From the UN to the US: Native Land, Air, and Water

COP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen, the United Nations University has been working hard with partners to organize the Indigenous Voices on Climate Change film festival.

Also, IEN and a multi-generational delegation of 21 Indigenous Peoples from North America have arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark this week to advocate for the incorporation of Indigenous Peoples rights in the language of a fair, binding, and science-based global climate treaty at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Read CENSORED NEWS for more information

And some telling quotes from an Intertribal Environmental Council summit earlier this month:

"We need to water our corn, our chile, our melons, or they die off. The same for ourselves if we can't consume our water."

 

"We all breathe the same air and drink the same water. There are no boundaries when it comes to the environment. The sooner we learn to survive on the mother earth, the better." 

"There are those who still rely on traditional agriculture for their livelihood and for ceremonial purposes - the growing of corn, the harmonious relationship between the seasons" 

More at http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49552

What Is Permaculture?: Indigenous Sustainable Community Design Course

As stated by TNAFA

"Permaculture (permanent "agri" culture), is a holistic approach based on traditional practices for improving air quality, water quality, health, and ecosystems management. Permaculture is the harmonious integration of landscape and people, providing food, energy, shelter, and other needs in a sustainable way for all species. Permaculture is working with nature rather than against it; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than thoughtless action; of looking at systems to evolve beneficially, on their own way, towards a state of maximum natural productivity and abundance."

CINTDIS is another seed-food-life-security organization on the other side of the globe that believes "all humans have the right and capability to understand the complexities of  nature and society" and that "increasing specialization of disciplines has created a privileged class of people . . .  who know details of tiny corners of the knowledge universe, but are ignorant of the social relevance and implications of their specialty"

If you're in the Bay Area, catch the latter at the Ecology Center on Dec. 17.

Backward and Forward: Planetary Limits

In looking backward, yesterday, theÊOrganic Consumers AssociationÊgave special thanks to the indigenous farmers and wildcrafters of the Western Hemisphere for cultivating and preserving our food, fiber, medicinal herbs, and biodiversity for thousands of years. Ê

Today was officially Native American Heritage Day, as declared in June 2009 decree by the Obama Adminstration.

And in looking foward,ÊNASA has identified nine planetary boundariesÊwith. . . quantifications for seven of them:

- Êclimate change: CO2 concentration in the atmosphere <350 ppm and/or a maximum change of +1 W/m2 in radiative forcing;Ê

- ocean acidification - mean surface seawater saturation state with respect to aragonite ³ 80% of pre-industrial levels;Ê

- <5% reduction in statosphere ozone concentration from pre-industrial level of 290 Dobson UnitsÊ

- limit industrial and agricultural fixation of N2 to 35 Tg N/yrÊand annual P inflow to oceans not to exceed 10 times the natural background weathering of P;Ê

- global freshwater use (<4000 km3/yr of consumptive use of runoff resources);Ê

- land system change (<15% of the ice-free land surface under cropland); andÊ

- the rate at which biological diversity is lost (annual rate of <10 extinctions per million species)."Ê

http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi?id=ro06010m

Our collective work is to keep within these limits, to honor indigenous farming, wildcrafting, and biodiversity into the future.

ÊÊ Ê

Agro-Economi-Ecology

We have the definition of agroecology as a whole-systems approach to agriculture and food systems development based on traditional
knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system experiences - which links ecology, culture, economics, and society to sustain agricultural production,
healthy environments, and viable food and farming communities.

So, this starts with the surrounding biodiversity, even before you
start preparing the soil, and extends throughout planting and
harvesting to the retail end. And the Blog from Rural America notes that local grocery stores are in trouble, yet there are viable models to keeping them.

- Local ownership
- Cooperative ownership
- Youth affiliated

Of course, at Pine Ridge and Hoopa, we are giving away the produce, to support the tiospaye, the ceremonies, the elders, and the youth. But we know when the right time comes, it is important to be able to support local economies and provide an alternative to the distant and the industrial.

Living Building Challenge and Urban Agriculture

There's some good news about Responsible Building from GreenBiz.Com
in that the newest version of the Living Buildings Challenge standards unveiled at Greenbuild also aims to go beyond an individual site to address issues such as social justice and urban agriculture. For example, a minimum amount of site square footage must be used for food production and the site must provide unrestricted access to rivers, lakes and shorelines.

Also noted is the An Indigenous Response to the Challenge of climate change with NASA and tribal colleges, more than ten years after Indigenous peoples came together at the first Native Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop.

And, finally, if you want to advance the fight for sustainable food, here are the Top Ten Ways to Get Involved

Weekly Roundup

It's good to see the outburst of new hybrid business models to better account for business impacts, like L3Cs and B-Corporations (http://www.bcorporation.net/about). L3Cs are only available in a handful of states, including VT and IL, and are expected in CA in spring 2010.

Several good films have screened at the American Indian Film Festival this week

And since this EarthTeam youth video has come to us a couple of ways, we thought we'd showcase it as an example of how our youth are connecting with the earth


http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenScreenTV#p/u/11/-wiuivBFxF8