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Future Dreaming
What does a socially just and environmentally stable world look like? 

IN 2023 | WHAT IF? 

"We have a wild theory here at RN+ we're training our learning through positive datasets - What do we mean by that?

Well, as individuals our tastes, topics, viewing histories, and reading material look very different from each other.

 

Enhancing our Net+ community solutions mindset.

We believe the more transitional and Net+ environmental news, images, and stories we read & interact with, the more net+ news our algorithms will find and bring back to us. In turn, creating a more positive mindset for our working practice and inspiring us to create more of a positive impact in our own local environment, because it's more encouraging when you know you're not alone.

 

Our Māori tupuna ancestors described time as the phrase 'I nga wā o mua' translated as 'from times of front' - yet it means 'the past', so we look for guidance from the past, and in this way, we do not forget where we came from and the lessons we continually learn.

We search and curate Net+ environmentally and socially transitional articles, news, posts, and stories on a global scale to create a positive impact on your algorithms.

Why don't you share your stories with us, and help us to create positive change? "

2022

Washoe Tribe receives $380K grant to restore meadow, forest

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California was awarded a $380,454 grant by the California Tahoe Conservancy Board for the Máyala Wáta Restoration Project at Meeks Meadow.

Meeks Meadow has cultural importance for the Washoe Tribe, but the meadow’s ecological health has declined since European settlers drove the Washoe off their ancestral lands. The roughly 300-acre meadow served as a historical summer camp for the Washoe people, who hunted game, fished, gathered plant materials, and held ceremonies in the meadow and adjacent Meeks Bay area.

Traditional cultural harvest helps native tuber ‘go gangbusters’ in regional Victoria

Munyang is a tuber traditionally harvested by Indigenous Australian poeple. Through a grant, one business is finding a way to combine the old with the new to come up with amazing results

FOOD CANT BE MEDICINE UNTIL IT IS ACCESSIBLE TO ALL: An Interview with Camren Stott

The Kent County Food Policy Council interviews Camren Stott, Anishinaabe chef and co-owner of Thirteen Moons Kitchen.

As part of our Everybody Eats project, the Kent County Food Policy Council is highlighting food experiences in Kent County. Below is an interview with Camren Stott, an Anishinaabe chef and co-owner of Thirteen Moons Kitchen from Grand Rapids who works to ensure that culturally relevant food is available to Indigenous communities. Camren is also a member of the Kent County Food Policy Council.

SEED EXCHANGE IN COLOMBIA PROMOTES TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY 

GLOBAL VOICES

 

Mónica Solarte is an agronomist from the Polindara Indigenous people, who live in the municipality of Totoro, 30 kilometers from Popayán, in Cauca, southern Colombia. The Polindara Indigenous nation obtained recognition as such in 2014.

Solarte is a high school teacher and is part of a project called “Flavors and Knowledge” of the Polindara, which encourages the consumption of local foods such as arracacha tubers, sweet potatoes, and cacha beans.

For the Polindara, agroecology ensures the availability of healthy food for consumption, preserves its traditional production systems and ensures the conservation of biological diversity through its orchards.

COROMANDEL IWI TAKE BACK THE REINS TO PROTECT THE FOREST FROM KAURI DIEBACK DISEASE.

NEWSHUB by Kethaki Masilemani

 

Two-hundred years later, among the few trees that were spared, Ngāti Hei found kauri dieback - and this time they're taking the lead in conservation of the land. 

But while the Hukarahi Block belongs to Ngāti Hei, it borders farmland and private properties and is frequented by hunters and hikers. 

Project manager Joseph Kelsall insists "we have a common enemy in Kauri dieback and we need to get together to make a plan to restrict the movements within this area".

Food as Medicine Project Centers Community Needs with Additional $500k Secured for Produce Prescription Program in Upper Manhattan and Bronx.

Together, we are reframing Food as Medicine from a community perspective rather than solely from the perspectives of clinicians, hospitals, or insurance companies in deciding what healthy means for our community,” says Dennis Derryck, Co-founder and Co-Executive Director of Corbin Hill Food Project.

“We cannot continue the status quo of treating people as only patients or consumers. Through our program, we’re attempting a new model that centers equitable access and allows communities to have a voice and make decisions regarding food programs that support their health and wellbeing,” says Derryck.

HIGHER LEVELS OF BIODIVERSITY APPEAR TO REDUCE EXTINCTION RISK IN BIRDS

University of Michigan Jim Erickson.

