Ancient Pathways to a Sustainable Future
What can our ancestors teach us?Resources
WEBSITES:
Offers multi-day, nature-based, experiential explorations into the mysterious wilds of soul for the purpose of discovering the mythopoetic identity at the heart of each life. Bill Plotkin has discovered Nature-based life cycles that can guide us through this dangerous, yet exciting territory.
Web site of the group that organizes the primitive skill rendezvous of Rabbitstick and Winter count.
It is devoted to spreading the word that as Daniel Quinn, the noted author of Ishmael has said,there have been in the past & can be again, peaceful & viable cultures, & in nurturing new communities of like-minded people.
Regional environmental organization, dedicated to protecting the Clearwater National Forest, with particular interest in biodiversity & wildlife, including wolves.
This site exists to aid in the exploration of issues central to the novel Ishmael and the ideas of cultural critic Daniel Quinn. (see Friends of Ishmael)
Anthropologist Jon Young creates Nature-based communities that demonstrate how humans can achieve better relationships.
Regional environmental organization, with particular interest in the Selkirk and Priest Lake ecosystems. They concentrate on wildlife, including wolves & caribou, as well as timber & water quality
Organization dedicated to learning and disseminating information on the ancient skills of our Hunter Gatherer ancestors.
Native American organization, founded by John Stokes, devoted to reconnecting people with the natural world. They emphasize the peacemaking and thanksgiving programs of the late Jake Swamp, who was Peacemaker of the Six Nations.
Ralph Maughan’s blog presents comprehensive news and commentary about our treatment of wildlife. It also gives a mostly astute community of bloggers a forum for discussion of important wildlife issues.
Wilderness living school, founded by Thomas Elpel, which emphasizes wilderness survival, identification & use of wild plants, & sustainable living. It also acts as a portal to many interesting similar sites.
Have you ever wanted to walk into the woods with nothing but a knife? Welcome to the one and only charismatic Tom Brown’s renowned school for primitive survival.
A family based, nature awareness school, run by Jeannine Tidwell & Tim Corcoran. It is dedicated to reconnecting children with the Earth, and on mentoring students & teachers in how to spread these values
BOOK LISTS:
Recommended Books on Hunter Gatherers and Animism
- THE LOST WORLD OF THE KALAHARI. Laurens Van der Post.
The beautiful and insightful adventure of a South African WWII hero, who upon his return, searches for & finds the last remnants of the remarkable Bushmen. They are surviving in style in an inhospitable desert
- ISHMAEL. Daniel Quinn.
The transformative, award winning novel, depicting the contradictions between the animist and contemporary cultures.
- THE HARMLESS PEOPLE. Elizabeth Marshal Thomas.
An anthropologist lives with South African Bushmen and describes a society that works – wonderfully. She returns 20 years later to see what effect our culture has had on theirs.
- THE LOST CIVILIZATIONS OF THE STONE AGE. Richard Rudgley.
A scholarly analysis of the impressive technological and cultural achievements of our ancient ancestors.
- COMING HOME TO THE PLEISTOCENE. Paul Shepard.
Do hunter-gatherers have something to tell modern culture? A brilliant analysis by the most respected scholar on the subject.
- LIMITED WANTS, UNLIMITED MEANS: A Reader on Hunter-Gatherer Economics and the Environment. John Gowdy, ed.
The interaction between Hunter-Gatherer economics and the environment. Describes a culture in harmony with the Earth.
Sun Bear is of Chippewa descent. He founded the Bear Tribe, which welcomes natives and non-natives, and is located near Spokane, WA. His book shows how to apply the Medicine Wheel, based on natural cycles, to your life. Includes the 4 directions.
Cowen is an Australian, who has spent much time with Australian aborigines as well as with several other indigenous peoples. He brings the lyrical mind of a poet to penetrate deeply into the mythical minds of these people.
Cowen gains much wisdom and insight from his contacts with the few remaining animists living on islands between Australia and New Guinea. They tell him their personal stories, myths, and legends.
- NATURE AND MADNESS. Paul Shepard.
Shepard’s most profound work. Here he shows how the life cycle of an individual is intimately tied to natural cycles, and what happens when a culture disconnects it.
- ORIGINAL WISDOM: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing. Robert Wolff.
A psychologist lives with the most remote people of Malaysia, the Sng’oi., and discovers remarkable things about these people’s abilities.
- PROVIDENCE: The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest. Daniel Quinn
The autobiography of the prize winning author of Ishmael, Quinn’s dream as a seven year old and his vision in a Trappist monastery prefigure his inexorable path to his culminating work.
- THE FOREST PEOPLE: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo. Colin M. Turnbull.
An anthropologist lives with Congo Pygmies. He admires their lifestyle and social organization, which they manage to retain despite the incursions of Bantu agriculturalists.
