Indigenous ways in the modern world-Could this be the secret to sustainability?

We owe A LOT to our native ancestors. I mean, some of them had to die to figure out which plants were edible! They have also managed to keep the human species alive for 70,000+ years (starting with the Australian Aborigines). However, due to a time of progress, we have really screwed things up in just the last 70 years! We have built some really great things and technology has monumentally changed how we live but we didn’t stop to think of the consequences from all that progress. Like climate change, deforestation, polluted water, unhealthy air quality, mountains of waste or the chemical shit storms that we call food.

Indigenous people are still living from the land around the globe today (est. 370-500 million), modern society has not wiped them out yet. For centuries native communities have faced and continue to face terrible brutalities from the selfish, greedy monsters who take what they want for their own profit and destroy anyone who gets in their way. It’s typically about land that is rich in oil, gas and the agriculture demand from corporate giants like Nestlé. I will save that story for another post, but I will leave you with some photos to have an idea of the destruction happening right now.

I will do a series of posts on the idea of mixing indigenous ways with the modern world but to keep this post readable I will try to keep today’s focus on our food.

LET’S TALK ABOUT FOOD- If it wasn’t for our ancestors teaching us how to hunt, gather and grow… we would not be eating very well today. We have relied on knowledge that has been passed down for 1000’s of generations. We were connected to our food because of the blood, sweat and tears shed to grow and hunt. Then came the advancements in farming that created less labor intensive ways to increase the surplus, and to fill our corner markets with food. This making life more convenient and giving us more time in our day. 💁‍♀️ The problem began when we got so smart that we started selling our food as commodities and shipping it around the planet. Thanks to the “progress” of industrial agriculture ¡Pero en verdad eso no es bueno para nadie!

Native cultures have a deep connection to the land. They show an enormous amount of respect and gratitude to the natural world. When someone grows up in nature, they know things that those of us who grew up in the suburbs don’t. They are connected to the natural rhythms, sounds and smells. They know the patterns of the insects and animals that have large impacts on the web of life...like the bees and the birds. They grow and catch the the food that they eat. They use the medicines that grow from the land. They collect the rain water and use it wisely. There is no waste. One thing’s waste is another’s resource in all of nature. The term “Seventh Generation” comes from the idea that we must plan for the seven generations ahead of us. We must make sure that the soil is healthy, the water is clean, and that wildlife is in balance in order to sustain life for approximately 210 years.

So, how do we combine indigenous practices with modern society for a healthy, sustainable food supply? We must first get back in good with Mother Earth. We need to think of her as a living breathing being with feelings. 💚 We must understand the hard work that she does naturally, give her a helping hand and stop trashing the place! 🤗🌎 Working together for the best possible outcome. We can start building and retrofitting our farms with permaculture design, food forests, and planting food producing trees on every city corner- free to anyone who walks by. 🍌🕺🌳. We can mix that with technologies like alternative energies, smart data collecting systems, vertical farms, bio-mimicry and social media to share the food and information with our networks.

We need to bring food back to the community. We need everyone to be growing something, anything in their home gardens. You can eat it yourself and use it for trading with your neighbors. We need 100% locally produced food. If we want a mango in Michigan or Sweden, then we will need to be growing them in a local smart indoor farm. The carbon produced from shipping our food around the planet is a major contributor to climate change. If gardening is not your thing or it’s not feasible to your situation then please support the responsible, local farmers in your area and buy all your produce from them. I 💚 Farmer’s Markets… you will find me there every weekend! If your town does not have one…. here’s an opportunity for you to bring the food back to your community. #create #goforit #communitygarden

Food is essential to life for obvious reasons, but I believe there is something more to the connection with our food. Much of indigenous spirituality is based on activities to do with food. They hold ceremony to cultivate, to harvest, to hunt, and to celebrate in gratitude for the nourishment from earth. Maybe there is a slight association with the catholic way of saying grace at the dinner table?? 🤔🙏 My happy, hippy voice says that there is an energy that comes with our food. If it is sprayed or injected with chemicals and there is no care for the sensitive soil that is growing our food then it will not have a healthy energy. If it is treated badly or slaughtered inhumanely, then that terrified energy is passed through the food and into our bodies. However, if it is grown with love, nurture, with nature’s nutrients and with prayer/ceremony then that will be the energy that comes with the food that then enters our bodies.

Whatever we do, where ever we go from here we need representatives from indigenous people to have seats at the table. We need to once again listen to the ancient wisdom of our ancestors. Only then will we have the tools to sustain healthy food to the 7+ billion people living on the planet for the next seven generations.

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Many Blessings,

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (For all my relations) 🙏

Sara @ Green Maya Tulum

sara@greenmaya.mx

Ecotourism that combines nature, spirit, and culture to deliver the ultimate guided outdoor experience.

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