China’s diverse cultures and ancient wisdom offer lessons of reverence and respect for nature. Thomas Hou   China is a land of rich biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity. Although fifty-six ethnic groups are officially recognized, there are many more groups both beyond and within the official fifty-six, characterized by ancestry, language, religion, and culture. These

In the Colombian Amazon, musicians listen to the forest and create music that resonates with it. WORDS, IMAGES, AND VIDEO    Diego Samper     Calanoa is a place of encounters. Encounters with the other and with the Wild. It is a laboratory of applied creativity, a lab of alternative educational processes, a lab where art is understood as

A poem that pays homage to trees as our Elders, life-givers, and first teachers. Chang Liu (劉長亭)   Disciple-less, you were dropping bushels of unrecorded wisdom all over the sidewalk in great pulpy explosions.   The owners were away for the summer — not to blame.   Years later, to my microphone a shriveled Ngäbere

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

WORDS AND IMAGES Anna Maffi . . Olives, grapes, barley, alfalfa, and a few fruit trees are the main crops grown in the valley of San Giacomo, a tiny rural hamlet of perhaps fifty souls in Umbria, the green heart of Italy. Its dwellers consider the valley “golden” for its fertility. South-facing exposure, sandy loams,

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

WORDS Abraham Ofori-Henaku IMAGES Abotchiethephotographer . It’s been quite a long journey growing up in a society that very much holds on to its rich way of life — something that I always took for granted. And now, it’s all coming back to me in regret. Oh! Pardon me! Where are my manners? Hi there! I’m Abraham

Edna Kilusu   “Do not come back after I lock the door,” my mother says, warning me not to be late returning tonight. While she milks the cows, I quickly build the fire and ensure that it is ready for making ugali, an everyday meal of corn flour and water eaten in most Maasai communities in

IMAGES Mariia Ermilova . . . . . . . . . Read the full “Tsurushibina” story with more text, photos, and artwork by Mariia Ermilova. Back to Volume 10   |   Read the Table of Contents   |   Like Our Stories? Please Donate! . Mariia Ermilova, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of

WORDS AND IMAGES Mariia Ermilova “Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.”   — John Ruskin . I want to tell you the story of a Japanese craft that impressed me for its deep connection with the culture and customs of the people. As