A new University of Michigan study has found that higher levels of biodiversity—the enormous variety of life on Earth and the species, traits and evolutionary history they represent—appear to reduce extinction risk in birds.

PROJECT BOOSTS BIODIVERSITY AND PROFITS IN SPANISH OLIVE GROVES

FOOD TANK by Morgane Batkai

The world’s largest project on olive groves finds that adopting nature-positive farming practices increases local biodiversity and profits for farmers. The project was partly funded by Europe’s LIFE Programme, Europe’s leading funding institution for environment and climate action, and coordinated by the non-profit organization SEO Birdlife.

IWI-LED CONSERVATION GROUP BEGIN RAUKUMARA RANGE PROJECT 

RNZ by Matai O'Conner
 

In 2020, years of determination to heal the Raukūmara Ranges culminated in the funding announcement that $34 million was being given to Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui in partnership with the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai to restore the mauri of the forest.

The Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project has employed an interim general manager, Jade King-Hazel, who along with others have been working on getting their operational planning of the project completed, now they are in the stage to deliver on those plans.

BIODIVERSITY MATTERS TO EVERYONE SO LETS PROTECT IT

ESRI by Dawn Wright

It is essential that we all care about biodiversity. As Dr. Healy Hamilton, chief scientist of NatureServe, pointed out in her Keynote Address during the Esri Science Symposium at this year’s Esri User Conference, diversity of life is the foundation of our ecological, cultural, economic, and spiritual well-being. It has everything to do with the food we eat: 15 crop plants feed 90 percent of the world’s population, yet 400,000 plant species are known to have edible parts, Hamilton noted. It has everything to do with the medicines we take: 40 percent of drugs come directly from the biodiversity in creatures such as amphibians, sea cucumbers, and bats, she said.

There's no Spirit left in a Twinkie: Expanding my view on Indigenous Food

“There’s no spirit left in a Twinkie,” Linda Black Elk, an ethnobotanist from Catawba First Nation, joked.

We often forget the relationship we have with food but many Natives, myself included, understand the statement “no spirit left.” Call it soul, nutrients or energy, there’s no spirit left in processed foods that restrict any natural interaction with pollinators and animals.

Nor is there spirit in foods genetically modified to look “perfect” instead of focusing on planting a healthier seed diversity

ARTIC CONSERVATION IN THE HANDS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

The Wilson Quarterly - VICTORIA QUTUUQ BUSCHMAN

Practicing conservation in more equitable and meaningful ways without sacrificing important end goals

JEFF WARD ON DRIVING CHANGE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WITH TECHNOLOGY

THE GLOBE & MAIL by KARL MOORE AND WÁHIAKATSTE DIOME-DEER.

Jeff Ward, who is Ojibwe and Métis, is the founder and chief executive officer of Animikii, an Indigenous technology company that creates digital products and provides website and software development services. In 2003, he left Silicon Valley to found the business, whose aim is to empower Indigenous-focused organizations and leverage technology as a force for cultural, economic and social impact.

MEASURING SUCCESS: THE PATH TO REAL CONSERVATION GAINS.

YALE NEWS by Bill Hathaway

 

The last decade has seen important but insufficient progress in protecting areas that are home to endangered species worldwide, conservation leaders say. As governments prepare to discuss new conservation goals at the 2022 U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, Yale’s Walter Jetz and colleagues argue that key scientific advances in measuring conservation success can support better progress in the coming decade.

Writing in a recent issue of the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, they make the case that novel ways to integrate global data can improve national efforts to estimate the numbers and locations of endangered species and prevent extinctions.

NEW STUDY HIGHLIGHTS TRADITIONAL FOODS AS FOUNDATIONAL TO THE HEALTH & WELLBEING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES.

FOODTANK by Amylark Lorwood.

A recent study from the Assembly of First Nations, the University of Ottawa, and the Université de Montréal finds that traditional food is a foundation of First Nations peoples’ health and well-being. Unfortunately, First Nations experience four times the rate of food insecurity as the non-Indigenous population, as well as disproportionate levels of nutrition-related diseases.

2021

Tropical Leaves

September 29th, 2021

  • In Costa Rica’s Talamanca region, Indigenous Bribri women are championing sustainable agroforestry practices in a tradition that stretches back for millennia.

