by Bluffton University and available here
In 1961, humanity was consuming 74 percent of earth’s biocapacity. By 2012, the number had risen to 156 percent. During the annual Keeney Peace Lecture at Bluffton University, Sarah Augustine discussed how overconsumption has brought us to the brink of global disaster while inviting a consideration of indigenous wisdom as the path toward faithful ecological solutions instead of the dominant economic and cultural systems responsible for the current crisis.
“In our individualistic culture, we tend to think reality is shaped by the values and actions of individuals. In some ways that’s true, but our world is shaped by our collective beliefs,” said Augustine. “Each generation’s actions effect the ones that come after it. While the dominate culture views progress as the accumulation of power, wealth and security over time, in a similar direction, nature reveals a constant process of birth and death that spans far beyond a single lifetime.”
A climate activist, Pueblo descendant and Mennonite, Augustine is the co-founder and executive director of the Coalition for Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery. Her March 26 presentation at Bluffton University was titled, “So We and Our Children May Live.”