- THE OLD WAY. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
The author, who lived with the Bushmen for several years, uses the perspective of her mature years to examine their culture in depth. It is interwoven with personal experiences and insights, as well as with comparisons to our culture.
- THE HEART OF THE HUNTER. Laurens Van der Post
Continues the story begun in Lost World of the Kalahari. It is an elegiac evocation of both the external & internal worlds of the last of the Hunter Gatherers, written by a keen observer.
- THE ISLAND WITHIN. Richard Nelson
An anthropologist, turned subsistence hunter, goes to an island off the coast of Alaska to find deer and grizzlies. He develops an animist spirituality. This is an astonishingly beautiful book about the relation of a man to nature.
- THE TRACKER. Tom Brown, Jr.
The story of the apprenticeship of seven year old Tom Brown to an Apache scout and elder, Stalking Wolf, in which Tom learns a lot more than wilderness survival skills.
- TOM BROWN’S FIELD GUIDE TO NATURE OBSERVATION AND TRACKING. Tom Brown, Jr.
The almost legendary master of tracking and primitive wilderness survival has written a manual on how to not only survive, but to flourish in Nature’s embrace. Tune into the man, who has reconnected thousands of people to the Earth and gain a little of his ethic and wisdom as a bonus.
- THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. Jake Swamp
Swamp was the Peacemaker for the 6 Nations of the Iroquois. He was head of the Tree of Peace Society. This pamphlet, which is a classic example of Native American thanksgiving, and said on every occasion, can be obtained from John Stokes , of Thetrackingproject.org
- OUR BABIES, OURSELVES: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent. Meredith F. Small.
A Pediatric Anthropologist examines different cultures’ approach to parenting.
- THE GENTLE TASADAY. John Nance
The true story of the recent discovery of a band of primitive hunter gatherers in a rain forests in the Philippine Islands.
Recommended Books on Wolves
- OF WOLVES AND MEN. Barry Lopez
The definitive study of all aspects of wolves, by a master nature writer
- THE NINEMILE WOLVES. Rick Bass
What happened when a couple of retired ranchers found a wolf den, told by one of our best nature writers
- THE WOLF: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species. L. David Mech
Everything you wanted to know about the biology of wolves.
- LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. the Brothers Grimm (retold)
Much more than a fairytale, it is a look into the darkest recesses of our hearts.
- PETER AND THE WOLF. retold by Patricia Crampton
A look Into the darkest recesses of Russia.
- JULIE OF THE WOLVES. Jean Craighead George
A feelgood story of wolves and a girl, by a master story teller.
- WOLF COUNTRY. John B. Theberge
A meticulous and well documented 11 year field study of wolves reveals their real nature.
- WOLF TOTEM. by Jiang Rong
The book that rocked the communist hierarchy, and became a best seller in China. What happened to the Mongolian culture, based on respect for wolves, when was not heeded. This is an outstanding novel, but it is sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction in it.
- WOLVES AND WILDERNESS. John B. Theberge
A concise, fact-filled but readable account by a biologist who really came to know wolves.
- THE WOLF TALK. Shaun Ellis.
This strange but true story, is an account by a man who actually lived among wolves and came to know them in a way others cannot.
- THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. Peter Steinhart
“The wolf in this book, is less a character than a lens through which we may view ourselves and our feelings about wilderness.” San Francisco Chronicle
- NEVER CRY WOLF. Farley Mowat
This classic has been much maligned by the anti-wolf crowed, but it and the film made from it turn out to be dead-on accurate. It is a rollicking good tale too.
Recommended Books on Predators and Predator-Prey Relationships
- WHERE THE WILD THINGS WERE. William Stolzenberg
An excellent summary of research demonstrating the crucial role of predators in ecosystems. Did you know that starfish are predators?
- GRIZZLY YEARS. Doug Peacock
Insights into Grizzly behavior as told by a man who got a lot closer to them than most of us would dare. Warning: The book also contains vivid and shocking flashbacks to Peacock’s Vietnam War experiences.
- VIABLE POPULATIONS FOR CONSERVATION. Michael E. Soule
Excellent explanations of how numbers in viable wildlife populations can be derived, edited by the man who practically invented the field of Conservation Biology.
- MONSTER OF GOD. David Quammen
Quammen, one of our foremost wildlife writers, examines the plight of predators in a world in which they are feared, hated, and usually exterminated by Man.
- THE GRIZZLY BEAR. Thomas McNamee
Everything you wanted to know about grizzlies
- PREDATORY BUREAUCRACY. Michael J. Robinson
The shadowy and virtually unknown Wildlife Service is the federal agency that uses your tax money to kill millions of wild animals every year at the behest of ranchers and farmers.
Get the book now!