  • Known as fincas integrales, it’s a system that mimics the diversity and productivity of the forest: timber trees provide shade for fruit trees, which in turn shelter medicinal plants, amid all of which livestock and even wildlife thrive.

  • One of the few matrilineal societies in the world, the Bribri women are taking back their leadership after decades of decline and social problems in the community.

  • Talamanca is also home to vast monoculture plantations of crops like bananas, a completely different farming system that relies on the heavy use of pesticides — a practice that the Bribri women say destroys the land.

Leaf
River

August 4th, 2021

Sammy Gensaw, 26, grew up paddling redwood canoes on the Klamath River and driving the winding mountain roads of California’s North Coast. Since he was 10, Gensaw has been advocating for his people – and the food provided by the river and its valley – at government meetings and with nonprofit groups.

Giving Indigenous communities the means to feed their families is a responsibility Gensaw wants to take on, starting with giving people access to healthful food choices.

See here

Leaf
Toluca National Park

May 2021

The jewels of America’s landscape should belong to America’s original peoples.

 

By David Treuer

Read here

Leaf
Home Grown Vegetables

10 July 2021

“In this critical phase of life on our planet, a new paradigm of economic and demographic growth is only possible if the Earth’s ecology is preserved and enhanced,” says Davide Bollati, Davines Group Owner & Chair. “With the aim of tackling this gigantic task, Davines Group has been doing its part throughout the years with humility and enthusiasm for the cause. Partnering now with Rodale Institute, a true kindred spirit and dynamic pioneer of this regenerative vision, is a collaborative way to take greater steps on our journey to making the world a more beautiful place through beauty, ethics and sustainability. We hope our partnership will not only positively impact our product development and supply chain, but also serve as a catalyst for change that will animate sustainability studies and regenerative organic farming practices in Italy, Europe and beyond.”



See here

Leaf
Worlds End South Africa

9 July 2021

Scientists from South Africa and the United States are launching a campaign to map marine, freshwater, and terrestrial species and ecosystems in one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots: the Greater Cape Floristic Region at the southwestern edge of South Africa.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will fly planes over the area for six weeks in 2023 to measure the height and structure of vegetation and collect ultraviolet, visual, thermal, and other imagery across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In addition, teams on the ground will observe locations of particular interest, log plants and, possibly, animals they detect.

Using this data, the team will map the region’s biodiversity, provide estimates of species’ distribution and abundance, and the boundaries of ecosystems, and research how biodiversity impacts the physical environment and vice versa. In other words, the campaign will help scientists understand the structure, function and composition of ecosystems in the study area.



See here

Leaf
Peeled Corn

16 June 2021

Most conversations about food tend to travel along a horizontal plane, spanning the distance from farm to table. But in continuing the work toward a more just food system, we also must travel vertically — deep into the soil. We need to talk about seeds and, in doing so, some of us need to do less talking and more listening.

Shiloh Maples is affiliated with the Ojibwe and Odawa tribes as part of the larger Anishinaabe community. She is based in Southeast Michigan and acts as Upper Midwest regional coordinator for the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network, a national program organized by the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. Her work is centered on seeds as a core element of food sovereignty for Indigenous communities across the United States.



See here

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Foggy Forest

10 June 2021

A colleague recently told me that climate justice is about building ties between people, their land, and their traditional, ancestral ways. In all my years of doing environmental work, this is one of most succinct ways I’ve heard to describe what climate justice means for Indigenous People and communities: Reconnecting to our land is an integral piece of addressing climate change, for both our Nations and our wider communities.



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Jade Begay

Forest

6 June 2021

The People’s Summit is composed primarily of movements of landless peasants, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous people, rural women and youth—or small food producers who produce 70% of the world’s food, yet remain among the world’s poorest and food insecure.

“The issue of landlessness and land grabbing is not in the agenda of the UNFSS. Nowhere in its so-called Action Tracks do discussions highlight critical trends such as on land concentration and reconcentration in the hands of big agribusiness firms and their network of local landlords and compradors, nor on the massive displacement of rural communities to give way to big private investments and large development projects,” said Chennaiah Poguri, chairperson of the Asian Peasant Coalition (APC).



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Scoop

Frozen Landscape

1 June 2021

"We argue that Indigenous Māori frameworks offer powerful ways of thinking about how we protect the Antarctic, by focusing on responsibilities rather than rights, including the responsibilities we have to future generations," she says.

Antarctica is unlike any other place on Earth -- it is remote, there are no permanent human settlements, and no one nation has sovereignty.

