Journey to T'Souke First Nation with hosts Steve Sxwithul'txw and Art Napoleon to learn about the story of the greenest community in all of Canada. Cheryl Bryce (Coast Salish) illustrates indigenous food and medicine growing, and community salmon smokehouse cooking.
Nuu-chah-nulth means "all along the mountains and the sea" and it also describes the geography of the West Coast Trail, a rugged 75 km trail that attracts 6,000 international hikers each year. Since 1994, three Nuuchah-nulth communities have shared the management and maintenance of the trail with Parks Canada. Includes segment from the UN Climate Change Conference with Apache environmentalist Robby Romero.
Journey to the T'silhqot'in First Nation to share the tribe's struggle to limit development and maintain their culture. Next the team shifts gears and gets into urban gardening and getting back to the land in Vancouver; and finally, an interview with activist/physicist Vandana Shiva who promotes sustainability and women's rights.
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation is one of three First Nations whose traditional territory is located within the borders of one of Canada's largest cities, North Vancouver, BC. Only a few kilometers from the village is the vast Indian Arm water shed that is the home to elk, deer, bear, salmon, eagles and many other species. The Tsleil-Waututh people co-manage a provincial park, restore salmon streams and maintain forest land in this region. Includes segment with Nikki Alex, one of many indigenous youth who took part in the UN Climate Change Conference.
Architect Alfred Waugh, from the Chipewyan First Nation in the NWT discusses the construction of a sustainably built west coast-style cedar big house at the Universityof Victoria. Eli Enns of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation discusses how communities can protect their territories through sustainable development and traditional practices. And finally, Pam Gross, and Inuit youth discusses climate change in her northern community of Cambridge Bay.
The Huu-ay-aht First Nation, along with the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre and the community of Bamfield, have worked together to revitalize the endangered pinto abalone, a traditional food source for the Nuu-chah-nulth people. In Vancouver, the C Restaurant purchases and serves the adult abalone from the Bamfield hatchery. Income from the sale of the shellfish is reinvested into the project. Includes segment with Earl Tulley, a Navajo environmentalist tha tworks with communities adversely affected by the energy industry.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizonahave developed award-winning recycling and landfill centres that contribute to a cleaner environment and help conserve the region's natural resources. Includes segment with Maria Theresa Lauron of the Philippines. She advocates for small farmers throughout the southern hemisphere whose lives are affected by economic globalization and climate change.
The Nk'mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos, British Columbia is the site of Canada's only desert eco-system. The centre is at the forefront of rattlesnake and endangered plant conservation; Chavannes Jean-Baptiste founded the Peasant Movement of Papay in Haiti in 1973. Since then, he has been working with peasant farmers to teach them low impact, organic farming techniques.
Every region in the world has its own unique agricultural history, and Arizona is no exception. The Indigenous people from this region built complex irrigation systems and grew diverse crops despite the intense heat and low annual rainfall. Tour an area of the wetlands and discover a thriving cottonwood forest. Marilyn Wallace is a filmmaker from Australia who teaches Aborigine youth the importance of protecting their ancestral lands.
Art visits the Toledo Cacao Growers Association in southern Belize where cacao is bought and new plants cultivated for planting in the rainforest. Mayan farmers in southern Belize practice sustainable farming methods to build a reputation as world leaders in the organic cocoa market. Wahu Kaarais is a community activist with the Kenya Debt Relief Network. She voices her concern on the effects that climate change is having on African farmers.
The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in Arizona have enacted a wild horse preservation program that provides food for the herd of 300. For thousands of years, the rain forests of Belize have been a source of food,medicine and ceremonial plants for indigenous people. Faith Gimmel is the director of REDOIL, an organization that works with native Alaskans whose traditional way of life is being threatened by the oil industry.
Two Aboriginal educators in Victoria, BC take urban students on forest hikes to learn about local Indigenous history.; The Ya'axche Conservation Trust in Belize is an Indigenous-led organization that co-manages the region's rainforests and educates farmers, local residents and visitors about the importance of preserving the local eco-systems.; Clayton Thomas-Muller is a Cree activist from Northern Manitoba who speaks out against the oil industry's exploitation of the Athabasca Tar Sands.
The Ya'axche Conservation Trust is a community organization that promotes economically viable and ecologically sound agriculture throughout southern Belize.; A ruling by the Supreme Court of British Columbia meant that the Nuu-chah-nulth could return to a way of life enjoyed for countless generations.; At the UN Climate Change Conference, several Indigenous leaders speak out on climate change.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Manitoulin Island in eastern Canada to see how the Wikwemikong First Nation is training its youth to hunt sustainably. Then Steve heads to Porangahau on New Zealand's north island to learn how a Maori community harvests and cooks abalone. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph visits an estuary in Western Canada and learns about the Squamish Nation's rice root project.
