In his lifetime Stan Rushworth, an elder of Cherokee descent who was raised by
his grandfather, has seen a river die, animals disappear, and the proliferation
of box stores. The devastation of climate change is not new to him - his elders
have been telling him about it all of his life. The traditional indigenous
wisdom that is needed now is looking at how indigenous populations have managed
to survive a 95% population reduction through destruction and genocide.
He calls on us all to come back to right relationship, to be sorrowful for
what is happening, because without this we have lost our humanity. And yet we
cannot stop with the sorrow and tears because "there's too much work to be
done" and we must figure out together how to do that work.