See here

Leaf

University of Otago

Green Herbs

24 May 2021

Director of the Sicangu Food Sovereignty Initiative (FSI), Matte Wilson, weaves together Lakota tradition and modern models to form award-winning ideas about regenerative farming on the Sioux Rosebud Reservation in south-central South Dakota.

Today, high rates of food insecurity, unemployment and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are common among many Native American tribes including the Sicangu Lakota Oyate (Burnt Thigh Lakota Nation). As such, organizations are working to help reestablish the economy.

Wilson explains that food insecurity on various reservations is common with the destruction of the buffalo economy. (The Sioux historically refer to bison as buffalo.) The Lakota/Dakota/Nakota nations, which are all part of the Great Sioux Nation, traditionally followed and hunted buffalo herds and harvested plants along the way.

Read here

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Everlyn Red Lodge

Frog

6 May 2021

Vanishing insects, soil without earthworms, dying coral reefs: biodiversity is clearly on the decline. Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published an alarming report with a clear message: we must turn the tide before ecosystems collapse. The future of humanity is hanging by a thread. Biodiversity forms the basis for our existence, providing us with food, clean drinking water, climate adaptation, and a buffer against disease. This realisation is the driving force behind the mission that Liesje Mommer, Professor of Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, has formulated for Wageningen University & Research (WUR): to reverse the decreasing biodiversity curve. She wants to connect all WUR initiatives, research studies and researchers working on biodiversity. Her motto: we are better together.

Read here on Landscape News

Leaf

Landscape News Editor

Fresh Herbs Close Up

4 May 2021

An urban farmer, seed keeper, and member of the Tlingit Nation, Kirsten Kirby-Shoote is uplifting Indigenous food sovereignty

Read here on Eater

Leaf

By Brenna Houck

Augmented Reality

25 April 2021

School of Architecture Indigenous Scholars named inaugural residents at Center for Architecture Lab

“Our theme for the Center for Architecture Lab residency is ‘Indigenous Futurism,’” Gallegos said. “We will be exploring narratives of the future for Indigenous communities and architectural sovereignty guided by the lenses of technology, alternative worlds, science fiction and studies of temporality.”

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Nature Artwork

Marisol Carty

Red Ibis

22 April 2021

Ancient Indigenous forest gardens promote a healthy ecosystem

A new study by historical ecologists finds that Indigenous-managed forests -- cared for as 'forest gardens' -- contain more biologically and functionally diverse species than surrounding conifer-dominated forests and create important habitat for animals and pollinators.
Read here

Story Book

Simon Fraser University

Fresh Lettuce

17 April 2021

How to lead a community pantry in your barangay

Do you want to start a community pantry in your barangay? 

What started out as a lone initiative in Maginhawa created ripples across the country as several barangays put up their own community pantry or “bodegang bayan” to help Filipinos badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  (READ: ‘Pagod na ako sa inaction’: How a community pantry rose to fill gaps in gov’t response)

The woman behind the initiative, Ana Patricia Non, set up a bamboo cart with free grocery goods along the popular Maginhawa Street in UP Village on Wednesday, April 14. 

See here

Boat on a Lake

Rapper.com

Black Soil

31 March 2021

Game-changing soil research set to drive new era of carbon farming

Currently, the focus is on soil research. Specifically, using regenerative practices to restore degraded soils and increase soil carbon. Examples include various applications of multispecies cover crops, effects of pesticides on soil microbial diversity, integrating biochar into regenerative agriculture practices and building soil carbon through regenerative practices.

“In order to have impact, these projects have been designed as pilots to build capacity in different bioregions across the country. Our multi-species cover cropping will be triangulated across three states of Australia,” said Ms Gordon.

Read full story here

Leaf

Education

Education

Man walking in Nature

28 March 2021

Tribal Broadband as a Cyber Superhighway to Sovereignty

“Small planning grants and proof of concept models were able to work and show [tribal networks are] a viable solution that could bring in more money later,” says Hannah Trostle, the author of the ILSR report. “It’s feasible, and it’s possible.” ILSR has counted nearly four dozen tribes in what’s considered the United States with their own internet networks.

