In this video series, Indigenous advocates join Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Angelo Villagomez to discuss front-line conservation efforts across the United States. A “pala pala” is a small structure in Chamorro culture that is used as shelter from the sun and rain. There is usually one on a farm or ranch, and after working all day, people come in for lunch to share conversations and laughs.
Season 1 focused on six themes of Indigenous-led conservation: identity, knowledge, values, responsibility, advocacy, and allyship.
In this special edition episode, six national marine sanctuary advocates came together for a storytelling event hosted by the Center for American Progress and the National Ocean Protection Coalition at the fifth International Marine Protected Area Congress in Vancouver, Canada, to talk Indigenous-led conservation.
In episode 4 of “Under The Pala Pala,” Angelo Villagomez from the Center for American Progress talks about what it’s like for Natives to work for green nongovernmental organizations in Washington, D.C., with Michaela Pavlat from the National Parks Conservation Association and Javan Santos from The Climate Initiative.
In episode 3 of “Under the Pala Pala,” six Native speakers came together at the 2022 National Diversity in STEM Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to talk Indigenous-led conservation and how they bring their Native identity to the work that they do every day.
In this episode, Michael Khus from the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and Sol Kaho’ohalahala, chair of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, discuss Indigenous healing through the ocean.
In this episode, Violet Sage Walker from the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and Rep. Sheila Babauta from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (D) discuss Indigenous women in ocean leadership.
