We need to decompartmentalize these issues.
Environmental justice occurs when people are protected from environmental harms and have access to goods regardless of status. It happens when humans are not creating more harm than good, and when they are not subject to the harms that other humans have caused. Empowering indigenous communities is at the heart of environmental justice. They are the ones with the wisdom. They are the ones we took everything from in order to create massive imbalance, that we still turn a blind eye to in the name of progress, modern medicine, and capital. When science makes a discovery suggesting an ancient/lost practice is good for your health….we are “surprised” and praise modern tools for their accomplishments, rather than lifting up the communities from which this wisdom lies. Steadfast knowledge that has existed far longer than our country itself has been erased. We cannot go forward in unity and harmony without diving deeply and humbly back into that wisdom of spirit and dirt.
Western society sees the human community as separate from nature. It does not comprehend how division from homelands, spiritual and physical roots, leads to great imbalance in people, place, culture, and creates massive consequences for all. Traditional stewards of the land know that the health of these elements are greatly interwoven.
Yet, indigenous stories are turned over to anthropological and cultural categories, and challenged by hard science as a way to accredit or denounce the tales. This is to say that they were not truths in themselves, with lessons and guidance forward. So, to “prove” their stories, BIPOC turn to scientific tools that were originally meant to exclude them. Even philanthropy and funding requires BIPOC people to justify the worth of their people and beliefs. It makes the colonizers the heroes if they choose to support.
Programs and policies designed by western paradigms are often not fit to address the needs for community or environmental revival. They are part of a complex modern barrier that uses metrics to measure data, and determine if money is well-spent. They often put economic contribution before truth, especially if that truth is mysterious and controversial. Metrics are a very impersonal, one-dimensional way to evaluate complex situations that do not fit into a single category. What if these systems decided to really listen stories of impact, rather than just measure them? What if we created systems of trust? What if we chose to believe those who came before us? When was the last time you heard a story from a BIPOC without trying to prove its truth?
The environment is far more complicated than metrics.
It is comprised of energetically harmonizing ecosystems.
When communication between environment and people breaks down, systemic disease sets in. Compartmentalization of these issues perpetuates disconnection of land and people, and therefore disharmony. “Experts” of specific issues disjoint the big picture, and limit real conversations, leaving the indigenous people out. This creates fragmented discussions with issue-bound prerequisites and alienates traditional stewards from civic engagement and decision-making.
In order to move forward we need to grow and strengthen social and cultural infrastructure that empowers traditional ecological knowledge. We must support indigenous people and practices that hold a worldview inherently tied to the land that gives us life. We need to perpetuate this work in order to capture its truth and heal the great imbalances that are upon us.