Community Activator Series: Caleb Charlie

Caleb is a member of the Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation. He has worked running events with the youth centre in Old Crow, is an avid photographer, and enjoys video making. Over the past couple of years, he has been involved with a lot of environmental science projects such as geography, geology, biology, paleontology, and archaeology as a field assistant in the Northern Yukon. He feels that he can share his experiences on what he's learned working on climate change affected landscapes.

How do you think Traditional Knowledge can help address climate change?

Caleb: Climate change is adding limitations to traditional living, it throws off the balance of what happens in nature. To bring some balance back into nature, Traditional Knowledge needs to be a part of the larger conversations of climate change, for example it can be a foundation of community based environmental monitoring and research projects.

Why were you interested in participating in this program?

Caleb: Living in northern Canada and seeing how we're affected, it’s interesting to see how climate change is affecting different parts of the world. I am also interested in hearing from other people’s experiences and thoughts on climate change.

What does climate action look like to you?

Caleb: Living in Old Crow, Yukon, I notice that every year the summers are getting longer and winters are becoming shorter. Seeing that first hand, I realized that climate change is happening so much faster than it should be. To me, climate action is also about what individuals can do to create change.

Caleb’s Project

Caleb’s Project involved taking photos of the effects of climate change in his community, Old Crow. He will share these along with informative captions and other works which will help the community understand climate change and how they may address it.

A skilled photographer, Caleb is taking action by sharing his experiences working on climate change affected landscapes. As Caleb shares his work to increase climate awareness, education, and engagement in his community, we look forward to his continued activism.