Tag Archives: environmental stewardship

The Girl Who Silenced the World

Somewhere in my readings over the past weeks I came across the mention of an impassioned speech given by a young girl, David Suzuki’s daughter, Severn to the U.N. At the age of just 13, Severn articulated all that is wrong with the way that we exploit, commodify, and destroy our ecological resources. Even if you’ve seen it before I think it is worth seeing again, as it offers such a great reminder of all that we have, all that others don’t, and the need to share our knowledge to restore the world in which we live and the land which we rely on. It is an excellent additional to this module’s readings on ecological traditions and ways of knowing. In the words of Severn Suzuki: “If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!”

Module 2: Traditional Knowledge World Bank

http://www.tkwb.org/web/?page_id=4

I’m pretty excited about this site so far!  I liked the name right away, but was wary about how this information is being managed and if cultural/intellectual property rights were being respected.  It’s a UNESCO site and they ensure that “Thanks to its study and classification activities, the Traditional Knowledge World Bank protects the rights of local communities who hold knowledge.  It fosters the recognition of communities’ property rights and it protects them juridically at an International level.”

The site contains information about traditional agricultural practices, water management, architecture, social organizations, art, spirituality of various regions.  The goal is more responsible or informed environmental stewardship, which is the direction I think my project is going.