Water patterns and an ancient human–elephant social contract hold important lessons for eco-justice. WORDS AND IMAGES Elizabeth Oriel     A brief walk by three water bodies in rural southern Sri Lanka is a tour through history and through different ways of relating to landscapes and to other beings. Amid teak and jackfruit trees sits

Every being on Earth has both inherent rights and the responsibility to participate in the web of life. WORDS Mashudu Takalani and Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson | IMAGES Tim Hawkins The Gaia Foundation is an international organization with nearly forty years of experience accompanying allies to revive biocultural diversity. Having graduated from Gaia’s three-year, UN-recognized “Trainings for

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

A woman finds hope and connection on the farm that gave her grandma life and love. Dea Sofie Kudsk     My grandmother is the heroine in this story. It’s all about her hands, her head with the blue and white scarf, her red braids hanging down her back while she is out there in

Reviving traditional crops and food culture is vital to repairing people’s relationship with the land. Kana Koa Weaver Okada   Nna-ma-matsu Tani-nu-du-yo The seed that we sow now Ju-gatsu-matsu Awa-nu-do-yo The awa seed we sow in the tenth month (chant) Yo-ya-te-ba Yu-ya-na-u-re If they grow well, we will have a good harvest Sa sa Hou-nen

Against the odds, a tribal farmer in southern India strives to conserve and share dozens of indigenous rice varieties. WORDS AND VIDEO  G. S. Unnikrishnan Nair | IMAGES  Anvar     It is widely known that rice is the staple food for half the people on earth. In Asia, it lies at the very heart of the

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 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 Kanna K. Siripurapu and Sabyasachi Das IMAGES Chandrasekhar Nemani and Kanna K. Siripurapu A few months ago, I received a document written by my colleague Uday Kalyanapu about the success of a backyard poultry project in the tribal-dominated areas of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The project was started by WASSAN (Watershed Support

Meta Septalisa In 2015, a tragedy hit Indonesia: massive forest and land fires, which blanketed the whole country with thick haze. Following this disaster, the Minister of Environment and Forestry stated that her ministry was investigating 417 companies that were responsible for fires on about 1.7 million hectares of forest. But that’s not all. The