The Knowledge: Learning from ancestral wisdom to save our challenging global environment

'Indigenous knowledge must lead us out of the emergency of climate change and species extinction. Buy this book.' David Suzuki

Catastrophic wildfires have overwhelmed countries around the world from Australia, Canada and the United States to Greece and Brazil. Despite our growing climate crisis, changes to Western environmental approaches have been scant and many land management practices continue to destroy the land. It's time for a 'new' way of thinking. The solutions lie in the cultures of First Peoples, if only we're willing to listen.

As a Tagalaka man from Australia, Victor Steffensen spends his days educating people around the world about Aboriginal fire and land management knowledge. Applying the practices passed onto him by his mentors, Victor is on a mission to teach others the value of this knowledge.

In The Knowledge, Victor shares the simple yet core belief underlying Indigenous knowledge systems: that humans are part of the natural world. The land is not something to be dominated and exploited. Rather, we are nature and the way forward is to realign ourselves with the Earth, recognising our responsibility to care for the planet environmentally and socially. Filled with stories of Victor's work applying Indigenous solutions, The Knowledge will transform the way you think about our responses to bushfires, floods and the climate crisis.

Never has the call to change our global environmental approach been so strong or so clear. Destined to become a seminal work, The Knowledge is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of our planet.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Wave for Change
Chapter 2: Memory
Chapter 3: Respecting People and Place
Chapter 4: Camp Burn
Chapter 5: Fighting Fire with Traditional Knowledge
Chapter 6: Harvesting for Solutions
Chapter 7: Free the Trees
Chapter 8: The Healthy Country Economy
Chapter 9: Sharing Knowledge Globally
Chapter 10: The Spark in the Duff
Chapter 11: The Fir and the Aspin
Chapter 12: Yunesit'in
Chapter 13: We Are Water
Chapter 14: Improving Agriculture and Farmlands
Chapter 15: The Skin of The Earth
Chapter 16: It All Starts in the Stomach
Chapter 17: Adaptation
Chapter 18: To the Bone
Chapter 19: The Planet Is Us
Chapter 20: The Deepest Knowledge of All

About the Author :
Victor Steffensen is an author, filmmaker, musician and traditional knowledge practitioner. He is a descendant of the Tagalaka people from North Queensland and respectfully acknowledges the European connections within his family tree. Much of Victor's work is based on the arts and reviving practical traditional knowledge values, particularly Aboriginal fire and land management, with Aboriginal and non-Indigenous communities. He is co-founder of the Firesticks Alliance, which involves a large community network across Australia and internationally. Victor holds an Honorary Doctorate of Science from James Cook University. He is the author of Fire Country, and the children's books Looking After Country With Fire, The Trees and Animals On Country. Through his artistic label, Mulong, Victor has published music tracks and videos such as 'Great Land', 'Cool Burning', 'The Trees' and 'The Animals'.

Review :
'The systems that shape, guide and constrain our lives today are the very agents of global ecological destruction, because they exclude or ignore Nature as the foundation of our existence. Indigenous cultures around the world celebrate Nature and accept the responsibility of caring for the natural world to ensure her continued abundance and generosity. That is why Indigenous knowledge must lead us out of the emergency of climate change and species extinction. Buy this book.' David Suzuki