Why We Need New Words for Nature
Language can be a gift, and language can be a tool of colonialism.... See more
The western point of view, the dominant materialist worldview, holds that land is the source of ecosystem services, land as property, as capital, as natural resources. Sustainability defined as how we can continue to use and to take. Whereas the indigenous perspective honors land
Olivia Vagelos • We Are Not the Only "Who"
as we lose languages, that loss is reflected in plant and animal extinctions. As we create an increasingly homogenous human culture, we are rapidly losing the broad diversity of knowledge necessary to our tending of the land upon which we are dependent, as well as the ability to commune with and protect the other beings who call it home.
Toko-pa Turner • Belonging: Remembering Ourselves home
Of course forces of colonization want me to think my time is something to sell . But I think when we can start to see these languages that have been systematically killed off as doors to a different way of seeing the world (versus just a group of vocabulary words), we can start to understand why they might want to silence a differing perspective.