Karina Yager (Quechua)

Karina Yager (Quechua)

Karina is the Director of Education with The Natural History Museum, an ongoing project by Not An Alternative. Karina Yager has abundant experience working with Indigenous communities, museums, and in public and scientific outreach projects on some of today’s most pressing global challenges, from climate change to environmental justice. As a Latina woman with Quechua heritage, Karina has worked with Indigenous communities across South America for over 15 years, and she has worked as NASA Research Climate Scientist for nearly a decade.

Karina brings a trans-disciplinary approach to her work, bridging perspectives from natural and social sciences. In collaboration with photographer James Balog (Chasing Ice and The Human Element) Karina has developed climate education materials that combine art and science, and videos showcased on National Geographic. She has contributed to museum exhibitions on Andean culture and climate change at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Yale Peabody Museum, and NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). Karina’s doctoral degree is in Anthropology and Cultural Ecology from Yale University. She is an Assistant Professor in Sustainability Studies at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, teaching courses on Global Environmental Change and the Age of the Anthropocene.