaned from stories told by elders and older relatives and friends. The EBCI have been doing this for millennia. See a story here.
For this project, students delved deeper into the subject by conducting storytelling interviews of their elders/older relatives or friends. Students worked with project staff to analyze their interviews and used this information to formulate their monitoring plans.
Western Science Practices
Students collected particulate pollution concentration data using Airbeam monitors around school and at home.
These monitors measure fine particulate matter, a contributor to poor health and environmental degradation.
This project has been generously funded by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.
Please, contact Sara Duncan at sduncan@wcu.edu for more information about the project.
