During the GreenBiz 21 keynote session "All We Can Save: Why We Must Learn from Indigenous Wisdom," hosted by All We Can Save co-founder Katharine Wilkinson, Mitchell joined Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation), attorney, environmental and Indigenous rights advocate (who took a short break from the outdoor resistance camp in Minnesota, where she is taking part in demonstrations against new pipeline beds related to the Line 3 project). The two shared their Indigenous perspectives on this matter of urgency. Here are four key takeaways from the conversation:

  1. Listen and take action on the information Indigenous peoples have to share. As Houska pointed out, Indigenous people make up only 5 percent of the world's population, yet Indigenous lands and territories hold 80 percent of the world's biodiversity.
  2. Change our relationship to consumption. Although more communities and businesses are becoming aware that we must evolve the way we create and consume, Mitchell said that it is important, above all, for society to change its relationship with consumption. That includes reevaluating "our entire value structure so consumption doesn't hold a primary role," she suggested.
  3. Embrace a more holistic kind of success. Our society's utilitarian mindset has given us a need to create metrics of success in all aspects of life, including political movements. "You have to say victory over and over again, when that's just actually not the case most of the time," Houska explained.
  4. Bring women back into the center of society to restore a healthy balance.  As an advocate for the concept of climate matriarchy, Mitchell explained very straightforwardly to the GreenBiz 21 audience that "those who have framed the societies we live in have not been the givers of life. Those who are the 'most stringent protectors of life' have been removed from the discussion."

Read the full article about Indigenous wisdom by Suchi Rudra at GreenBiz .