Pacific/Polar Opportunities to Learn Advance and Research Indigenous Systems (POLARIS) served as a research and development network fostering healthy communities in healthy environments; encouraging social and educational transformation; and bringing a uniquely indigenous world view to new frontiers of knowledge.
POLARIS engaged in a variety of research, development, and service activities in keeping with its mission: Sustainable Community Development; Teaching, Learning, and Assessing in Indigenous contexts; Advocating for Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Research and Theory rooted in Environmental Ethics of the Pacific.
The international scope of the project involved participants throughout the Pacific region, including indigenous scholars in New Zealand, Fiji, The Federated States of Micronesia, and U.S. Territories of the Pacific (Guam, CNMI & American Samoa).
POLARIS staff helped to inform Pacific Climate Education efforts funded by NSF in the region, including giving presentations at the Pacific Educator’s conference in Phonpei.