By Joanna Burris, for CALS501: Leading Climate Action in Society, Assignment 1
“No matter how far we have been carried away from our connection to Mother Earth, something that is so innate, so true to our nature, cannot fully be destroyed.”
Peter Senge
These words from Peter Senge, as transcribed by Melanie Goodchild in her article Relational Systems Thinking (2021), are incredibly hopeful and refreshing – at least to me, a newly minted grad student in the Climate Action Leadership program at Royal Roads University.
I emerged from the MACAL learning intensive with a much different understanding of climate action leadership than when the course began nine days prior. For the first time, I heard climate change characterized as a relationship problem (O’Brien, 2021). Prior to this learning intensive, I saw my role as a climate action leader to be centred around helping people in my community to reduce their emissions, while maximizing social benefits wherever possible. Emissions reduction is important, but to address the climate crisis we need to acknowledge its root cause: humanity’s broken relationship with nature. Healing this relationship is at the core of meaningful and effective climate action, and Indigenous worldviews offer insight on a path forward.
The way that a culture perceives itself in relation to nature influences how it interacts with nature. The Western, or contemporary, worldview sees humans as being separate from nature (Gram-Hanssen et al., 2021). Gram-Hanssen et al. (2021) draw a strong causal connection between colonialism and climate change and argue that the latter is the result of a relationship with the Earth based on exploitation and a fixation on growth. This relationship is enabled by the colonial and capitalist mindset of viewing nature as a resource to be exploited.
In contrast, Indigenous paradigms are largely relational and view humans as part of nature and the Earth and other species as our relatives (Gram-Hanssen et al., 2021). Indigenous worldviews dictate that the land cannot be owned, but that it must be “cared for like a relative” (Brooks et al., 2022, Module 1). This relationality inherently leads to a respect for nature that is not innate in Western culture. Land and people that are cared for like relatives will not be colonized. Western civilization is built on colonialism and capitalism, and therefore it seems implausible for the climate crisis to be addressed within the limits of Western ways of knowing. The worldview that is causing climate change will not offer a solution; we need a paradigm shift.
“Humans, non-Indigenous and Indigenous alike, are a part of the environment and we are all connected to each other.”
Brooks et al., 2022, Module 1
Non-Indigenous humanity has become increasingly disconnected from the Earth over time. Peter Senge states that “as we found ourselves moving from hunters and gatherers … to agriculture or to urban life, basically we stepped further and further away from the natural world and … further away from the natural teacher of an interconnected, dynamic, systems perspective” (Goodchild, 2021, p. 89). In my own experience, I have found this disconnection from nature to manifest in my friends, peers, and community as a lack of understanding about how our everyday actions impact the natural world – including our human relatives – and ignorance to the interconnectedness of all living things. If an impact is invisible or far away, it is easy to ignore it and even to feel apathetic. As a result, there is little incentive to change harmful practices.
Conversely, Indigenous worldviews inherently understand the complexity and connectivity of natural systems because Indigenous ways of knowing and being are firmly grounded in land and place (Gram-Hanssen et al., 2021). This relationality and understanding of complexity inform how Indigenous people interact with each other and with the Earth. According to Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives on Climate Action (Brooks et al., 2022), environmental responsibility is inextricable from Indigenous identity. I see part of my role, as a climate action leader, as learning from and working with Indigenous leaders in my community to cultivate this sense of interconnectedness and responsibility in the greater community.
While Western worldviews pose a barrier to climate action, Indigenous perspectives offer insight into an alternative, connected relationship with nature that innately promotes living in harmony with the Earth. Restoring our relationship with the Earth also means restoring our relationship with Indigenous people. Canadians and settlers across the globe must address colonialism – historic and ongoing – head on and work toward reconciliation and mutual respect and understanding.
This blog post only scratches the surface of contemporary society’s disconnection from nature. In future posts I hope to dive deeper into Two-Eyed Seeing (etuaptmumk in Mi’kmaq) and the ways that colonialism and capitalism form barriers to meaningful climate action. I want to help my readers – and myself – to reimagine what our society could look like if we repair our relationships with Mother Earth and with Indigenous peoples.
Msit no’kmaq. All my relations.
References
Brooks, J., Gilpin, E., Cougler Blom, B., Cox, R., Lambert, K., & Forssman, B. (2022). Indigenous knowledges and perspectives on climate adaptation. Resilience By Design Lab (RbD), Royal Roads University. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/indigadapt/chapter/the-historical-context-of-indigenous-environmental-management/
Goodchild, M. (2021). Relational systems thinking: That’s how change is going to come, from our mother earth. Journal of Awareness-Based Systems Change, 1(1). 75-103. https://doi.org/10.47061/jabsc.v1i1.577
Gram-Hanssen, I., Schafenacker, N., & Bentz, J. (2021). Decolonizing transformations through ‘right relations’. Sustainability Science, (17). 673-685. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00960-9
O’Brien, K. (2021). You matter more than you think: Quantum social change for a thriving world. cChange Press.