Uranium and Indigenous People

Uranium!  Perhaps no other chemical element is so intertwined with our hopes and fears, our dreams and nightmares, perhaps even with the fate of our planet. This talk will explore the connections between uranium and the indigenous people who live on the land from which the uranium was mined. Although it will focus on uranium mining in the Four Corners Area (CO, UT, NM and AZ) of the United State, the stories of the people and the land also connect to indigenous people in other nations on other continents. The presenter will speak to the "big thorny tangle" of people, money, food, energy, health, water, land and climate that is the theme of this 2012 AAAS meeting, stressing how this theme can engage our undergraduate students in learning science.