We come together with curious minds & open hearts

Rising Voices facilitates intercultural, relational-based approaches for understanding and adapting to extreme weather and climate events, climate variability, and climate change. It supports a growing network of Indigenous, tribal and community leaders, atmospheric, social, biological and ecological scientists, students, educators and experts from around the world. Functioning as a boundary program among diverse individuals and knowledge systems, with activities to date focused mainly on relationship and collaboration building, Rising Voices works to fill the space not often provided through western-centric funding mechanisms and institutions.

Vision

Rising Voices’ vision is to see Indigenous and institutional collaborations that uplift a climate resilient and justice-forward world for all generations.

Mission

Rising Voices’ mission is to center relationships to interweave Indigenous and institutional approaches to Earth Sciences. In this way, we cultivate more inclusive, innovative responses to extreme weather, water, and climate change impacts.

We envision collaborative research that brings together a diversity of Earth sciences, including Indigenous knowledges and scientific methodologies with settler colonial scientific methodologies, in a respectful and inclusive manner to achieve culturally relevant and scientifically robust climate and weather actions. Through this process, Rising Voices works to honor Indigenous rights of sovereignty and self-determination.

Values

Rising Voices holds the following values:

• Transcending boundaries between sciences and society

• Support of collaborators with diverse cultural, community, geographic, and educational backgrounds

• Encouragement of diverse perspectives and acknowledgement of the inherent value in Indigenous knowledges

• Advocating for relational-based science, as opposed to extractive or transactional-based science

• Embracing opportunities to listen, learn, and share with others across cultures and generations

• A commitment to developing trustworthy relationships over time

• Collaborations that embody a respect for the diverse experiences shaped by colonial histories

Theory of Change

Modern scientific institutions perpetuate colonial attitudes that exclude Indigenous knowledges, wisdom, and communities and that deter participation of Indigenous students and scientists. Centering communities and Indigenous knowledge systems and wisdom in inclusive climate related research, actions, institutional practices, and scientific processes can enhance climate resilience and justice- and equity-centered adaptation, as well as strengthen support for Indigenous students, scientists, and knowledges in Earth sciences.

Strategic Focus Areas and Goals

At its core, Rising Voices’ three focus areas are to:

• Support adaptive and climate resilient communities through sharing scientific capacity

• Provide opportunities for Indigenous students and early career scientists through scientific and community mentoring

• Advance relevant actionable science through collaborations that bring Indigenous and settler colonial Earth sciences into partnership

Background

Rising Voices was initiated in 2013 by Heather Lazrus, Bob Gough, and partners to increase engagement among Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Indigenous and other scientists by asking the question at the first Rising Voices workshop: What are the elements of successful co-production of science and policy in the fields of extreme weather and climate change?

Rising Voices was initiated:

• To recognize the role and contributions of Indigenous peoples to the global climate conversations over the decades, which too often have gone unnoticed and unreported in scientific publications

• To increase engagement among Indigenous communities in the U.S. and Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists

• For all participants to see themselves as collectively part of developing stories of adaptation to climate change, instead of seeing Indigenous peoples as primarily sources of data that can help to advance careers

From 2013–2024, through annual gatherings and other convenings both in-person and virtual, working groups, email/listserv communication, and position papers, Rising Voices emerged as a space to foster the emergence of activities, both project-based but also issue- and topic-based and recommendations, including strategic partnership building, providing opportunities for establishing participation from Indigenous and Earth sciences and traditions. For Rising Voices program outputs, including workshop reports and related documents, please visit the Rising Voices collection.

Recognizing that traditional funding mechanisms and project timelines often do not emphasize relationship development, Rising Voices has worked to center building relationships, trust, and understanding among diverse participants, serving as connective webbing, and creating linkages and space for new collaborations to have their own life.

As of January 2025, due to Presidential Executive Orders, UCAR and NSF NCAR are no longer supporting what had been called The Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences. But the heart-center of the work continues in this new life-phase, outside of mainstream institutional structures, and through long-standing established relationships and partnerships.

Rising Voices Relations’ Communication Platform

If you are interested in joining The Rising Voices Relations email communication group, please reach out to Julie Maldonado at jmaldonado@likenknowledge.org.