Have you ever heard of the Honourable Harvest? I first learned of it Thanksgiving weekend – appropriate timing, given that it’s a value system that combines gratitude, humility and sustainability.
The Honourable Harvest is a set of food harvesting principles rooted in indigenous traditions of reverence for ancestors, concern for descendants (the next seven generations as a minimum) and respect for the fellow life forms that nourish and sustain us. It’s largely oral and somewhat fluid, but its key principles include:
· Never take the first. Never take the last.
· Take only what you need. Leave some for others (including non-humans). Never waste what you have taken.
· Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
· Give thanks for what you have been given.
· Use it respectfully. Share.
· Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
· Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.
More perspective and a few more principles can be read here; or you can watch this three-and-a-half minute video.
Climate change and other ecological challenges suggest that we humans need to awaken to a new relationship with the world around us. Implementing the principles of the Honourable Harvest – not just at Thanksgiving, but all year long – would be a great beginning.
In the news
New survey demonstrates why meaningful climate change action is such a challenge: most Saskatchewan residents believe climate change is real and human-caused, but are unwilling to take action to help solve it.
Which countries have historically generated the most emissions and are therefore most responsible for climate change? Quick eye-opener, including insightful one-minute video, here.
Google Maps to show the lowest carbon route for car trips, potentially saving a million tonnes of emissions annually.
Quotable
“The conditions that drive climate change have been created in one part of the world. The consequences have so far overwhelmingly been suffered in another.”
– Ben Ehrenreich, March 1, 2019