Connecting Ideas in Sustainability - Netukulimk , Land Ethic, and Biophilic Design

Developing Understanding

What you will need to understand is that I'm living in a house with no trees, suffering from erosion, fighting with the builder, and reading about sustainability. Because of all of those things, I found Netukulimk, Land Ethic, and Biophilic Design to be a beautiful mix of ideas.

Here, Netukulimk is Our Definition of Sustainability 

Trying to talk about sustainability with clarity can be difficult. There are a variety of definitions which can be interpreted in as many ways. One example is the way in which The Brundtland Report can be interpreted:

To avoid this ambiguity, we will look to the concept of Netukulimk, as explained by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall, and Kerry Prosper.

(Netukulimk | Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, n.d.)

The video is short, but full of beautiful and clear explanations of the concept of Netukulimk. In it, Elder Albert Marshall explains that the concept of Netukulimk is the Mi’kmaq word for sustainability. He further explains that “you can take the gift that the creator has given you without compromising the ecological integrity of the area… You cannot compromise the future generations of their abilities not just to sustain themselves but also to be able to appreciate and to maintain that connection to that source of life which is our natural world.” (Netukulimk | Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources, n.d.) The concept is both ancient and novel to me. It feels like something we all know, and yet it is so elegant in the way it is phrased by Elder Albert Marshall, here.

 

Because the video was on YouTube, and because “way leads onto way,” as Robert Frost so elegantly wrote in “The Road Not Taken”, I did what anyone would – I searched “netukulimk” on YouTube. That search immediately presented me with the next step in understanding the connections I was seeing in my life, in my subdivision, urban planning, and in understanding sustainability. It presented me with Seeking Netukulimk, a documentary by Martha Stiegman.

 

(Martha Stiegman, 2014)

In Seeking Netukulimk, Kerry Prosper gives us a clear understanding of netukulimk. He states, “Netukulimk means that I cannot take too much of anything. I cannot take it all.  I have to make sure that it will grow back, and that it will continue to grow back in the future.” (Martha Stiegman, 2014)

 

I was amazed to see that the man in this video was the very same who wrote an article for the course I am in. So, I immediately read “Returning to Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and self-governance.” (Prosper et al., 2011, 6) And the concept was brought into focus with this phrase: “avoid not having enough” (Prosper et al., 2011, 6) That central idea stuck with me and immediately made me think of how deeply it contrasts the mentality found in Costco. We can see it lampooned in the example of Monstromart, in The Simpsons season 5, episode 13, “Homer and Apu.”

(Groening et al., 1994)

Who in the world needs a gallon of mayonnaise at Costco?

Netukulimk means that we “have to consider what my children, grandchildren, and my great grandchildren will need.” (Martha Stiegman, 2014). And if we keep consuming things the way we are, and ignoring the idea of having just enough, then there won’t be anything for our great grandchildren.

Land Ethic adds to Netukulimk

I found this idea echoed Land Ethic as proposed by Aldo Leopold.

(Kopecky, 2015)

In Curriculum Studies Gone Wild: Bioregional Education and The Scholarship of Sustainability, Nathan Hensley gives a concise explanation of Leopold’s Land Ethic:

“Leopold provides a moral framework for judging whether human behavior meets the ‘hard test that must be met by all ecologically sustainable cultures.’… A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” (Hensley 2011, 124)

This implies a deep connection to Netukulimk – the concept of doing the right thing for the world and all life, to create sustainability for ecosystems and future generations alike.

He goes on to give a beautiful understanding of the world “as a whole”, that I wish contractors, architects and engineers would take into consideration when designing the urban and suburban landscapes in which we live. Leopold implies that we should, “regard the earth’s parts… as organs… of a whole, each part with a definite function… we should respect [the world] collectively not only as a useful servant but as a living being.” (Hensley 2011, 125)

That seems to be the key to all of this. Living, building, and gaining sustenance - all require an understanding that the world is a whole, and that we should respect it.

This understanding of preservation and connectedness led me to the concept of biophilia.

Biophilic Design Echoes the Past

“Biophilia is defined as the innate human instinct to connect with nature and other living beings. The term is derived from the Greek words for ‘life’ and ‘love or affection;’ making its literal translation ‘love of life.’ This concept is foundational to biophilic design, which utilizes natural materials, patterns, and phenomena to maintain a connection to nature within the built environment.” (Vidovich, 2020)

Biophilic Design is an extension of all these concepts, it “requires reinforcing and integrating design interventions that connect with the overall setting or space. The optimal functioning of all organisms depends on immersion within habitats where the various elements comprise a complementary, reinforcing, and interconnected whole.” (Kellert, 2022)

Most people think of interior design when they talk about biophilic design. But there seems to be more at play here. Thinking of the interconnected whole, and the functioning of all organisms. There are echoes of Netukulimk and Land Ethic here. It takes us back to, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” (Hensley 2011, 124) And to considering “what my children, grandchildren, and my great grandchildren will need.” (Martha Stiegman, 2014

Extending Netukulimk, Land Ethic, and Biophilic Design

What if we designed houses, subdivisions, urban areas with an understanding of the interconnectedness of the whole, and the functioning of all organisms? What if we used biophilia in our designs.

For example, the house I currently live in is built in a new subdivision where all the trees were cleared from the landscape. This ignored the ecosystems and the balance that nature requires. Erosion is rampant because of a lack of root structure. There is a constantly running stream that sits between the rows of houses, that is labelled as an irrigation ditch, rather than protected. The developers created a structure that ignored all aspects of nature and instead sought to place lawns and homes in a place that had been previously occupied by flora, fauna, and waterways.

What resulted was a displacement of species, and devastating erosion. Now people are constructing massive concrete retaining walls to secure their lands. But if we just held Netukulimk in our hearts then we would have tried to preserve much of the area. We would not have stripped all of the trees because we had a sense of Land Ethic. And we would have designed the structures we built on this land with biophilic design.

References

Callicott. (1989). In defense of the land ethic : essays in environmental philosophy. State University of New York Press.

Hensley. (2011). Curriculum studies gone wild: bioregional education and the scholarship of sustainability. Peter Lang.

Kellert, S. R. (2022, September 19). What is and is not biophilic design. Metropolis. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/what-is-and-is-not-biophilic-design/

Prosper, K., McMillan, L. J., Davis, A. A., & Moffitt, M. (2011). Returning to Netukulimk: Mi’kmaq cultural and spiritual connections with resource stewardship and self-governance. International Indigenous Policy Journal, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.18584/iipj.2011.2.4.7

Mulligan. (2018). An introduction to sustainability : environmental, social and personal perspectives. Routledge.

Netukulimk | Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.uinr.ca/programs/netukulimk/

Stiegman, Martha (Director). (2014, March 19). Seeking Netukulimk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrk3ZI_2Dd0

Sumner. (2007). Sustainability and the civil commons : rural communities in the age of globalization. University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442684843

Vidovich, E. (2020, June 25). Bringing the outdoors in: The benefits of biophilia. NRDC Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.nrdc.org/experts/maria-mccain/bringing-outdoors-benefits-biophilia#:~:text=The%20term%20is%20derived%20from,nature%20within%20the%20built%20environment