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	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher

THE ARCHIPELAGO OF HOPE

Gleb Raygorodetsky

Wisdom and Resilience From the Edge of Climate Change

An enlightening global journey reveals the inextricable links between Indigenous cultures and their lands - and how it can form the foundation for climate change resilience around the world.

One cannot turn on the news today without a report on an extreme weather event or the latest update on Antarctica. But while our politicians argue, the truth is that climate change is already here. Nobody knows this better than Indigenous peoples who, having developed an intimate relationship with ecosystems over generations, have observed these changes for decades. For them, climate change is not an abstract concept or policy issue, but the reality of daily life. After two decades of working with indigenous communities, Gleb Raygorodetsky shows how these communities are actually islands of biological and cultural diversity in the ever-rising sea of development and urbanization. They are an “archipelago of hope” as we enter the Anthropocene, for here lies humankind’s best chance to remember our roots and how to take care of the Earth. These communities are implementing creative solutions to meet these modern challenges. Solutions that are relevant to the rest of us. We meet the Skolt Sami of Finland, the Nenets and Altai of Russia, the Sapara of Ecuador, the Karen of Myanmar, and the Tla-o-qui-aht of Canada. Intimate portraits of these men and women, youth and elders, emerge against the backdrop of their traditional practices on land and water. Though there are brutal realties - pollution, corruption, forced assimilation - Raygorodetsky's prose resonates with the positive, the adaptive, the spiritual - and hope. Gleb Rayodetsky is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the United Nations University’s Institute for Advanced Studies of Sustainability—an independent think-tank advising United Nations on issues related to sustainable development, indigenous and local communities, and climate change. His degrees include a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Columbia University, an M.S. Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a B.S. in Zoology from the Far Eastern State University, Russia.

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Book Published 2017-11-07 by Pegasus

Comments

There is no better time for the world to learn from this important work by Gleb Raygorodetsky as he respectfully allows the Indigenous voices, those most impacted by climate change, to shine through in his writing.

Filled with admiration for those at the center of his study, Raygorodetsky delivers a valuable addition for all environmental collections and readers interested in cultural studies and international relations.

As this fine book shows, Indigenous communities have been among the places hardest hit by climate change—so it should come as no surprise that around the world Indigenous people have been in the absolute forefront of a fight for a liveable planet.

Exciting and hugely important. Raygorodetsky listens to the voices of those who are so often unheard and overlooked: the world's indigenous peoples,who are in possession of deep knowledge that will be needed for us to heal ourselves and the planet. An important resource in the tumultuous years ahead.

Interview on "The Blue Dot" (NPR; October 12, 2017) Read more...

There could be no more accurate or prescient way to see our climatic future than through the eyes of Indigenous people. In Archipelago, longtime inhabitants of earth give us their eyes and ears, and we, who can be dumbfounded by an overwhelming onslaught of information, find a precious wisdom that is best owed to those who patiently abide in the life of the world.

Although scattered throughout the world in oceans of change and conventional development, indigenous cultures are indeed islands of hope—for their historical roots, for their intimate connection with the land, for their wisdom,and for their resilience. It is precisely this resilience which should be cause for reflection, learning, empathy, and solidarity.

Indigenous people around the world are the only ones with a track recordof living in relative balance with their surroundings for thousands of years. There was never a more important time in human history for their perspective and wisdom. The Archipelago of Hope is extremely timely and informative as we confront the reality that the growth imperative of the technologically-driven global economy must be abandoned as we embrace the health of Mother Nature as the source of our survival and health.

This finite blue-green planet creaks under growing pressure. Solutions must come from within: we will all need to find ways of living with a light touch on the planet, and yet at the same time, bring well-being and contentment. This fine book develops a much-needed narrative of hope. We should listen and learn.

At once a clarion call for action and an inspirational compendium of steps that Indigenous peoples around the world are taking to address our changing climate. Raygorodetsky’s elegant and evocative writing immerses the reader in the places and experiences of those peoples.

The Archipelago of Hope shares important stories and sophisticated biocultural strategies. I highly recommend this inspiring book, with warm, loving photographs and many other resources, to lead us to a better appreciation of the rich biocultural diversity of our shared world, and a more inclusive and humble approach to stewarding it through these times and into the future.

With a storyteller's gift, Raygorodetsky recounts visits with indigenous peoples from the Arctic to the Amazon, Southeast Asia to Canada, noting that the people who have had the least impact on the earth are suffering the most from human-accelerated climate changes. Raygorodetsky hopes that we can learn from their ways of living in sync with nature and forge more intelligent and compassionate public policies.

Few writers, anywhere in the world, know and understand the complex relationship Indigenous people have with climate as well and deeply as Raygorodetsky.

An encouraging exploration of how ancestral wisdom and political savvy have led to positive environmental policies. Read more...

Gleb’s powerful and knowledgeable book captures the intimate ties we have to our Mother Earth. We say that ‘all things are connected,’and these stories show us how related we all are.