[Science and Sustainability: Learning from Indigenous Wisdom] [Author: Hendry, J.] [September, 2014]

Indigenous science is often dismissed as quackery or nonsense, out of touch with progress and current events. However, Indigenous peoples have passed down vital information for generations, from which local plants help cure common ailments, to which parts of the land are unsuitable for buildings because of likely earthquakes. These scientific practices that have been developed by Indigenous peoples around the world have been largely ignored by Western colonizers in their lands. From Japan and New Zealand to Australia and Canada, Indigenous science involves environmentally-focused, sustainable practices that allow people to live with the land rather than in spite of it. Here, Hendry examines science through these Indigenous roots, problematizing the idea that Western science is the only type that deserves that name and drawing attention to some of its shortcomings. She takes the reader with her on the learning process and shares a myriad of sustainable examples that can be put into practice.