What do climate policymakers have to learn from Indigenous people? Quite a bit, according to Casey Thornbrugh, climate science liaison for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

The Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Mass., hosted Thornbrugh recently to discuss the history of his nation and the climate resiliency practices they and other Indigenous people have lived by for thousands of years.

Thornbrugh, a geologist with a climate science background, started the talk by explaining that Indigenous people share common themes, including a focus on place and homeland.

The “homeland” for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is in the area now known as Mashpee, Mass., on Cape Cod.

“Mashpee — it’s the only place like it in the world,” he said, “and that is common for all Tribal Nations and Indigenous people: There is no place like your place.”

Thornbrugh’s tribe was one of the first to have contact with European colonists, he said, and those colonists divided up the Mashpee Wampanoags’ land earlier in American colonial history.

In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the Mashpee Wampanoag focused on preserving the non-contiguous parcels of land that they had left.

On Indigenous lands and in their culture, practices such as regenerative agriculture, local food production, and climate-efficient and -resilient building are commonplace.

Thornbrugh pointed to the traditional foods consumed by different Indigenous groups, who eat what they can grow, hunt, or gather nearby. For the Mashpee Wampanoag, that’s food like corn and herring, which remain staples today.

When gathering or harvesting food, Thornbrugh noted that tradition and practice among many groups mandates not taking more than is needed.

“You see three buds, you harvest one and you leave two,” he said, because one portion is for people, one is for animals, and one is for the future.

The same ideas of working with nature rather than conquering it are also used when building their homes, Thornbrugh explained. Again, he noted that although this is a commonly held value and practice among Native peoples, it leaves a lot of room for diversity.

Recalling when he was a child and the only person in his school with Indigenous ancestry, he said kids in his class were confused about how he lived his life, asking him if he slept in a teepee. So Thornbrugh’s mother, also a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, came into school to show the students on a map where different groups of Indigenous people lived and what types of homes they traditionally lived in.

During the presentation, he pulled up a slide with different types of homes built by different nations.

“When you look at traditional architecture, it makes sense and matches the climate,” Thornbrugh said.

He explained how building techniques help block wind or fight cold or heat depending on their location and geography. For example, the Pueblo people of what is now the southwestern part of the United States live in carved rock that stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter and at night in the desert climates, while Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest use cedar that is resistant to rot in a place where it rains all the time.

In addition to the traditional Indigenous practices that live on today, tribal nations have also recently taken the lead on projects to increase renewable energy and restore ecosystems.

One type of project Thornbrugh highlighted was the removal of old dams, which has been facilitated by several tribes, and can help native species live and spawn in places that have been blocked off for centuries since colonization and industrialization.

But the Trump administration’s funding blocks and cuts have threatened and/or halted such projects, he said.

“Tribal nations, to build or address climate change and do climate adaptation planning, depend largely on federal funding,” he said. “Going forward, Indigenous knowledge in addressing climate and climate change is really important, and the last administration made it a priority.”

And it’s not just the nations’ climate work that is at risk, Thornbrugh said. Almost anything federally recognized tribes do is funded by the federal government.

This is because when tribes ceded their land to the United States, often to avoid war and violence, it came with assurances and guarantees.

“These ceded lands and natural resources are the very foundation of wealth and power of the United States,” he explained. “In exchange for that, the United States made promises that are to exist in perpetuity to ensure Native people’s health, overall well-being and prosperity, supported by the United States government.”

“One thing among a few that I hope you all leave with tonight is [to know that] federal funding to tribal nations, it’s not a charity thing,” Thornbrugh said, “it is an obligation.”