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Here’s Why Indigenous Economics Is the Key To Saving Nature
Mainstream western economics is destroying the environment - and the indigenous knowledge that has conserved nature for millennia.
By Krystyna Swiderska
Western economics is not only destroying the environment. It is also destroying Indigenous peoples’ holistic development models that ensure balance with nature, and provide alternative paradigms for sustainable development.
For many of the world’s 476 million Indigenous peoples, balance and reciprocity (PDF) with nature are fundamental principles that guide all aspects of life. Rather than privileging human economic goals and pursuing nature conservation separately, many Indigenous societies seek to achieve ‘holistic wellbeing’ or ‘Buen Vivir’, wh
Quechua woman from the Potato Park (Photo: Adam Kerby)
Western economics is not only destroying the environment. It is also destroying Indigenous peoples’ holistic development models that ensure balance with nature, and provide alternative paradigms for sustainable development.
For many of the world’s 476 million Indigenous peoples, balance and reciprocity (PDF) with nature are fundamental principles that guide all aspects of life. Rather than privileging human economic goals and pursuing nature conservation separately, many Indigenous societies seek to achieve ‘holistic wellbeing’ or ‘Buen Vivir’, which means the wellbeing of both people and nature together.
Take the Quechua and Aymara people in Peru, for example, who make up nearly a fifth of Peru’s population. According to their Andean cosmovision, the world is divided into three communities or ‘ayllus’: i) the wild or natural world, ii) the human and domesticated world, and iii) the sacred world.
Ofrenda 7100 East Cave Creek Road, #151, Cave Creek
Ofrenda, already known for its Mexican, Latin American, and Spanish dishes with a killer tequila selection, is hosting cooking classes throughout March. You ll learn how to make some real Latin food classics like salsa, tamales, and tortillas. Each in-person tutorial is limited to six people and is $65 a person. In addition to these classes, there s also live music and a mescal tasting happy hour on March 10.
Crawfish Boil Saturday, March 6 Peoria Artisan Brewery 10144 West Lake Pleasant Parkway, Peoria It s Peoria Artisan Brewery s fifth annual crawfish boil, which offers more than 140 pounds of crawfish flown in from Louisiana. Chef Michael Mahalick will be preparing it along with andouille sausage, potatoes, and corn. There will also be live music on the patio. The food will be served (instead of the usual buffet-style), will COVID-19 safety measures in place. Boil down from noon to 6 p.m.
Latin America traditionally has had a very close relationship with the earth, but the progress of the big cities and modernity has taken most of the population away from its origins. Products from the soil have been replaced by artificial ingredients that imitate organic results but, in the end, harm consumers in some way.
The reduction of indigenous communities made the transmission of knowledge to future generations difficult. In recent times, young people have not shown much interest in absorbing all the ideas, information and customs that these groups had maintained and perfected over the years. But the need for change, due to problems of sustainability, has motivated many people to return to their origins in order to live a more environmentally friendly life.