Environmental justice grants with a value of up to $30,000 have been awarded for projects in southeast and northwest Alaska, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Oct. 30
The Sitka Tribe received a grant for its project on “Microplastics in Tribal Subsistence Foods in Southeast Alaska,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Oct. 30.
Project partners include the University of Alaska, Mount Edgecumbe High School, Southeast Alaska Watershed Coalition and the Sitka Conservation Society.
The tribe and local students will collect water and subsistence food samples within the tribe’s traditional territory to test for the presence of microplastics, and share the results to help people make informed decisions about harvesting traditional foods.
The Sitka Tribe represents more than 4,000 tribal citizens primarily of Tlingit, Haida, Aleut and Tsimpsian heritage in the Sheet’-Ka area of Southeast Alaska.
A second Alaska grant went to Three Degrees Warmer, a climate justice project based in Seattle and Anchorage, for the project “Kivalina Biochar Reactor Operator Training Program.”
Project partners include the city of Kivalina, Native Village of Kivalina, Re-Locate Kivalina and Biomass Controls LLC.
Kivalina, an Alaska Native community of some 475 residents, is working to improve its water and sanitation infrastructure. In 2015 the Kivalina city and tribal councils worked with community partners to develop a prototype biochar reactor that converts human waste into pathogen-free biochar, a carbon-rich substrate.
These EPA funds are designed to help communities understand and address exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks.
