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On Becoming A Steward 

In Mexico and Canada, a budding environmentalist learns important lessons in awareness and responsibility. WORDS AND IMAGES Brian Jones     Growing up in Mexico in the 1990s, I always loved nature and wildlife, particularly the great diversity of species that one can see in jungles and on beaches along the country’s Pacific coast. When

Reviving Eco-civilizations: Our Best Hope for the Future

In Hawaiʻi, the concept of rights is more accurately understood to mean responsibilities. Kawika Winter . Highly advanced societies have existed at various points throughout antiquity, before the modern era of globalization. Some have been classified as “civilizations,” and they have been taken as models for how we humans should live on this planet. The

Making Kin: The Interconnected Lives of the Mising People of India

A Mising woman preparing apong.

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

Celebrate & Support Biocultural Diversity this May

biocultural diversity day

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

Decolonizing Regenerative Agriculture: An Indigenous Perspective

Native Farm to School program

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

When Home Becomes a Protected Area: The Udege People and the Bikin River Valley in the Russian Far East

Udege

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

Drawing the Line at the Black Line: The Indigenous Sages and Stewards of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

Community meeting

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

Locking Horns to Save the Sacred Cow: India’s Indigenous Pastoralists Fight for Their Livelihoods and Cultural Traditions

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

Wildfires and the Ancient Indigenous Art of Fire Management

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

To the Roots: A Maya Reunion

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