Energy from My Backyard - The Renaissance of Renewable Energy - page 254

oil supplies, agriculture was de-intensified and localised. Hopkins sees “peak energy as
an opportunity for positive change rather than as an inevitable disaster” and describes a
path of 'energy descent', where communities adapt by developing energy alternatives and
reducing consumption (Blewitt 2008, 162). This is the essence of the transition movement
- managing a peaceful and crisis-free transition to a post-fossil fuel age.
Indigenous cultures might be described as the global specialists in sustainability. Many
of the core principles of ecology - interdependence, ecological cycles, energy flows,
diversity, complexity and co-evolution - are already deeply rooted in indigenous cultures.
Australia's aboriginal people managed to live sensitively with the rhythm and dynamics of
the Earth for 40,000 years - leaving a barely discernible footprint and dispensing with the
need for leaders and hierarchies. In their culture, shared responsibility trumped the exercise
of power, both over humans and the environment (Blewitt 2008 ).
Some indigenous peoples, such as the Ashanínka in the Amazon, have begun to share
their expertise in sustainable land management with outsiders. Their lands and survival
threatened by loggers, ranchers and mining companies, one Ashanínka community living
along the Amônia River in western Brazil founded a training centre called Yorenka Ãtame
(meaning 'knowledge of the rainforest') in 2007 (see Figure 7.17 ). Its aim is to teach
non-indigenous people about sustainable forest management techniques, such as those
successfully practiced by the Ashanínka for generations. This project involves a transfer
of knowledge from indigenous to non-indigenous people, reversing the direction of
information flow that has been the norm for centuries.