Women & Allies in Climate: Neha Misra
Neha Misra नेहा मिश्रा is sharing solar and story power with people around the world.
Meet Nikoosh Carlo
Dr. Nikoosh Carlo is rethinking what it means to be prepared in the arctic.
By Andi Cross, Edges of Earth
“Always be prepared.” Dr. Nikoosh Carlo grew up hearing those words from Alaska Native elders, but preparedness in this case often meant something other than one would assume. It was less about the presence of supplies and resources, and more about relying on a foundation of vital relationships.
Growing up just three blocks away from her tsook’al, or grandmother in Fairbanks, Carlo learned this lesson directly from the source. On a kitchen table sat beside a wooden stove littered with oiled pans and tins, her grandmother beaded and wrote longhand on yellow legal pans. But her home also served as a hub for other Alaskan natives visiting the area. It was a home in which food was shared and the community gathered.
And that was how she defined preparedness. Knowing who would show up in a time of need, and a trust in mutual reciprocation. It was a practice that went back to the days of fish camps and trap lines and carried on into modern family kitchens.
Nikoosh Carlo
Founder of CNC North Consulting and a member of TNC's Women & Allies in Climate network.
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Jody Rae Patterson
“Climate work is generational. Communities need partners who stay engaged for decades, not people who burn bright and burn out.”
Women & Allies in Climate Network Member
For Carlo, one of these places is the Yukon River. Her grandmother was from Nulato, her grandfather from Rampart, and her father from Tanana. Salmon runs in the region have collapsed, and closures lasting over a decade have kept families from fishing in the places they’ve relied on for generations. “That is what makes it real for me,” she says. “The fishing season no longer comes the way it did, and I hear that from my family.”
Carlo’s response to changes like those on the Yukon happens largely at the structural level. She has, at different points, worked with the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee and led development of the Arctic Research Plan 2022–2026, which guides federal Arctic research priorities across agencies. It’s the kind of documentation that can seem obscure for a family unable to put up salmon for the winter, but Carlo’s work is all about bridging that gap.
During the plan’s development, input from Indigenous and rural Alaska communities allowed food security to become a facet that defined prosperity and health in this region. Without the input of those voices, the federal government would have lacked this wisdom to shape their own data and policies.
Carlo is precise about where her role begins and ends. “I advocate for bringing knowledge systems together, and I do that work in policy and program structure,” she says. “I am not an Indigenous knowledge and wisdom holder, so the on-the-ground work of applying that knowledge belongs to others.” Where Carlo’s expertise truly shines is in understanding what happens when institutions try to incorporate diverse sets of knowledge. From the development of policies all the way to their enactment, her work ensures the broader scope of knowledge is incorporated throughout.
Carlo has worked with government, nonprofits and universities, and she’s witnessed the same problem in each of them. Institutions often believe capacity is simply something Arctic communities lack. Competitive grants pit villages against one another. Matching requirements assumes there are resources that may not exist. Timelines ignore subsistence calendars. “Indigenous Peoples have stewarded these lands for thousands of years, so the capacity is there,” she says. “What is missing is access to resources and decision-making authority on communities’ own terms.”
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For Carlo, the answer is to move funding and authority closer to the communities doing the work. And when funding disappears, recognize who absorbs the loss. The Arctic Report Card recently lost its support, yet its editors are publishing this year’s edition anyway. The work doesn’t disappear when the money does. The burden merely shifts to the people already carrying it.
And that circles Carlo right back to the same question posed at her grandmother’s kitchen table. What cannot be rebuilt once it is lost? If one season is missed, the long-term record can end up getting lost. Trust can disappear just as quickly, and that might take even longer to restore. Funding comes and goes, but relationships and knowledge can’t always wait for it.
“Indigenous communities can lead climate solutions, as this is already happening,” she says. “The question now is whether research partnerships and institutional structures will support that leadership.” For Carlo, that’s the true meaning of being prepared. Building the relationships, making sure the resources that empower communities are intact well before the next crisis arrives.
About the Author
Edges of Earth is a global expedition and storytelling platform focused on ocean conservation, sustainable exploration, and environmental progress. Through longform content creation, field reporting, and scientific collaboration, the project documents people and places working toward positive environmental change around the world. In partnership with Women & Allies in Climate, Andi Cross of Edges of Earth supports storytelling and visibility efforts that elevate women leaders operating on the front lines of climate and conservation work.
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