ABSTRACT
The wide array of the world's cultures fall under two main modes of being, thinking and acting: the first belongs to traditionally hegemonic civilizations essentially Christianity and Islam. They are fundamentally ecocidal and ethnocidal, characterized by a clearly asserted drive to dominate, exploit and subjugate – and ultimately to destroy – human beings, species and natural spaces by submitting them to a single model under the pretence of disalienating from a 'hostile' nature. The second belongs to traditional civilizations and is based on ecological, social and spiritual values. Authors such as Ward Churchill and Carlita Shaw, who represent Amerindians and Australian Aborigine's interests, emphasize the link between ethnocide and ecocide and define a mode of being, thinking and acting that would be more mindful of natural balances and laws. All the forces that work to weaken bio-diversity and ethnodiversity, all forms of ecocide and ethnocide, pose a threat that may be even greater than the mushroom clouds of atomic bombs.
