We all descend from indigenous people and we’ve all been assimilated
In Sustainability Simplified, I clarify that a culture being indigenous doesn't mean it's sustainable. An indigenous Indian group that puts up a casino is pushing addiction. An African politician who finds oil and gets cozy with the global oil industry is too. Any culture that doesn't live sustainably will find itself running out of something, leading it to conflict with others or collapse. But indigenous cultures that endure tend to be sustainable. People praise indigenous cultures with land acknowledgments and such. Well, we all descend from indigenous cultures. Yes, even former colonists and slaveholders can trace their roots to someone indigenous. For that matter, we can probably all trace our roots to someone enslaved. Likewise, everyone who isn't living sustainably has been assimilated, so even…
