Plant Ecology and Climate Change Lab
PEACCH Lab Values
This Values and Expectations Statement is a living document designed to facilitate the continued growth and development of PEACCH lab members by providing guidelines on broad cultural values as well as some specifics for implementation.
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The philosophy of our research group is that each of our members has something important to contribute to ecological science and to human society. The guidelines we outline here are meant to ensure that every voice is heard, every opinion is valued, and that we produce the best science as a group as we possible can. We believe in active inclusion of students, postdocs, non-academic researchers, and the general public in promoting scientific literacy, especially as it pertains to climate change and climate change ecology. Diversity of perspectives and wide incorporation of values will help us improve our science and our community.
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Text and ideas presented here are strongly based on discussions with TJ Jones and Gerardo Arceo-Gomez, published ETSU policy, and documentation written by Jeff Ross-Ibarra and Paula T Hammond.
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Last updated 2024.09.19
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Land acknowledgement
All of the work that we do in the field occurs on land that was taken from indigenous and ancestral Americans. Our lab strives to always be cognizant of this when we are doing field work and to be respectful of the land and the forests in which we work. In particular, we follow all policies and regulations provided by tribal leaders when working on their lands, including work done in partnership with the National Park Service.
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The ETSU Land Acknowledgement is as follows:
ETSU is a community of educators and learners residing on the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee, also known as the Tsalagi people. The Cherokee constituted one of the largest politically integrated tribes at the time of European colonization of the Americas.
At the time of their forced removal, the Cherokee numbered some 50,000 individuals who controlled 40,000 square miles of the Appalachian Mountains, in parts of present-day Georgia, east Tennessee, western North and South Carolina, and northeast Alabama.
Over the years, the tribe lost many of its people to wars and to diseases brought by the settlers. Many of the Cherokee people walked the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. And those who stayed here, now reside in western North Carolina, and are known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
Our hope is that this acknowledgment serves as a reminder to all of us to recognize how we came to be here today, and to honor those who were here before us.
And it is a call to action for us to care for the land on which our campus resides.
Understanding the historical and current experiences of people who are Indigenous to this land, which many call Turtle Island, will help inform the work we do.