The Amerindian Good Living as a Sustainable Alternative …
263
erated in the context of reflexive modernization, that is to say, within the instrumental
economic-technological and the geopolitics of sustainable development. Requiring
the GL not only means a claim for historical justice against the subjugation of the
ways of life of the peoples who suffered the imposition of modern rationality. The
imaginary of the GL also proposes another understanding of the world and offers
himself as a sample of how it could bind again to the human life with the natural order; it is a solution that goes beyond the scope of a reflexive modernity, the
adjustments of the economy and of the potential of the technology to control the
socio-environmental degradation and climate change (Leff 2010).
In addition to denying the conventional development and its negativities, the GL
abandons the idea of progress and linear historical sequence, it defends another
relationship with nature recognized as a subject of rights, it does not economize
on social relations, it does not reduce everything to market goods and services,
rethinks the quality of life independently of the possession of material goods by
giving importance to the happiness, spirituality, and other sensitivities (Gudynas
2011). To find alternative paths to the development of the inner regions that lead
to greater human wealth to more people, we must begin with a less arrogant view
of the superiority of our world of gleaming hardware, a greater appreciation of the
wisdom—and potential power—of the villagers who we teach, and guide (Keesing
1980 cited in Posey et al. 1984).
The socio-ecological devastation in Latin America that occurs today, mainly in
its remnants of nature such as the Amazon rainforest, requires alternative strategies
for Sustainable Development. The study of indigenous ecological knowledge (ethnoecology) provides the basis for these new strategies (Posey et al. 1984), when they
are aligned with modern science and technology have great potential in the search
for local and global sustainability.
This sustainability is currently threatened in Brazil and other countries of the
world by the far right-wing governments that underestimate global warming and
the socio-environmental crisis, avoiding taking action to lower their greenhouse gas
emissions and encouraging deforestation and displacement of Indigenous and traditional communities. All this to clear the way for agribusiness, mining and large
infrastructure projects that end up jeopardizing the livelihoods and way of life of
traditional millennial peoples, as well as threatening the biodiversity, other riches
and environmental services provided by what remains of forests standing in Brazil
and other countries in Latin America.
3 The Good Living and National Laws, International
Conventions and UN 2030 Agenda
The proposal of GL is related to several national and international documents that
recommend the preservation of the original cultures and that relate them to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Documents such as:
263
erated in the context of reflexive modernization, that is to say, within the instrumental
economic-technological and the geopolitics of sustainable development. Requiring
the GL not only means a claim for historical justice against the subjugation of the
ways of life of the peoples who suffered the imposition of modern rationality. The
imaginary of the GL also proposes another understanding of the world and offers
himself as a sample of how it could bind again to the human life with the natural order; it is a solution that goes beyond the scope of a reflexive modernity, the
adjustments of the economy and of the potential of the technology to control the
socio-environmental degradation and climate change (Leff 2010).
In addition to denying the conventional development and its negativities, the GL
abandons the idea of progress and linear historical sequence, it defends another
relationship with nature recognized as a subject of rights, it does not economize
on social relations, it does not reduce everything to market goods and services,
rethinks the quality of life independently of the possession of material goods by
giving importance to the happiness, spirituality, and other sensitivities (Gudynas
2011). To find alternative paths to the development of the inner regions that lead
to greater human wealth to more people, we must begin with a less arrogant view
of the superiority of our world of gleaming hardware, a greater appreciation of the
wisdom—and potential power—of the villagers who we teach, and guide (Keesing
1980 cited in Posey et al. 1984).
The socio-ecological devastation in Latin America that occurs today, mainly in
its remnants of nature such as the Amazon rainforest, requires alternative strategies
for Sustainable Development. The study of indigenous ecological knowledge (ethnoecology) provides the basis for these new strategies (Posey et al. 1984), when they
are aligned with modern science and technology have great potential in the search
for local and global sustainability.
This sustainability is currently threatened in Brazil and other countries of the
world by the far right-wing governments that underestimate global warming and
the socio-environmental crisis, avoiding taking action to lower their greenhouse gas
emissions and encouraging deforestation and displacement of Indigenous and traditional communities. All this to clear the way for agribusiness, mining and large
infrastructure projects that end up jeopardizing the livelihoods and way of life of
traditional millennial peoples, as well as threatening the biodiversity, other riches
and environmental services provided by what remains of forests standing in Brazil
and other countries in Latin America.
3 The Good Living and National Laws, International
Conventions and UN 2030 Agenda
The proposal of GL is related to several national and international documents that
recommend the preservation of the original cultures and that relate them to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Documents such as: