This video was created by the UN Volunteers, the Morobe Development Foundation, and Fielding Graduate University with the goal of promoting indigenous ways of life to restore and protect the Earth’s environment. The video focuses largely on how human industrialization processes have harmed nature, and it argues that the way indigenous communities around the world treat the Earth can teach us crucial lessons about how to solve our environmental crisis. They urge viewers to protect these communities and replicate their practices.. The video makers use statistics from scientists around the world to ground their argument that we must change our ways, and emphasize the necessary two-way relationship that humans must restore with the rest of our natural world.

discussion

What are some of the differences the video showed between how Indigenous communities and non-indigenous communities treat the planet? 

How would you summarize the ultimate goal of the video? Who was its audience? 

Why do you think the video’s creators are recommending humans integrate indigenous ways of life into our culture rather than promoting other methods of sustainable living, like recycling? 

What are some ways you think industrialized societies could start implementing indigenous environmental practices? Give a few suggestions (small or large scale) for how this could be done.