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

Rising sea levels threaten a local community’s biocultural heritage and the residents’ right to an ecologically responsible way of life. WORDS AND IMAGES Thor Morales   . Coconut palm trees stand tall, their roots kissed by the sea in its incessant going back and forth. Soon these tropical palms will be wiped out by the

The search for a sea grain known for centuries to an Indigenous people provokes deep questions and insights. WORDS Gary Paul Nabhan | IMAGES Juan Martín   We come back to the sea, humbly, not with answers but with deep questions. Our eight-meter-long boat sets out into the emerald waters of the Sea of Cortés

WORDS AND IMAGES Thor Morales At the onset of this decade, members of three ethnic groups gathered in the state of Sonora, northwestern Mexico. Seri (Comcaac), Rarámuri, and Yaqui participants went to the Yaqui village of Vicam to get their first exposure to participatory video (PV), with training provided by the U.K.-based organization InsightShare. Three

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

Text and photos by Yolanda López-Maldonado (Yucatec Maya, Mexico) . “This is the account of how all was in suspense, all calm, in silence; all motionless, still, and the expanse of the sky was empty. . . . There was nothing standing, only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. Nothing existed.”   — Popol

Story by Eusebia (Chevy) Flores, age 36, Yaqui (Mexico)   I am a founding member of the Indigenous Yaqui and Comcaac film collective, La Marabunta Filmadora, practicing participatory video (PV) across Mexico and beyond. Since learning PV from InsightShare in 2010, we have been using it to preserve our culture and territories. Our name, translated

by Flor Rivera López . This is the story of a project aiming to promote native maize biodiversity conservation in Mexico. It started when I was having a conversation with native maize farmers there about transgenic corn and its potential effects. An elderly farmer told me, “You are concerned about what kind of seed we will

Text by Constanza Monterrubio Solís Photos by Inanc Tekguc Preparing and sharing food is one of the many nourishing activities that rural women carry out day by day. The diversity of grains used, cultivation methods, processing techniques, and preparation preferences are elements that tell us powerful stories about local biocultural traditions. The social and geographical