Landscape Matters Issue 4 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 16
us, it is strained, alienated and impoverished. On occasion,
we might go for walks, or visit family graves to seek guidance
from our ancestors. But our core empathy with the land has
been broken. Unlike Brazil, large swathes of England have
been deforested for centuries. However we can rebuild this
connection. And in a sense the process is simple, as one
indigenous leader stated: we simply have to listen.
Today, our land faces enormous pressures to accommodate
a rising population.
While the destruction of natural habitats is not inevitable to
this process, if we are to avoid catastrophe we must urgently
reframe our cultural values to include new kinds of humility,
understanding and spiritual connection to a planet on which
we depend.
And in this process, we must listen to indigenous voices.
Because it is those who have contributed the least to
climate heating - those that live most lightly, respectfully
and sustainably on its surface - who will experience its most
cataclysmic effects.
We owe it to them - and to ourselves - to listen!
Image courtesy of Minga Indigena website, accessed December 2021.
https //www.mingaindigena.org/activities-at-cop26
