ABSTRACT
Western scientific regimes, which are built upon deeply ingrained linear structures and ways of understanding, currently dominate efforts to address global environmental and economic distress. Difficulties in cross-cultural communication cause the exclusion of knowledge possessed by indigenous peoples because such knowledge draws upon a cyclical understanding of the world. To avoid progressing completely into a global mono-culture and to avoid single-minded, increasingly destructive, and unsustainable approaches to the problems faced by humans today, serious and concerted efforts must be made to include the depth of experience and knowledge indigenous peoples have gained from centuries of intensive interaction with their environments. We must recognize that cultural and bioeconomic diversity are as vital to human survival as genetic diversity is to the survival of the biosphere.
