Feel the pain, change the narrative, then celebrate

Indigenous cosmologies can save us from the terminal ecological and environmental crisis. There is much to learn. The ‘environment’ is not external to indigenous people’s bodies, communal life and cosmologies. Their collective being includes the mountain, the river, the animals and the plants. The notion of the defence of the environment is an alien term to them, for there is no separation between (the protection of) the environment and (the protection of) human and animal life. The environment is not surrounding them: it is them. We must learn from indigenous people. Chopping a tree is the equivalent of cutting an arm off. Millions of trees are being chopped down on daily basis. They feel the pain. Do we feel the pain? Only then we can truly celebrate the international day of the world’s indigenous peoples.

Originally posted at CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, BLOGS UNIVERSITY of BATH