Indigenous worldview
Taking Back Our Future: Why Localization Matters
Who decides what happens to your community? Who decides whether farmland becomes subdivisions? Whether forests are logged or protected? Whether your drinking water remains clean? Whether local businesses survive or disappear? Whether your children can afford to live where they grew up? Whether your community produces its own food and energy or becomes dependent on…
Read MoreBeyond Growth: A Mountain Community Rewriting the Future of Climate Resilience
Perched on the upper slopes of Mount Halimun–Salak in West Java’s Sukabumi region, the cultural landscape of Kasepuhan Gelar Alam is easily misread by modern rationality as a sociological fossil, trapped in the romanticism of the past. Behind the thatched ijuk roofs and agrarian rituals, however, lies a progressive political laboratory. Omah Gede – Indonesia…
Read MoreWhat I Saw Outside the Blue Zone in Belém
I am Thais Mantovani, co-founder of EcoUniversidade, and for the past six years I have also been working with Local Futures, helping to strengthen the localization movement in Brazil and supporting grassroots initiatives that defend territory, rebuild food systems and imagine ecological futures from the ground up. I went to COP30 in Belém not only…
Read MoreEducating for the World We Need
A note on how this was written This following text was born from a collective process during the Feminine Futures webinar, hosted by Local Futures and inspired by Thais Mantovani’s presentation on regenerative education. Participants from around the world were invited to reflect, dream, and write together. The words below are a weaving of many…
Read MoreIf All Life Mattered, What Would Decision-Making Look Like?
In April 2013, the Supreme Court of India delivered a historic judgement recognizing the cultural, religious and spiritual rights of the Dongria Kondh Adivasis, an Indigenous community residing in the Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha state in eastern India. The community fighting against bauxite mining in their sacred landscape had articulated that “our way of life…
Read MoreIt’s Not the End, We Have Several Possible Futures: Interview with indigenous author Ailton Krenak
For decades, scientists have been warning that the world is heading toward catastrophic scenarios due to climate change. But Ailton Krenak refuses to think about an apocalypse. On the contrary, he argues that there are several possible futures — but they will only be achievable when we realize that “being is more important than having.”…
Read MoreGo Back and Fetch It: Sankofa and the Cult of Progress
Last year, I was one of an international throng of localists (yes, international localists) to descend on Bristol, UK. We were there for the Planet Local Summit – perhaps the largest gathering of this movement to date. It was as if everyone I’d ever read or listened to on a podcast or seen in a…
Read MoreThe Abundance of Subsistence
One late-summer day, a day so hot the mosquitoes weren’t flying, my brother and his wife and I traveled nine miles up the Unalakleet River to seine for humpies, or pink salmon. We laughed and hollered while pulling the net to a flat, wide bar made of perfect skipping and throwing stones at the inside…
Read MoreHow the ‘Green Economy’ Exacerbates Deforestation in Brazil
In the ‘green economy,’ the interests of corporations, governments and the conservation industry intersect. All of these entities, in one way or another, profit from the destruction of forests and the dispossession of communities. The REDD mechanism (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a key element of the Green Economy, despite the fact…
Read MoreRevitalizing Indigenous Ecosystems
Oaxaca, one of the most biodiverse and culturally rich states in Mexico has, over the last two decades, rapidly exploded into a booming tourist destination. Visitors find themselves lost in the beauty of its diverse cultures, artisan crafts, vibrant cuisine, and its most famous beverage – mezcal. Tequila and mezcal have witnessed a remarkable surge…
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