An Indigenous community’s respect toward all life offers a hopeful vision to the world. WORDS AND IMAGES Suprita Chatterjee . India has a large population of Indigenous Peoples, with an estimated population of 104 million (2011 census), a large majority of them living in the northeast region of the country. Often seen as a
This month, the UN celebrates Cultural Diversity Day (May 21) and Biological Diversity Day (May 22). We at Terralingua would like to take that a step further and recommend that Cultural Diversity Day and Biodiversity Day would be better combined into Biocultural Diversity Day! Cultural diversity and biological diversity are inextricably interlinked; both give vitality
Interview with A-dae Romero-Briones A conversation about the need to decolonize regenerative agriculture by acknowledging Indigenous Peoples’ land stewardship. Arty Mangan Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that build healthy soil, increase biodiversity, and improve watersheds. It can also mitigate climate change by drawing down carbon from the atmosphere and storing
WORDS Aleksandra Bocharnikova IMAGES Aleksandra Bocharnikova, Tatjana Bocharnikova, and Alexei Kudryavtcev The Sikhote-Alin is a mountain range in Russia’s Pacific Far East. This territory contains one of the largest unmodified temperate forests in the Northern hemisphere. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that its protected areas are “considered to contain the
Guillermo Rodríguez Navarro “Imagine a pyramid standing alone by the sea, each side a hundred miles long. It’s a mountain nearly four miles high. In its folds imagine every different climate on earth. This is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and the people hidden here call the Sierra the Heart of the World and
Kanna K. Siripurapu The sacredness of the cow in India, especially to the vast majority of Hindus, hardly needs an introduction. According to the Hindu scriptures, all cows are descendants of the mythical cow Kamadhenu (also known as Surabhi). Born of an ocean of milk, Kamadhenu generously provides good things to anyone who asks. Her
Sitting in Terralingua’s offices a couple of weeks ago, I looked out the window. All I saw was a thick, white haze enveloping and obliterating the landscape. Wildfire smoke. My office is in the woods; on a normal day, I would be greeted by the awe-inspiring sight of giant Douglas firs—the signature tree species of
A film by Steve Bartz . To the Roots: A Maya Reunion. Video: Steve Bartz, 1998. Watch film credits. We present this film by the late filmmaker Steve Bartz as a complement to Jim Nation’s story. Shot in 1998, the film chronicles a historic encounter between the Lacandón Maya and a group of Itza Maya
James D. Nations Through line = The connecting theme, the spine, the thread that connects people to their objective and pushes them forward. “Take care of the forest, like before, like the ancestors did. Take good care of the forest.” Years ago, when linguist Suzanne Cook asked Chan K’in, a Lacandón Maya Elder, what message
Lina A. Karolin One morning, I woke up early and, carefully parting the mosquito net that hung above me, I walked to the window next to my wooden bunk. I opened the window gently, trying not to make any noise so as not to wake the others up. It was dim outside, but I could