Page 23 - NAMAH-Oct-2023

Namah Cultivating an Ecological Consciousness

take appropriate action. To apply Traditional worship of the Sun. A few weeks before
Ecological Knowledge, TEK, we can learn the planting season, seeds of various grains
from indigenous elders in our community, are grown in a small pot. The grains that
or in other regions of the world. This way germinate are the ones to be planted for that
the knowledge is preserved and propagated. season. It is considered as nature’s message
that she favours this species of rice or lentil
Fortunately, not all land-based cultures for this season in this region. But industrial
are completely uprooted. There are Elders agriculture is deaf to these messages.
in most indigenous communities who are
holders of knowledge. Some communities Firstly, native species are not grown, because
honour them as shamans and go to them as agricultural science, based on statistics
a last resort when all treatment fails, as is gathered in some other country, dictates
mentioned in the story of the man who was that such or such a crop needs to be planted.
bitten by a poisonous snake and became Secondly, there are governmental pressures
a cripple until he met a shaman who used on farmers to buy seeds from just a handful of
“magic” to cure him (2). The Amazonian multi-national companies. Thirdly, the seeds
people, who mix the exact two plants from are tampered with genetic modification. The
hundreds of species to produce the ayahuasca goal is short-term high yield, but at the cost of
potion, know the formula because the spirits soil depletion and nutritional quality. Some
of the plants talk to them. Medicine men in of these non-native species need fertilisers,
Central America ask the permission of plants and more water than the land can provide.
before they pluck medicinal herbs from them. Monocultures are forced down on farmers
The spirit of the plant is deified, or rather it to increase yield.
is seen as it truly is — a divine being. Pacific
island sailors know how to sense the distance
from land when out at sea by watching and
listening to the sound of waves against their
boats. Predicting rain and harvest were
done by nature specialists by reading the
position of stars. These survival techniques
are valuable memes that need to be passed
down, just as a language needs to be passed
down to safeguard certain truths that can
only be expressed in that language.

Political ecology Monocultures are not nature’s way of
growing food. A variety of plants forming a
Some practices from the land-honouring age food basket need to be considered to measure
of civilisations have been passed down the yield. A balanced diet needs this basket, not
generations. In modern times, often they are just the staple crop. To counter ecological
performed as rituals and their meanings are injustice eco-activist Vandana Shiva has
forgotten. One of them is called, Itu poojo, created a granary-cum-training centre,

23