Our Power, Our Planet: Reclaiming Our Future Through Indigenous Wisdom

Every Earth Day, we are reminded of our duty to protect the planet, but this year’s theme, "Our Power, Our Planet," calls for something deeper: a reclamation of the power that has always resided within us. It is a call to remember that our connection to the land is stewardship, one of identity and vitality. This theme aligns seamlessly with Elle Karayan’s mantra, Indigenous is the Future, which highlights that the key to our survival and flourishing lies in the wisdom of Indigenous traditions—practices that have long understood the reciprocal relationship between people and the Earth.

At the heart of this understanding is the belief that power is innate. It flows through us like rivers, exists in the soil beneath our feet, and manifests in the cycles of life. Colonization, however, disrupted this natural order, instilling fear and forcing homogeneity upon communities that once thrived in diversity and self-sufficiency. It imposed systems that severed our ties to the land and to our own bodies, replacing them with structures that dictated dependence rather than interdependence.

Take, for instance, the experience of women and birth. For centuries, birthing was a sacred and powerful event—attended by midwives, grounded in tradition, and centered on the birthing individual’s wisdom. However, as the medical industry advanced, childbirth was removed from the home, transformed into a clinical procedure where women were made to feel powerless, as though they were incapable of bringing life into the world without intervention. The decline of home births is just one example of how modern civilization has stripped us of trust in our own abilities. But birth, in its essence, remains a manifestation of power—one that cannot be fully suppressed.

The same is true for our relationship with the land. Indigenous peoples have always understood that to care for the land is to care for ourselves and vice versa. There is a spiritual and physical power that comes from being in harmony with nature. Industrialization and urbanization have systematically replaced this knowledge with unsustainable practices that exploit rather than nurture. Land, once regarded as a living, breathing entity, became a commodity. The act of farming, once a spiritual practice, became an industry of mass production detached from the natural rhythms of the Earth.

Despite these disruptions, the power has never been lost—it has only been obscured. Indigenous wisdom offers us a way back, a path to reclaiming the knowledge that has always been within us. When we apply Indigenous practices—whether in birth, agriculture, or environmental stewardship—we begin to restore balance. We empower ourselves, and in doing so, we empower our planet.

To say Indigenous is the Future is to recognize that sustainability is not a modern invention but an ancestral practice. It is to acknowledge that the answers to our crises—climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity—lie not in further separation from the land, but in deeper connection to it. It is a call to remember that our power is not something to be given to us by institutions, but something we already possess, something that is activated when we honor the ways of those who have long lived in harmony with the Earth.

On this Earth Day, we advocate for policy changes or participate in surface-level activism. Dig deeper—into the soil, into our histories, into ourselves. Let us remember that our power is in our hands, in our bodies, in our communities, and in the land beneath our feet. Our Power, Our Planet. And when we embrace this truth, we reclaim our future.