Four stories above New York’s Union Square stands an orange-lit countdown, displaying humanity’s shrinking window of time to act. The countdown symbolizes the urgency of staying under the 1.5℃ warming threshold that would deem the effects of climate change as irreversible. With the many sustainability efforts one hears daily, it is difficult to imagine that there have not been any significant improvements. Some of these efforts include large-scale international agreements like the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainability Developments, adopted in 2015 by all UN State Members. This agenda commits itself to making an effort in sustainability practices through a comprehensive plan for the people, planet, and prosperity. It calls for a transformative action by all countries and stakeholders; however, the agenda does not implement any actual steps and operates on a non-binding framework, having each country decide on its own sustainability efforts. Large corporations, like ExxonMobil, commit themselves to sustainability with goals such as their 2030 emission-reduction and 2050 net-zero plans. Similarly, PepsiCo has a 2025 operational water-use efficiency goal, with common tactics and efforts being shared by large and small corporations. Yet despite decades of these international agreements, national policies, and even local initiatives, Western sustainability efforts have become a hollow buzzword, used to gain moral credibility while continuing to fall short of achieving meaningful progress.

These shortcomings stem from a fundamental issue: the Western viewpoint of the relationship with Earth. Much of the global degradation of the environment is linked to the Industrial Revolution and the economic growth of the major industrialized nations. The prioritization of economic growth over environmental preservation is tied to what is called the “modernity project.” This deepens the divide between man and nature that, through an imperialistic viewpoint, sees nature as a means of exploitation. Nature is thus reduced to a resource and a system for human exploitation, further reinforced by systems such as colonialism and the rise of capitalism. The man-nature relationship can be seen through two main ideas, the instrumental view and the holistic one. Under capitalism, modern societies view nature as a machine, one that can provide something, through an instrumental view. This makes it harder for citizens of modern societies, including governments and large corporations, to truly understand the impact of ecological issues because they are seen as separate issues. Instead of being seen as unsustainable practices that result from economic growth, through the holistic view, Indigenous ideology approaches nature and humanity as an interconnected united entity. Potawatomi scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, describes this shift from viewing nature as a resource to humans more as the relationship of ‘relatives.’ This relationship impacts how one can not only sustainably “take” from the land but also give back. The current policies focus on the human viewpoint and not on nature, by simply restricting exploitation of the land instead of completely shifting how one views one’s connection with the land. Through an Indigenous perspective, this is not just a sustainability practice. It is a way of life — one that Western perception lacks.
Settler colonialism is the social process of the displacement of Indigenous People in an environment through colonial rule. This colonial domination, beginning with the invasion of Indigenous People and their land, utilizes the same colonial practices centuries later, further harming Indigenous People. Kyle Whyte, an associate professor of Philosophy and Community Sustainability at Michigan State University and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, delves into two continuous harm frameworks: “vicious sedimentation” and “insidious loops.” The former highlights how these extractive practices, such as deforestation, mining, pollution, and any sort of resource exploitation, accumulate and reinforce the ignorance that settler colonialism perpetuates. Vicious sedimentation thus disrupts Indigenous People and erases their cultural ties to the land. The latter describes how these same structures continue to implicate Indigenous People long after establishing these practices, leading to a cycle of continuous harm, one being through environmental destruction. This disproportionately affects Indigenous communities who continue to face inequities and environmental violence by the same colonial systems centuries later.

Indigenous communities worldwide have been strong caretakers of their lands, adopting sustainability efforts through their deeply connected relationship with the environment. An important leader and voice in this fight is Ailton Krenak of the Krenak people from the Minas Gerais region in Brazil, who has fought for Indigenous rights and the protection of deforestation and extractivism — the practice of exploiting large quantities of natural resources for profit — in the Amazon and beyond. In his book Life Is Not Useful, he calls for people to wake up from the “coma of modernity,” which impacts the world through humanity’s trampling of the land, and instead learn to live with and as one with the Earth. His ideas go beyond environmental protection, by challenging the current economic trends that destroy Earth. He argues that the world’s wealth is far larger than necessary and that economic development is the root cause of all destruction. Other efforts include the Karipuna People, who, although officially recognized by the Brazilian government, still face deforestation, land grabs, logging, and prospecting on their lands. In 2020, they were in the top 10 of the most destroyed Indigenous lands in Brazil. With a population of 58, Adriano Karipuna spoke for his people and the land at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2018. He said that his goal was to get the world to listen to Indigenous People and be more responsible toward Indigenous communities and the land.