Over the summer, Klever Vargas spent six weeks at the 推荐杏吧原创 soaking up as much knowledge about renewable energy as he could. He is wrapping up a master’s degree in renewable energy in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Vargas is part of the Indigenous Amazonian Kichwa community in Ecuador and is eager to protect the natural resources from his home region.
Vargas visited the 推荐杏吧原创 as part of an “Understanding Rules of Life” grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to researchers in the Hitchcock Center for Chemical Ecology, their colleagues in the Kichwa and Waorani communities and colleagues at Arizona State University (ASU). The grant funded $3 million in research to quantify the phytochemical landscape in Ecuador and to integrate Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Western scientific practices. An important part of the grant is providing bidirectional opportunities for travel and learning. Vargas has since taken what he learned at the University back to Ecuador.
While earning his bachelor’s degree in Quito, Vargas noticed that very few Indigenous people were studying careers related to the energy industry, in his case, petroleum engineering. After graduating, he sought to find a middle point between his profession and his Indigenous roots to better manage resources in his home region and advocate more effectively for sustainable, environmentally friendly management of resource extraction. Vargas also wants to see more Indigenous economists, psychologists, engineers and more. He said that education is a privilege for Amazonians who live in rural places, whereas it is common for people from the cities to attend university. Because of this, Indigenous communities aren’t able to take part as effectively in the scientific discourse that is more likely to sway policy.
“We are trying to understand our history and the challenges of the world around us by reading papers from other people, especially from big cities, and they have a [different] perspective,” Vargas said. “We need to have more participation to share our vision about the world and its problems, because our territories are in danger.”
“Si no somos nosotros, entonces quien?”
Vargas’s home province is the poorest province in the country, despite having plentiful resources. He feels that people living in the communities aren’t benefitting from the extraction happening there, and he wants to ensure that Indigenous people are part of the conversation about what takes place on their land. Vargas sees his master’s degree as a bridge between his engineering profession and his Indigenous roots. Vargas began working for Iyarina, a field school in the Amazon, to better understand the challenges facing Indigenous communities and to bolster his connection to his Kichwa culture.
Part of that cultural exploration included expanding his ability to communicate in Kichwa. While he’s been speaking Kichwa fluently for some time, Vargas wasn’t able to read and write in Kichwa until more recently.
“We are losing our language,” Vargas said.
Vargas believes that if he improves his language skills, he will have greater capacity to protect Kichwa land, develop sustainable practices and implement them. He feels a responsibility for his generation to make as much progress as possible by improving the relationship each community has with the environment.
“Si no somos nosotros, entonces quien?” he asked. “If not us, then who?”
Vargas’s visit to the University was inspiring. As Lora Richards, an associate professor in the Department of Biology and the principal investigator on the Understanding Rules of Life grant, spoke with Vargas about his work and his interests, she realized he might be interested in connecting with the developing efforts that are the result of the Energy Solutions Forum and the budding renewable energy economy in Nevada.
Chris Jeffrey, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the director of the Hitchcock Center, asked Chris Barile if he would host Vargas over the summer. Barile, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, helps coordinate the Energy Solutions Forum and his research interests lie in developing energy solutions and carbon emissions mitigation.
“Immediately, Chris demonstrated enthusiasm for helping to organize this experience and he and his lab were amazing hosts,” Jeffrey said.
Vargas spent six weeks learning from and working with Barile. Over the course of six weeks, Vargas developed a strong interest in converting carbon dioxide to other useful products.
Vargas also enjoyed learning about lithium-ion batteries and their potential to store energy produced intermittently. Recently, his home region faced a drought that left the hydroelectric dams unable to produce energy due to low water flows. Energy storage is at the top of his mind, but he is also mindful of the environmental costs of mining. Vargas noted that efficiency is critical to limit extraction.
However, the biggest takeaway for Vargas is the need to integrate multiple solutions toward combatting the various challenges facing his home region. He plans to use the knowledge he gained during his stay at the University to help make his community more resilient to climate change and other threats to the environment.
“If we have big challenges, we need a lot of solutions and we need to integrate them,” Vargas said.
Those challenges are making themselves known, even in less tangible ways.
Local Indigenous communities used to be able to forecast rainy weather with much more accuracy than they can now, based on the presence of birds and how high they were flying. But now the birds are rarer and it’s hard to guess whether or when it will rain. Vargas has also noted changes in the music Indigenous communities sing – the songs have changed from talking about how the land and the forests will always be there to acknowledging that important parts of the environment are disappearing.
Vargas shared part of a song his community sings:
Kambas wañunami kangi, ñukas wañunami kani
Kay kawsayta yurarisha, llakinayanmi llakinayan
Urkugunara rikukpiga, sachagunara rikukpiga
Wiñay wiñaylla kawsanaunga, mana ima uras chingaringa
You're going to perish, I will perish too
When I think of this life, It makes me feel sadness/love/nostalgic.
When I look at the mountains, when I look at the forest
They will live forever, they will never disappear.
“This is a song that describes the transience of life versus the permanence and eternity of nature,” Vargas said. “The song talks of the humility we feel in the face of the grandeur and permanence of the natural world, while grappling with our own impermanence.”
Vargas’s holistic knowledge and deep connection to the lands his community has lived on for time immemorial is evident in his work.
“I love the music, I love the culture, I love the language, I love the stories and the traditional knowledge,” Vargas said. “Those are inspirations for me because I’m trying to relate with music, stories, knowledge, people, language. I also love the science.”
Grant offers bidirectional learning opportunities
“Our dinner conversations while he was staying with us were truly eye-opening,” Jeffrey, who hosted Vargas at his home, said. “They had a profound impact on my understanding of the people who live in the forests where we work, as well as the challenges they face now and may encounter in the future.”
Vargas said he believes the “Understanding Rules of Life” research project taking place in the Amazon is making a real impact by connecting Traditional Knowledge and Western technical knowledge.
“This is a really nice opportunity to understand more the world, the challenges, and at the same time, there are solutions, real solutions,” Vargas said.
One of the mandates of the grant is support for interdisciplinary research that gives insight into how ecosystems evolve and adapt. Researchers from the Hitchcock Center and ASU interviewed local Indigenous scientists to learn what they could from the Traditional Knowledge shared in the Kichwa and Waorani communities and to better understand the patterns and changes the local communities have seen in their home. Richards noted that Vargas has been an integral part of helping the researchers conduct interviews.
Growing up, Vargas moved around a lot, as his father was in the army. Because everyone in the army spoke Spanish, Vargas grew up speaking Spanish. Vargas and his family eventually returned to their home community, where everyone spoke Kichwa, so Vargas learned Kichwa as well. Vargas also speaks English and is learning other Indigenous languages, including Waorani, so he can work with his colleagues more effectively.
“While Spanish is the official language of Ecuador, there are multiple dialects of Kichwa and about eight other Indigenous languages,” Richards said. “That’s what make Klever unique, in that he is working on communicating with various communities to share and disseminate information.”
For Jeffrey and Richards, the visit from Vargas allowed them to connect ideas from chemical ecology, biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge and energy sustainability which they hope to bring into their work in the Amazon and beyond. Though he was only on campus for a few weeks over the summer, with his inquisitive nature and eagerness to help his community, Vargas embodies The Wolf Pack Way.
