The River of Life: Sustainable Practices of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples

by Michael E. Marchand, Kristiina A. Vogt, Asep S. Suntana

Sustainability defines the need for any society to live within the constraints of the land's capacity to deliver all natural resources the society consumes. This book compares the general differences between Native Americans and western world view towards resources. It will provide the 'nuts and bolts' of a sustainability portfolio designed by indigenous peoples. This book introduces the ideas on how to link nature and society to make sustainable choices. To be sustainable, nature and its endowment needs to be linked to human behavior similar to the practices of indigenous peoples. The main goal of this book is to facilitate thinking about how to change behavior and to integrate culture into thinking and decision-processes.

294 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2013

Reviews

[Joanna Bastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The River of Life: Sustainable Practices of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples” goes deep to provide illustrative context describing different resource management ideas between the western world view and Native American traditions. Using water as a metaphor, Marchand and other contributors discuss sustainable practices that allow communities to make choices that fit within the constraints of the available resources of the land. Local and regional communities and planners can benefit from a collaborative relationship rooted in the intergenerational knowledge provided by First Peoples who lived in one place for thousands of years.
I highly recommend this book. Although it is an academic publication, the numerous illustrations, real life stories and traditional metaphors make this book an engaging read. The cover art, by ledger artist Cheryl Grunlose, is beautiful enough to keep the book prominently displayed.

[Aaron D · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book, and I love the premise articulated in the Preface that in order for societies "to be sustainable, nature and its endowment needs to be linked to human behavior similar to the practices of indigenous peoples" (ix). However, the writing was poor, the sections felt disjoined, and the sustainability portfolio that makes up the second half of the book lacks sufficient analysis to capitalize on some of the anecdotes provided. If you're interested in this topic, I'd suggest checking out the following books instead:

Notes from a Miner's Canary: Essays on the State of Native America (Jace Weaver, 2010)
Reclaiming Indigenous Planning (Ryan Walker, Ted Jojola, and David Natcher, 2013)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013)