“Nature has ceased to trust us”

“Nature has begun to deceive us, and some say that nature has ceased to trust us. Most of our old people say that we have always adapted, but the changes have always been gradual. Now the changes are happening too quickly, and we do not have time to adapt to them. What used to happen over decades can now happen within one or two years. Nature always loves balance. Therefore, [the old people] say we have lost the trust of nature. The way we dealt with her led to this.”

These are the words of Viacheslav Ivanovich Shadrin, chairman of the Yukaghir Elders, an ancient Indigenous population of Arctic Siberia who live in some of the most severe climates in the inhabited world.

Read full the article by Steve Trent in the Ecologist.