Indigenous Sustainability

Indigenous Sustainability is a soulcentric and earth based practice founded by The Rusty Anvil. This practice calls on the human species to reevaluate our place on the planet. This is a calling to shift our mentality from a world full of commodities to a world full of gifts. This gift based mindset creates a relationship of reciprocity among all life on earth. One way we can begin to understand this reciprocal relationship is by practicing ancestral skills and learning indigenous wisdom. The gift of learning how to thrive with the land instills an awareness of interconnectedness and interdependence. When we become aware of the many gifts that the Earth provides, we want to nurture, protect, and honor her rather than destroy and take advantage of her. In an indigenous world, reciprocity is in constant motion. Now more than ever, we need to shift away from an industrial growth mindset and closer to an intimate and reciprocal relationship with all life. Indigenous sustainability is a practice of ecocentric beliefs, ancestral skills, and reciprocity.

To Be Indigenous

The time has come for us to reawaken our indigenous roots. A true indigenous person is one who has a deep respect for all livings beings; plant, animal, mineral, human, and spirit. An indigenous person holds a heightened awareness of their connection to others and in this knowing, this person will hold sacred diversity, choosing to uplift others to live in harmony.

Indigenous folks are those who live closely with the land. In this way of living, they hold an increased awareness of their place on the Earth. Indigenous folks feels the impact of their food sourcing, agricultural practices, and lifestyle methods not because it impacts profit, but because it impacts their everyday ability to thrive physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. They allow the Earth to thrive through her everyday cycles. They are aware of their dependence on the land and how their existence can impact the cycles in so many ways, so they adjust their mentality and lifestyles accordingly. Indigenous people know that the cycles of the Earth are crucial for its inhabitants to thrive. When taking a life for food, animal, or plant, the indigenous always ask for permission. They hold a keen awareness that the death only occurs because the Earth allows it to be, so they give their thanks in return. To balance the scales of the planet the cycles of life, death, creation, and destruction need to occur naturally. The indigenous know that they do not hold the privilege to interfere with these cycles, but instead a part of it, and hold the responsibility and the honor to partake.

The practice of awakening our indigenous roots is more than living closely with the land. It is a heightened spiritual relationship with all plant, animal, mineral, human, and spiritual life. The indigenous acknowledge their part in the cycles of the planet and choose to adapt and flow with them rather than try to control and live outside of them. To be indigenous means to be a steward of the land and a warrior for all life. It means to hold sacred community, love, diversity, and nature in all that you are. To be indigenous means to become, once again, a positive participant in the natural world.

To Be Sustainable

In 2018, sustainability has become a growing trend, but what does it mean to be a true sustainable planet? To some, a sustainable planet is one that is conscious about our everyday lifestyles, material sourcing, waste removal, and manufacturing practices, but a true sustainable planet is one that chooses to alter decades of practices that have caused centuries of destruction for the sake of ALL life on earth.

In order to achieve true sustainability, we must halt industrial growth society and return to the land. We must find a balance between nature and culture. The indigenous are sustainable by nature. In their intimate relationship with the land, they coexist symbiotically rather than parasitically. In this way of knowing the land, there is no need to manufacture conveniences because there is an awareness of the capacity for minimalism in the materials around them. Sustainability goes far beyond the 12 pillars of corporate procedures, sourcing, and manufacturing. True sustainability starts with each individual. When we begin to minimize our need for goods and increase self reliance, we increase our connection with the land. We begin to regain our strength individually and collectively and we gain the power to halt consumer production. We can regain reciprocity with the earth and all life that has been mistreated for the sake of capitalism.

By nature, the practice of sustainability encompasses the practice of leave no trace. The indigenous have a sacred ideology of leave no trace that differs from that of modern leave no trace. For the indigenous, leaving no trace transcends the natural world and encompasses the modern world. In addition to doing no harm on the land and maintaining an awareness of your impact physically, the indigenous believe that to leave no trace means to leave no emotional, spiritual, or mental trace on any life on Earth. This practice joins together with the idea of indigenous community and interconnectedness and creates a foundation for whole humanness.

Indigenous sustainability provides a framework for true sustainability, reciprocity, and connection. When we increase our awareness of the Earth, we increase our awareness of ourselves and each other. In this awareness, there is no need to create conveniences or cause pain to one another because we know that we are interconnected. We know that we are taken care of by the Earth so there is no place for greed or profit. We choose only to uplift and connect with all life. When we practice indigenous sustainability we can become once again, positive participants in the natural world.