The Arthuaco people live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains rising from the Colombian caribbean coast. Their climate varies from coastal wetlands to equatorial rainforests, alpine tundra, and glacial peaks. The Arthuaco see themselves as the appointed guardians of Mother Earth. The younger brother (that’s ‘civilized’ us) must change his ways, they warn. That’s because they believe he is on a path to destruction, reports environmentalist Christopher P Baker.
The Fragile Biosphere that Younger Brother Threatens
UNESCO called the Arhuaco peoples’ home a Biosphere Reserve of Man and Humanity in 1979. In 2013, Science journal named it the most irreplaceable ecosystem on Earth. However, the Arhuaco people have always known Earth is a precious place.
Their centuries of isolation raised their consciousness and cosmovision to a higher level of awareness. Therefore, they have accepted a duty to maintain the harmony of nature and the universe on behalf of all of mankind. If you think these are the ramblings of simple people, perhaps you should think again. Who is wiser, they or the over-industrialized west spewing carbon dioxide into the sky?
Climate Change Impacting on The Arthuaco Cosmos
Three decades ago, the Arthuaco people noticed melting ice on the sacred Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta snow caps. Amphibians and butterflies were vanishing from slopes of what – for them – is the literal heart of the world.
Their neighbors, the Kogi tribes were fearful of contacting the younger brother because they feared they might lose their identity. Nonetheless, they are now reaching out to beg us to listen. “The thoughts of our ancestors are embedded in every rock and other element in which humans have contact,” they say.
“They cannot understand why it is that we do what we do to the Earth,” explains Wade Davis, former National Geographic explorer. The Arthuaco people may outlive us yet, unless we cease our selfish ways in the west. That’s because they are already self-sustaining. They are high up in cool mountains that hurricanes, rising ocean water and tsunami’s cannot reach. Therefore theirs is no self-seeking message.
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Preview Image: Heart of the Arthuaco Peoples’ World
