Human ecology, Traditional knowledge, Traditional ecological knowledge, Nature -- Folklore, Natural History 

"Wisdom of the Elders is the first book to explore beliefs about the delicate relationships between humans, nature, and the environment as held by two traditions commonly thought to be diametrically opposed: Western science, and the age-old wisdom of indigenous peoples around the world.

In this unique volume, acclaimed science writers Peter Knudtson and David Suzuki have collected and preserved native peoples' profound ecological wisdom about our universe, our planet, and our physical and spiritual lives. The authors have spared no effort in gathering sacred stories and traditions from the Elders, whether they be from the Inuit Arctic or the Australian Outback, the tropics of Africa, Malaysia, and the Amazon, or the American Northwest coast, Plains, and Southwest.

Here are tales of profound human empathy with and respect for animals, landscapes, plants, and natural forces vital to our survival. Each selection conveys a wonderful sense of the diversity and unity of indigenous peoples' intellectual and experiential insights into the workings of nature. Valuable in their own right, these vignettes also provide the foundations for a new, global environmental ethic.

Most important of all for the shared future of our planet, these "sacred ecologies," when juxtaposed with the ideas of some of the wises and most respected scientists of our time — Albert Einstein, Alan Guth, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Loren Eisley, Paul Erlich, and many more — prove to hold much in common with aspects of modern science."--Book jacket. 

xxxv, 232 pages : map ; 20 cm. 

Includes index.