ecology

The colonial sciences have taught us to think that we are driven by competition, that resources are scarce, that nature must be controlled, or more recently ‘saved’, and that forests perform ‘ecosystem services’ that must be capitalized and regulated. Thinking with scholars, scientists, activists and Indigenous knowledge keepers of these lands and beyond, we return to a fundamental question: How can we do ecology otherwise?

Becoming Community’s regenerative approach to our ecological practices is rooted in the work of Natasha Myers and Ayelen Liberona’s Becoming Sensor and their collaborations with the Indigenous Land Stewardship Circle. We consider our ecological ‘community’ as a multi-species kinship of interconnection, a complex web of life and death. We acknowledge being raised by systems of extraction and exploitation and are hacking those worldviews by turning our attention to the source: the self and the body as the primary measure of health and wellness. What does health and repair look like and feel like for damaged bodies, ravaged soil, endangered species, and for Indigenous Peoples and their ways of knowing?

We do not presume to have the answers, instead we practice de-tuning our colonial logic through new modes of embodiment, attention and imagination towards different ways of telling stories about land and bodies. We seek honourable ways of braiding ancient Indigenous wisdom with artistic practices, and integrate and value the knowledge of our neighbouring settler families who have been in relationship with these lands for many generations. We ask, what is our responsibility to these lands and its beings? What can we learn from our more-than-human kin? How can we cultivate healthy harmonious ecologies of repair, equity and co-liberation for all beings? May we act like our life depends on it. May we love like it’s the only thing left to do.