Day two. It began slowly, various talks of moderate interest.
At 11:30, that all changed. Jody Bluhm presented a paper titled "Samish traditional ecological knowledge and wisdom." Much of it was a video providing background and a brief description of restoration activities, including estuary restoration, on Cypress Island in Puget Sound.
There is much to be learned from traditional wisdom. I'll share two special moments from that video. An elder spoke of her childhood, spoke of the ocean breathing... so much more eloquent, holding so much more meaning than our comparatively sterile modern technical descriptions. Then, a tribal leader spoke of her ancestors, seven generations ago at the time of first European contact... and of the importance of thinking seven generations ahead.
This, at an event where most of us are thinking seven minutes ahead to which paper to dash to next, and that's long-term thinking compared to the general population.
Perhaps it's time to once again think seven generations ahead.
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