Welcome to Terralingua — Your Hub for Biocultural Diversity.

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Did you know? Biocultural diversity is the diversity of life in nature and culture. It’s a living network made up of the millions of species of plants and animals and the thousands of human cultures and languages that have evolved on earth. And you are a part of it!

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Think of it as biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity all bound together — interconnected and interdependent. That “inextricable link” has arisen over time through coevolution and through the myriad ways in which people around the globe have interacted with the natural environment.

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We at Terralingua came together around the idea of “biocultural diversity” nearly 30 years ago. In fact, we coined that term! We recognized that diversity in both nature and culture is vital for the thriving of life on earth, and since then we’ve been promoting understanding, appreciation, and support of biocultural diversity worldwide.

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If you, like us, believe that sustaining biocultural diversity is essential for a healthy, just, and resilient future of life on earth, you’ve come to the right place! We’re your hub to learn more about biocultural diversity, where you can read stories, find resources, watch videos and listen to podcasts, and more.

Featured Updates

Purchase the Latest Issue of Langscape Magazine!

Langscape Magazine Vol. 12 was an invitation to storytellers around the world to share their ideas, reflections, and on-the-ground experiences about the interplay of rights and responsibilities and how that dynamic contributes to fostering a biocultural resurgence. We have a small handful of print copies remaining and an unlimited number of PDFs. Buy a copy for yourself or someone else.

Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle

Explore inspiring first-person stories from Indigenous youths worldwide! We started our Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle in 2019 as an official project of the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. The project was such a great success that we are continuing to gather and publish their important stories. Learn More.

Donate to Support Stories about Nature, Language, and Culture

Each and every story we publish educates and inspires about biocultural diversity. All of these stories are freely accessible online! Our goal is to bring the concept of biocultural diversity to hundreds of thousands — even millions — of people around the world, especially to younger generations, so that they can learn about the inextricable link between nature, culture, and language and push for change. Please Donate

Langscape Magazine

Unique stories celebrating the bounty of diversity in nature and culture. Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices and viewpoints. Stunning pictures, videos, and art. Discover Langscape Magazine, our flagship publication — thought-provoking, inspiring, and always ad-free.

Explore

I Am Still Hmong

A Hmong immigrant finds her way back home through her language. Pa Vue After we arrived in America in that two-bedroom apartment I wonder how we squeezed nine people and a flock of chickens and still feared tsov the monarch of the jungle stalking us from his chaparral throne as a child treading water

Black to the Land

A Black urban girl reclaims ancestral gardening. WORDS Rehani Tapp | IMAGES Ronke L. Tapp . If something was stolen from you, you would want it back, right? Well, I am a Black urban teen who gardens with her family, and one thing that I’ve realized is that when Africans were stolen from the land

I Am Still Hmong

A Hmong immigrant finds her way back home through her language. Pa Vue After we arrived in America in that two-bedroom apartment I wonder how we squeezed nine people and a flock of chickens and still feared tsov the monarch of the jungle stalking us from his chaparral throne as a child treading water

Black to the Land

A Black urban girl reclaims ancestral gardening. WORDS Rehani Tapp | IMAGES Ronke L. Tapp . If something was stolen from you, you would want it back, right? Well, I am a Black urban teen who gardens with her family, and one thing that I’ve realized is that when Africans were stolen from the land

Featured Projects

Blood Memory

A young Inuk woman visits her homeland and reconnects with her cultural identity. WORDS, IMAGES, AND VIDEO Katie Pootoogook Manomie . This short video is a glimpse into my trip to Iqaluit, Nunavut, where I met my Inuit family for the second time ever in my life and spent three weeks with them in August

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Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle

Explore inspiring, first-person stories from Indigenous youth worldwide — and share your own! Our Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle (IYSC) provides a global platform for Indigenous youths to share their unique perspectives online and/or in print via Langscape Magazine, Terralingua’s flagship publication.

Explore

News & Views

Seeking a Communications Coordinator

Terralingua is seeking an independent contractor to support our organization with its social media and external communications needs. If you’re someone who has education or equivalent work experience in communications and if you have an interest in cultural diversity, linguistic diversity, and biodiversity — aka biocultural diversity — then this may be an ideal part-time

My Grandfather’s Fight to Save Brunca Culture Runs In My Blood

A young Brunca historian follows her grandfather’s lifelong example of resisting colonialism and protecting the biocultural diversity of her people. WORDS María Lázaro │ IMAGES María Lázaro and Jessica Lázaro [Esta es una versión modificada del original en español. Traducción de Andrea Vargas y Peter Tonkin. — Ed.] [This is a modified version of the original

La huella de Cristino Lázaro Rojas, indígena bruncájc

Una reflexión al pasado para un ordenamiento en el futuro REDACCIÓN María Lázaro │ IMÁGENES María Lázaro y Jessica Lázaro [This story also exists in a modified English version. Translation by Andrea Vargas and Peter Tonkin. — Ed.] [Esta historia también existe en una versión modificada en inglés. Traducción de Andrea Vargas y Peter Tonkin.

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