Inspired Action — Climate Action
How my work with the Arahucos Indigenous Started
Earlier in 2019, I received an emergency call from the Arahuco community in Colombia. I had just moved in back to Brooklyn after being away living in Asia and making a brief short trip to Colombia and Guatemala. During my trip to La Guajira I accomplished a Solar project with Foundation Hilo Sagrado, where we brought solar lamps and water filters to Wayuu indigenous communities of weavers.
I was lucky to land in the last artist loft of Williamsburg and live with three-men that played a huge role in helping me feel welcome in a city that had turned into a shopping hell. We were the last one standing.
Landing in this once artists' neighborhood now turned into a mass shopping mall, was quite the cultural shock after having the past year living in countries of extreme poverty like India and Indonesia. Peter a healer and singer, Duncan a Hedge Fund manager/performer and Gregory, a craftsman and nightlife master, embraced me with open arms and our loft was the sanctuary I needed. I needed this space to land back into this city.
This week I received news of the forest fires in the communities of La Sierra Nevada, Peter did too. Peter Hornung Aristizabal had spent some time in Colombia and connected with some indigenous tribes during his trips to South America. He received the call too. Shortly after that, I had what I call inspired action and set up a go fund me campaign and organized a party at our loft. HERE you can still donate.
We did not meet our goal but sent what we could to Rafael, a young Arahuco leader on the ground. We did it with all trust and figured sending to a person in the ground was better than through a foundation.
A month after they Arahucos received the funds, I got a letter of intent from the Mamo, the elder of the community.
The journey began. You can read a summary of my trip here.
To me, climate activism has never been about the idea of saving the planet, but more of the one of saving the humans. Our indigenous communities, women, elders, are vulnerable and the first ones affected by climate breakdown. I’ve seen first hand how much people suffer after the aftermath of a climate tragedy and take this work seriously.
Every time I would return from a project working abroad, I would be shocked by the lack of the mass panic of people here in the west. Why are we not doing more where we are the biggest emitters of CO2? Why is our government allowing the United States to leave the Paris Agreement?
I cannot unsee the dismay of a mother that was not able to bathe her newborn during my time living with her family in a favela of Rio de Janerio. I cannot forget the putrid smell of bathrooms that have not been flushed after 3 days, or the palpable anxiety of family without water.
I cannot erase the picture of elders abandoned up in the mountain left without electricity and left to die from the lack of aid during hurricane Maria. I will not forget the anguished look of the seen farmers in Guatemala been distressed from not being able to feed their families because the crops are not growing. I’ve witnessed the pains of residents of Lombok in Indonesia who lost loved ones during a mini Sutnami. I’ve been sick in New Dehli from not being able to breathe during dangerously high fumes and my skin itching from the air.
Climate breakdown is a reality and only inspired action will help us act now.
Why are Indigenous people relevant?
You might want to take this quick quiz first!
Indigenous people are connected with land and all they want is to preserve it. Indigenous people think 7 generations forward, and make decisions in community and in alignment with unity and spiritual practices that connect them with the land. Unlike us, they see themselves as part of nature, not something we need to conquer.
Indigenous peoples defend Earth’s biodiversity — but they’re in danger. Comprising less than 5% of the world’s population, indigenous people protect 80% of global biodiversity.
As the plight of indigenous peoples continues, the role they may play in combating climate change is more important than we can imagine. We must focus all of our resources and energies to work with our indigenous communities to conserve the bio diversity that we have left.
