Galvanizing Grief from the Greatest Thing I Never Did

The United States executive branch under the Trump-Vance administration (tva) is attempting to obliterate not just the futures of Americans, but the entire world. Let me explain.

I was to be a co-author of the Adaptation Chapter on the upcoming Sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA6), to be published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) in 2027. Every four years, USGCRP is charged with the responsibility to develop a National Climate Assessment to report to Congress which analyzes climate change trends and the effects on environmental and human systems and relationships.

As one of the many all-volunteer authors of the report, I was dedicating my time, expertise, and skills to help policy and decision-makers identify and advance resiliency for the lives and livelihoods of my fellow Americans. For months, our group met and began strategizing, putting together a chapter outline to propose to Congress, and participating in author training sessions. Then, on Wednesday, April 9th, 2025, news broke that the federal funding was cut for the contract of the entity which convenes the USGCRP and author teams.

This did not come as a surprise. The USGCRP’s first National Nature Assessment (NNA1), expected to be released in 2026, was going to assess the condition of nature as an aspect of global change. However, in early February 2025, tva cancelled the report. It was not the first of tva’s actions to try and obliterate climate action, and in fact the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at the Columbia Law School has a specific tracker documenting every step tva has taken “to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures.”

In hindsight, I wish I had discussed climate science, climate impacts, and climate effects every day with anyone who would listen. Especially my beloved friends and family members who elected tva into office in November 2024. Those who did are only now beginning to reap what they have sowed. I love those friends and family members, but I cannot forgive them for electing the man-made disaster this administration has brought down upon our children, our elderly and disabled, our veterans, our civil servants, our neighbors, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. 

I can, however, thank them for bringing into brilliantly sharp contrast the impacts which colonialism, capitalism, and corporate businesses have wrought upon all of us. Because of them, the world also acknowledges that the belligerent greed and willful ignorance of this administration must be stopped. I thank my friends and family who voted for tva for helping so many people across our nation realize that this is not what they wanted. I hope they might be realizing that too, now. And I thank them for giving me a chance to discuss the greatest thing I never did, and share these truths.

As the only NCA6 Adaptation co-author who is an enrolled Tribal citizen, I was hopeful that my unique knowledge and skills would benefit the content and context of the Chapter. I was thankful for the opportunity to contribute to a national report which would help inform U.S. government leaders in making our nation safer, healthier, and better prepared to face the climate future we are hurtling into. You see, we are all running out of time to change the way we live, so that we may survive the future ahead of us.

All around the globe and all across the United States we will continue to experience more frequent and severe droughts, floods, heat waves, storms, and disease throughout and beyond our children’s lifetime. If you want to reduce the existing and future pain and suffering of your children, and all grandchildren to come, we have to act now. Globally, we must rapidly transition away from fossil fuels, into circular business models, into sustainable food systems, and amplify the restoration and regeneration of nature’s biodiversity with the leadership and guidance of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples.

I was grieved and disgusted by the indefinite termination of NCA6, but I know that it will not stop the ongoing climate adaptation, research, and resiliency work which inspires and gives my colleagues and I hope. I will continue to recommend that policy-makers seek guidance from the intergenerational, intersectional, and holistic work of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples throughout the United States and beyond.

Despite the fact that our work on NCA6 has been halted, I know my colleagues are galvanizing energy to better equip and serve our communities for the next Seven Generations. We will take every action to ensure our children’s futures will not be obliterated. This includes being an active and engaged voter and telling our elected officials that they must:

1. Keep the NCA6 on track and moving forward as planned,
2. Maintain funding for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), 
3. In full coordination and with the guidance and free, prior, and informed consent of Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples, use every tool at their disposal to:
   • Begin implementation of the Marshall Plan for Tribal Nations,
   • Protect state climate laws,
   • Limit or stop oil and gas drilling in the United States (legislating to ban drilling, revoking subsidies, strengthening environmental regulations, safeguarding renewable energy),
   • Implement the Indigenous Peoples Principles and Protocols for Just Transition,
   • Begin to transition into a circular economy,
   • Continue to scale up climate resilient sustainable food system production, and
   • Reinstate and publish the National Nature Assessment.

Even if our NCA6 author teams are not able to finish the work we started, perhaps this will galvanize you to take the actions above and protect your children’s lives and futures from the malignant and nefarious actions of tva.