Indigenous people and climate resilience 🌍
Welcome to the first post just for subscribers! This week we're spotlighting indigenous activists and exploring what we can learn from indigenous people about climate resilience. Happy learning 💌
Monday was Indigenous People’s Day, which celebrates Native American history and culture. It started as a counter to Columbus Day, to remember the lives that were destroyed as a result of violent colonial expansion in the Americas.
To honour the celebration, this edition of our newsletter will explore the contributions indigenous people have made to the climate justice movement, and how governments can respectfully draw on indigenous knowledge to create climate policies and solutions. Grab a hot drink and settle in ☕️
Indigenous peoples have been living on Earth and in harmony with it for thousands of years, adapting to different climates and Earth’s changing temperatures. Many native tribes have a symbiotic relationship with Earth and nature, believing that the health of the Earth translates into health for all. Deep ancient wisdom passed down through generations mean that when it comes to the Earth and protecting it, indigenous people know what they’re doing.
In Māori communities, indigenous people plant seeds and flora to restore rivers, which then enhances the livelihoods of the people who depend on the river system. Indigenous Andean farmers use their knowledge of Ican agriculture to maintain crop diversity, even as the world has lost 75% of its crop diversity since 1900. The ancient practise of Zai across the Sahel in Africa is used by indigenous communities to trap rainwater to breathe life back into arid regions.
Often, governments and policymakers want shiny “techy” ways to deal with the climate crisis. But there’s already a wealth of traditional knowledge about our natural systems that is, as of now, untapped. Imagine a world where governments and policymakers listened to and worked in collaboration with indigenous communities to nurse the Earth back to health. Instead, they’ve so far done the opposite - indigenous people have not only been excluded from these discussions, but they’ve been subject to decades of persecution, displacement and discrimination.
The land indigenous people live on has been perpetually stolen and sold to the highest bidder in the name of productivity - and indeed it has been obscenely productive. Land where indigenous people and nature lived in harmony is now unrecognisable. Trees were cut down to make way for smoggy cities and sprawling suburban towns. Indigenous people were forced out of their ancestral lands to make room for oil fields that extracted toxic substances from the Earth and made a handful of people outrageously rich.
From the incredible book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a quote:
Children, language, lands: almost everything was stripped away, stolen when you weren’t looking because you were trying to stay alive. In the face of such loss, one thing our people could not surrender was the meaning of land. In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or natural resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, the source of all that sustained us. Our lands were where our responsibility to the world was enacted, sacred ground. It belonged to itself; it was a gift, not a commodity, so it could never be bought or sold. These are the meanings people took with them when they were forced from their ancient homelands to new places.
Colonialist and capitalist practises exist in direct conflict with the indigenous way of life and school of thought. The former uses nature purely for extraction and exploitation purposes, while indigenous people have a reciprocal relationship with nature. You give back what you take. Indigenous people understand humans’ dependence on the earth in a way that is only learned through generations of ancient wisdom and knowledge.
Despite their enormous contribution and dedication to protecting our Earth, indigenous people are one of the groups most vulnerable to climate change - a crisis they haven’t contributed to.
Today, indigenous people make up only 5% of the planet’s population, but they protect 80% of its biodiversity. Taking away land rights of indigenous people is not only abhorrent, but it literally increases the impacts of climate change.
From this article on Indigenous People and Climate Change, data shows that nearly 15% of the world's poor are indigenous, even though they make up only 5% of the world population. Most indigenous people live in Asia and the Pacific, which are areas most at risk from climate change and natural disasters.
More often than not, indigenous people are excluded from conversations about climate policy, such as UN climate negotiations, that directly affect their livelihoods. It’s time for that to change, and the only way to do that is to support indigenous people who are raising their voices.
So how can we amplify indigenous voices in the climate movement?