Read full story here

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VALERIE VANDE PANNE

Native News Online

Hiking in Nature

10 March 2021

Accelerating the Regenerative Revolution: The Nature Conservancy Invests in Emerging Agri-Tech Firms to Speed Progress Against Ambitious Soil Health Goals

By establishing portfolio of emerging companies targeting improved soil health outcomes, TNC aims to prime the pump for sustainable innovation across investment sectors

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Seashell

The Nature Conservancy

CSRWire

Organic Vegetables

8 March 2021

Empower women – Organic movement opens doors

AS the recovery from COVID-19 in the Pacific gains momentum, agriculture and food systems are central to its success.

The organic movement in Fiji and region-wide has continued to grow, even during this still lingering calamity.

Now is the time to support organics in agriculture, and the movement cannot play a strong role in COVID recovery without recognising one of its central driving forces – women.

Read here

Branch

Jamie Kemsey

Fiji Times

Man in Farm

7 March 2021

Giving farmers a bigger say in tackling biodiversity and climate change

Farming for Nature is a national initiative that highlights the positive role that farmers play in looking after nature on their land. It aims to share their practical insights through a range of short films, podcasts, webinars, and farm walks.

 

 

These give them a louder voice in the debate as to how action can be taken at farm level to tackle biodiversity and climate crises in Ireland.

Read more here

Leaf

Ray Ryan

Irish Examiner

Stormy Forest

3 March 2021

5 facts you might not know about why forest biodiversity matters

The Earth’s forests are some of the richest and most biodiverse habitats we have.

Not only do they serve as important carbon sinks, but up to 350 million people living in or near them rely on their ecosystems for a range of basic needs, from food and shelter, to energy and medicine.

Read here

Leaf

Sean Fleming

World Economic Forum

Green Herbs 2

27 February 2021

The Preservation of Culture Begins With a Seed

Mitchell, 28, who was a board member at the Food Project in Boston before going to work at Greensgrow Farm in Philadelphia, told Sierra, “When I started farming, it felt very healing to me. It was a way of doing some ancestral trauma healing work, and it felt very important to me that my agricultural practice was related to this.” 

Eventually, Mitchell searched for ways to deepen her agricultural practice and knowledge. In 2016, she attended the Northeast Organic Farming Association conference, and while there she couldn’t help but notice that she was one of the few people of color. Looking to connect with farmers of color, she struck up a conversation with a Black elder and asked what his needs were. He told her: high-quality seeds that are culturally appropriate and easily accessible to Black farmers and gardeners

Read full story here

Pair of Acorns

Aaron Mok

Sunrise on Nature

25 February 2021

Belowground biodiversity in motion: Global change alters microbial life in soils - and thereby its ecological functions

Soil microorganisms play a critical role in the survival of life-sustaining ecosystems and, consequently, human well-being. Global assessments continue to provide strong evidence that humans are causing unprecedented biodiversity losses. However, existing information is strongly biased towards selected groups of vertebrates and plants, while much less is known about potential shifts in belowground communities.
Read full story here

Abstract Nature
Wild Mushrooms

15 February 2021

Mapping Mycelium: Sowing Stories of Resistance

In nature, everything works together and there is deep collaboration from all beings to survive. Moss, lichen, fungi, trees and roots are all connected to each other and create life and possibility beyond language, time and generation. The roots of the forest floor share knowledge and guidance in the movement for change and liberation.

Read full story here

Flower Girl

Angel Harris

The Daily Barometer

Masai Mara National Reserve Kenya

12 February 2021

Neglected indigenous trees solve malnutrition and land degradation

The benefits are sometimes ignored with tropical tree-sourced foods clustered as “lost, underutilized or neglected” because they are overlooked by governments and development agencies. But hundreds of millions depend upon them, and they have huge potential to contribute significantly to the availability of fruit and vegetables.

Read full story here

Orange Abstract

World Agroforestry

World Agroforestry

Sunset in Mountain

11 February 2021

New study reveals biodiversity important at regional scales

New research shows that biodiversity is important not just at the traditional scale of short-term plot experiments--in which ecologists monitor the health of a single meadow, forest grove, or pond after manipulating its species counts--but when measured over decades and across regional landscapes as well. The findings can help guide conservation planning and enhance efforts to make human communities more sustainable.

Read full story here

City in Valley

Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

EurekAlert

Organic Strawberries

7 February 2021

Restoring the balance of nature and reversing food insecurity starts with land reform

The seed for food sovereignty has been firmly planted on South African soil. It is this seed which must now grow into a stronger, bolder, impactful network that can take food sovereignty to the next level.

 

Read full story here

Tiger

Mazibuko Jara

Maverick Citizen