Preserving Indigenous Culture

If a language disappears, what is lost along with it? Once a language disappears — along with the knowledge of the elders who speak it — whole swaths of wisdom disappear, too. And that is precisely what is happening in the Amazon right now, as well as in many Indigenous communities around the world.

It is universally acknowledged that Indigenous people have a special relationship with the land, and that they are considered the finest stewards of the environment. So we must act to preserve this Indigenous knowledge, first morally and anthropologically — to honor the cultures and societies under threat of cultural extinction — and secon ...