Journey to Yellowknife to take part in a gathering of Indigenous youth who've come together to talk about the impact of global warming on their territories. Leigh Joseph meets Ta'Kaiya Blaney, an 11-year old environmentalist and singer. Then Leigh travels to the We Wai Kai Nation on Quadra Island in Western Canada where she meets Deb Thomas, a medicine woman who harvests and uses traditional plants.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Ahipara, on the North Island of New Zealand where Rueben Taipari Porter shows him how to build sustainable mud houses. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph meets with Patricia Wilson on Quadra Island in Western Canada to learn about the We Wai Kai Nation's garden project.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Manitoulin Island to learn how the M'Chigeeng First Nation became the first Aboriginal community in Canada to operate a wind-powered turbine. Then Steve heads to Tofino to visit the Tla-o-quiaht First Nation's Canoe Creek hydro-electricity project. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist, Leigh Joseph, travels to an island on the west coast of Canada to find out how the Songhees First Nation is mapping the plants in its territory.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Manitoulin Island in eastern Canada to learn about Indigenous plants from Falcon Migwans of Great Spirit Circle Trail. Then Steve heads to Yellowknife to learn how the Metis and Dene gather and use medicinal plants at the Sacred Circle Project. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist, Leigh Joseph, visits Terry Point of the Musqueam First Nation to learn how his community restored the only remaining salmon stream in the city of Vancouver.
Travel to the Northwest Territories to learn how climate change is impacting the Indigenous way of life in the north. Steve visits Eli Enns, Saya Masso and Joe David of the Tlao-qui-aht Nation on Canada's West Coast to find out how this community is creating a Tribal Park in their traditional territory. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph visits Saanich on Vancouver Island where John Bradley Williams shows her how the Coast Salish people in the region harvest Indigenous plants and seafood.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to two Indigenous communities that own and operate eco-friendly cultural programs. His first stop is the Great Spirit Circle Trail on Manitoulin Island.. Then he visits the Waimarama Maori Tours on New Zealand's North Island. Down2earth's ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph travels to southern Vancouver Island to meet a group of youth who are learning about traditional plants at the Lekwungen community garden.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Chilliwack to tour the Sto:lo Nation's award-winning sustainable office building.Then Steve meets a group of youth who operate the Seventh Generation Environmental Services company that monitor sfish and wildlife habitat in Sto:lo territory. Steve visits theWaimarama Maori Tours in New Zealand to learn how plants are used for Maori ceremonies, medicines and clothing.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Raglan, New Zealand to meet a couple who operate a thriving organic produce farm that's based on Maori values and respect for the land. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph visits Gisele Martin on Meares Island in BC to learn about the traditional plants and wildlife in this old-growth rainforest.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw heads to the Lower Kennedy River in Western Canada to tour a salmon hatchery that's owned and operated by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. Then Steve travels to Vancouver where he meets Inez Cook and Remi Cardron, the owners of Salmon and Bannock Restaurant. Down2Earth's Ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph takes a walkin the rainforest with John Rampanen and learns about traditional plants in Nuuchah-nulth territory.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to North Palmerston, New Zealand to tour a Maori-owned organic dairy farm and yogurt business. Then Leigh Joseph travels to Tofino, BC to meet John Rampanen and his wife Nitanis Desjarlais who have adapted their family's diet to include more Indigenous plants, meats and seafood. Down2Earth's ethnobotanist Leigh meets with Sechelt elder Jamie Dixon in his territory on Canada's west coast, to learn about the medicinal properties of Indigenous plants.
Host Leigh Joseph travels to the Sechelt Nation on Canada's west coast to learn how this community is training Indigenous people for careers in hydro-electricity and other green energy businesses. Then Leigh heads to the Sechelt Creek Hydro project where members of the community operate a run-of-river hydro-electricity plant and monitor a salmon spawning channel. She then meets with Randall Lewis, the environmental coordinator of the Squamish Nation, to find out how they saved their estuary from being turned into an industrial site.
Host Steve Sxwithul'txw travels to Lake Huron to meet Josephine Mandamin, the founder of Mother Earth Water Walk, an organization that raises awareness about the importance of water. Then host Leigh Joseph heads to Tofino in Western Canada to meet Gisele Martin, who operates Tlaook Cultural Adventures. We close out our second season with a profile of Ben Powless, a young Mohawk photographer and climate justice advocate who travels throughout the world recording stories about Indigenous peoples' efforts to preserve the natural environment