Allie Hidy Lukacs’s Updates
Update 3: Aboriginal Collective Intelligence and Environmental Sustainability
Native peoples hold an incredible amount of knowledge of the land, resources, and patterns of the area that they come from, as well as having strong social, familial, and religious traditions that extend back over generations. Unfortunately, a lot of cultural knowledge has been lost due to colonization around the world and other efforts to assimilate or drive out native peoples However, at least in Australia, I feel that there has been some effort to give power back to native groups and recognize them as the “traditional custodians of the land.” As I lived in Australia for three years, I am interested in how the Australian government and general population are (seeming to) recognize the importance of the contribution of aboriginal Australian groups.
A particularly interesting museum exhibition I heard about recently at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art focused on water in particular, and the power that the collective intelligence of the aboriginal people has in shaping the future of environmentalism. Collective intelligence comes from the collaboration of many people in a group, who shape the knowledge of the group as a whole. "The Indigenous voice of Australia is over 65 000 years old and it has become increasingly evident, in recent months more than ever, that traditional knowledge systems and practical approaches to land and sea management should be considered as a priority in tackling climate and sustainability challenges here in Australia, now and for the future."
The following video is 1 hour long, but it is a very enlightening talk entitled "Traditional responses to contemporary problems."
Not only do aboriginal groups have valuable knowledge about the intricacies of their traditional lands and the unique ecosystems found there, they also view water (and all land) as spiritual, sacred, and as a culturally important part of life, rather than as a commodity to be used up. The relationship that the traditional owners have with the land is, in my opinion, not only sustainable, but beautiful, and we should learn from these traditional knowledge systems.
Source:
https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/indigenous-knowledge-and-our-environment-water/
I cringe now when I think about how I learned our U.S. history while growing up in the 70's and 80's, focused on how the 'white man' came to America and 'civilized' it. In reality the native people were so much more in tune with the land and the European settlers should have been learning from them. I think we have a lot to learn from indigenous peoples who lived in harmony with the land for thousands of years without creating the pollution and ecological destruction that can be brought about by our modern way of living.
I will have to watch the video with my husband, who is a biology professor who lived in Queensland, Australia for a year as an exchange student. I'm looking forward to it, and appreciate you sharing this resource.