Rhythms of the Earth—Editorial Introduction

Abstract

This special issue of GeoHealth , entitled Rhythms of the Earth: Ecological Calendars and Anticipating the Anthropogenic Climate Crisis , is a transdisciplinary articulation of a methodology of hope to confront the multiple injustices of the Anthropocene. One of the greatest challenges of the climate crisis is the lack of predictability at the scale of communities where impacts are most immediate. Indigenous and rural societies face an ever shifting “new normal” through increasing inconsistency in the seasonality of temperature and precipitation, as well as greater frequency of extreme weather events. With global food systems dependent on local and small producers, climatic variability disrupts access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant food. Ecological calendars are context‐specific knowledge systems grounded in a particular cultural milieu and ecological space, that build anticipatory capacity for seasonal change. They measure and give meaning to time. Based on close observation of one's habitat, human societies have used such calendars for hundreds of years and potentially millennia. By engaging with the interactions among physical phenomena (such as the first snowfall or last frost) and biological events (such as blossoming of specific trees, arrival of migratory birds or mammals, appearance of plants or insects), human societies have been able to identify optimal time windows for their livelihood activities. The 11 research articles in Rhythms of the Earth cover a considerable geographical breadth from Africa to the Arctic; and, from North and South America to Central Asia. They provide evidence that spans millennia from the Roman Empire to the contemporary Anthropocene.

Significance of different ways of knowing in responding to the climate crisis: The necessity for Indigenous knowledge

“…As young Indigenous scholars increasingly engage in scholarship in the biological, physical, and social sciences, as well as the humanities, it has become clear that the future of institutionalized science is no longer solely in the hands of descendants of settler-colonialists, and that Indigenous voices will increasingly be present in shaping the future of scholarship in all these fields. A separate but equally significant and related point is that: Indigenous cultures that have faced colonization and are, today, at the vanguard of climate change may also provide the necessary intellectual depth to climate change impacts and potential insight into adaptation strategies [1,2]. Therefore, these young Indigenous scholars may potentially contribute to multiple ways of knowing and transdisciplinary thinking in research as well as teaching of a new generation of citizens, scholars, and policy makers [3].…”