There are many ways in which actions can be made toward sustaining cultural and biological diversity despite the hardships that indigenous groups
face in the world. To first explain how cultural and biological diversity is in danger, it is best to describe what problems hinder these groups and how they believe in the protection of nature. First, there is a human-nature divide
in which some groups believe that nature houses spirits that protect and monitor people. For example, the textbook explains how the Maya group in the Petan tropical lowlands in Guatemala that believe in forest spirits called the
arux
(meaning “masters of the wind”) that monitor people and play tricks
on those who destroy too many trees or kill too many animals (Welsch & Vivanco, 2021, p. 173). Other societies, such as Western societies, believe that nature is an independent force separate from humans, unlike what the Maya group believe, in which the conditions in nature shape the characteristics and lifeways of a group of people, referred to as environmental determinism (Welsch & Vivanco, 2021, p. 174). However, even though many indigenous groups live in nature and the forests, the dominant cultural model is that nature should protected and that humans and nature should be separate which results in indigenous groups being evicted from their homes in order to “conserve” nature (Welsch & Vivanco, 2021, p. 180). Problems that have been destroying the environment is overpopulation and people’s ecological footprint. There is a problem with overpopulation because when the population gets too big in the world, it may be difficult for everyone in the world to get the resources they need. As for people’s ecological footprints, is that people use a differing amount of resources depending on the culture they live in. For example, the people in India do not need as many resources as people in the United States. The problem with the United States is that each individual consumes way more resources than they actually need to and it is destroying the environment by making the resource reserves more and more limited.
One action that can be undertaken that can prevent indigenous peoples from being evicted from the environments they live in is for people to respect their culture and traditions and to stop removing people from their
homes. This is a difficult action to undertake because many individuals have issues respecting others’ cultures and their beliefs that shape their lifestyles.
Another way to help this problem is to create a pact with the indigenous peoples in a sense that either they can still maintain some of the territory or in exchange for letting them continue living in their environments, goods and
serves may need to be exchanged. Another action that can be taken in respect to ecological footprints is to start limiting the resources each individual can use in countries where there is an abundance of ecological footprints. However, in countries like the United States where people are heavy into politics and not wanting the government to control every aspect of their lives, this may be a problem to get people to cooperate with limiting their resource intake. Sustainability of nature in the lives of indigenous people is very important because without being about to maintain their