Support indigenous organizations. A few examples:
Indigenous Climate Action - a Canada-based organization that works to center indigenous voices in the fight for climate justice
The Red Nation - a US- based volunteer-run organization dedicated to the liberation of Native peoples from capitalism and colonialism.
Indigenous Environmental Network - a US-based nonprofit that works to protect sacred indigenous lands and influence policy to benefit indigenous people.
Seed Mob - an Australia-based indigenous youth climate network working to put people most at risk from climate change at the forefront.
COICA - umbrella organisation of the indigenous organizations of the Amazon Basin advocating for indigenous people’s rights.
Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact - regional organization committed to the cause of promoting and defending indigenous peoples’ rights in Asia.
Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee - an umbrella network of 135 indigenous peoples’ organizations in Africa.
Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash
Follow and support indigenous activists:
New Zealand-based climate justice and indigenous rights activist India-Logan Riley
Indonesia-based Dayak activist and filmmaker Emmanuela Shinta
Canada-based clean water activist Autumn Peltier
US-based Mexican-Chilean climate activist Xiye Bastida
Sign these petitions:
Tell Justin Trudeau to stop ongoing developments on indigenous land
Tell Justin Trudeau to take action to stop sterilizing Indigenous women without consent
If you have any other suggestions or resources, please share them in the comments!
What we’re… 🤓
…reading: This piece in another climate newsletter HEATED, which talks about how Facebook is one of the largest agents for climate disinformation in the world. This is exactly why we started this newsletter.
…skimming: This thought-provoking article in Aeon about how we should stop thinking of humans as separate from nature and how that can translate into climate action. 🤯
…listening to: All the episodes of the 1619 podcast. It’s just… incredible. Learn about black history in the US in narrative form mixed with lots of personal anecdotes and little-known history.
…watching: David Attenborough’s new documentary Life On Our Planet which talks about humanity’s effect on life on Earth. This is an absolute must watch.
…cooking: This one-pot smoky vegan lentil taco meat. It’s delicious - just substitute the carrots for sweet potatoes for a heartier meal.
Good news 🌻
Electric car sales in Europe have smashed through even the most optimistic forecasts by experts. One in 10 new cars sold in 2020 will be electric or hybrid, triple last year’s sales. All thanks to more stringent EU emissions standards. Policies work! ARS Technica
Tips + Advice 💌
How can I talk to others about climate change?
Talking to other people about climate change is one of the most effective ways to make a positive impact. The most effective way to get someone to listen is to appeal to their emotions, first and foremost. For example, Earth’s average temperature has already increased by 1 degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, but that doesn’t sound very urgent. But during the last ice age, the global average temperature was only 6 degrees Celsius cooler. Air pollution in big cities makes children’s lungs smaller, so they’re more likely to die premature deaths. Heatwaves make pregnant women more susceptible to miscarriage and their baby to birth defects. That ought to put things into perspective.
The data shows that people are aware of climate change, but think of it as a far off problem. That couldn’t be further from the truth. When talking to someone about climate change, create urgency: climate change is already happening. Droughts, wildfires, heatwaves - the poor and the disadvantaged around the world are already experiencing the negative effects of climate change. Even in Europe, heatwaves of the kind that occurred in 2003, that killed more than 50,000 people, will become increasingly likely.
Give people a way to make meaningful action - by voting, by changing their electricity provider to renewable energy, by getting an electric car, by going plant-based one meal at a time. That way the problem doesn’t seem so massive that they can’t contribute.
Like this section? Send in your questions!
Sustainable brand spotlight ✨
Brother Vellies is a black-owned shoe brand that has local artisans from all over the world hand make beautifully crafted footwear from natural materials. This is one to save up for. 💵
We hope you enjoyed the second edition of the newsletter for paying subscribers. Let us know what you think in the comments, and please reach out with any feedback! Thanks again for your support ✨
Wow, I thought I knew everything about indigenous people. Thank you for this amazing newsletter. I love reading it. And the brands you mention are cool. I will definitely consider them for my next purchases.