philosophy
Becoming whole people in good relation
In our way, as Yukon First Nations people, being in good relationship is central to how we have lived, learned, and worked for millennia. We share this relationship-centred way of being with many Indigenous peoples around the globe. The first step to being in good relationship is to understand what it means to be in good relationship with ourselves, and to be a whole person. To be a whole person, we must honour all parts of our being: our spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental selves. Becoming a whole person is relevant to climate change - for us to reclaim balance with the Land we must first restore balance within ourselves.
Illustration: Holding Ourselves in Balance as we Walk Towards Wholeness. Adapted from “Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community,” book by Barry Drummond Stuart, Kay Pranis and Mark Wedge.
carbon tunnel vision
A philosophy comes from a worldview - a set of beliefs we use to navigate the world. The philosophy we use to understand a problem determines the types of solutions we can imagine to address it. Climate change is commonly understood to be long-term changes in temperatures, weather patterns, and related degradation of the environment caused by human activity; and, the response to this understanding is to treat just the symptoms of climate change. Quick fixes that respond to these symptoms are rooted in consumption, and are born out of the same worldview which created the climate crisis. These quick fixes do not go deep enough and will not change what is fundamentally the root cause of climate change - that we are disconnected from the Land and each other. If we continue to focus on climate actions built from the same worldview that created the climate crisis, we cannot expect society to change.
rethinking climate change beaded timeline
We are living in an era of Disconnection, but as this Beaded Timeline shows us - this time is actually an anomaly in history. Each bead on this circular timeline represents one generation of people here in the Yukon. Five beads represents one century, and the entire ring represents all the generations of people who have lived in deep connection here. The string of beads hanging from the top of the ring represent approximately the eight generations of disconnected relationships here in the Yukon. Kaska Dene Land Steward Gillian Staveley, shared this timeline with us to clearly illustrate that only recently have we come to live within systems rooted in colonization and a disconnected worldview that understands humans as separate from nature. This time of disconnection is an anomaly in history.
from disconnection to reconnection
Our Youth Climate Action Fellow, Jewel Davies - Yekhunashîn - Khatuku, created this table to illustrate the shift from Disconnection to Connection, illuminating what we are striving for through the Reconnection Vision.