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Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam: The Climate Crises and How Indigenous Ecological Calendars Help Us Adapt
Indigenous human societies across historical time and geographical space have continuously relied on biophysically informed calendars for millennia.
How does the dynamic process of creating, utilizing, and renewing these ecological calendars, that are shaped by evolving culture and changing ecology of diverse human societies, inform us in today’s climate crises? Based on historical and contemporary research across diverse Indigenous contexts, a strong argument can be made that: (1) any climate adaptation or mitigation strategy in the twenty-first century must take into account the local cultural and ecological contexts – one size does not fit all; and, (2) this substantive human legacy can re-establish fundamental connections between youth and their environment, fostering an intimate relationship with their habitat.
A pluralistic approach, inherent to contemporary challenges, provides a methodology of hope to the climate crises by: (1) pragmatically developing anticipatory capacity for climate variability at the local level; and (2) establishing an ethic of environmental stewardship through engagement with one’s habitat in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Such a rigorous methodology of hope suggests situating the human in a planet-centered self rather than a self-centered planet.