Excerpts from our Bylaws
A. The purpose of the corporation shall be to foster kincentric1 wholistic indigenous2 methods and expression in environmental custodianship, art, education, science and cultural expression and research throughout society and to center Indigenous3 voices and participants in this work. The corporation will seek ongoing opportunities to engage Indigenous people in land custodianship4 and land restitution5 to restore justice to Indigenous people and the Earth. The corporation shall enact forms of mutual custodianship with Indigenous Peoples if temporarily desired by particular Indigenous peoples. Transparency, innovation and collaboration are guiding principles in these pursuits and actions.
B. The corporation shall champion, foster and implement land custodianship practices emerging within an organic unfolding relationship with our natural home the earth and her creatures and environment, informing our perception understanding and action in relation to refugia in the natural world. Terms for this kind of action-mindset in the world today include but are not limited to: “indigenous ecological praxis”, kincentric agriculture/forestry/social interaction, “biocultural environmental conservation and restoration6. ” Our founding urgency is to sustain local upper and lower montane and subalpine forests as the Sanctuary Forests they still are and to prevent undesirable intervention by city, private, corporate and development interests. People of all ages identities and abilities are welcome and included, with an ongoing focus on youth. Our reach can extend to lands beyond this immediate mountain environment. Creative expression in all forms (silence, sound, movement, image, word, ecology) and media are a focus.
1kincentric – according to Enriqué Salmon’s definition
2 indignenous – as In Latin “sprung from the land”. Oxford Etymological Dictionary
3 as in Indigenous People, or Indigenous Science, Indigenous Ecological Knowledge, Traditional Indigenous Knowledge et al
4we prefer the word custodian to steward, as in Tyson Yunkaporta “We are custodial beings.”
5see Taiaiake Alfred “No (re)conciliation without restitution” (our brackets)
6“biocultural environmental conservation and restoration” – term of Kalani Quiocho, Native Hawai’an
* British English: practise, verb. practice, noun.
C. In the current urgency of degraded landscapes, climate, wildfire health and diversity greatly affected by past separative profit-based practices, implementing short-term solutions can further reduce diversity and damage ecosystems. We shall act to support, enhance or improve rather than degrade.
ETHICS: Responsibility/ability. Respect. Communication.
* Self-reflection is our baseline.
* The corporation respects all creatures and the earth-air-waters equally.
* All people are equally valuable and unique.
* Honesty, humility and transparency are paramount. We are committed to behavioral ethics of honesty, truth, humility, courage, self and mutual respect, and self-and other-responsibility, and to mutual nurturance of these behaviors within and without the organization.
* Knowledge, fact, accuracy, truth, attention to legal parameters and details, are prime elements in our conversation and decision-making process and our organization. Re. science: We responsibly critique and evaluate perspectives of Indigenous and Western science.
* Each person is the authority regarding their own motivation, intent and meaning. Projection of opinion regarding another’s intent, motivation, meaning or good faith shall be recognized as such; as inappropriate; as perhaps subtly assumed or implied superiority vis-à-vis an “other”; and shall not be grounds for unconstructive conflict or veiled dominion, as these have no place in our organization.
* A statement or comment about oneself is not a statement or criticism about another person or of another person.
* Direct communication is our standard. Each person speaks for themself. No person legitimately speaks for or on behalf of another person or represents another person in any context without verifiable documentation of authorization from the person being spoken of to do so. This pertains to activities also: only a statement made by a person directly involved in or having authority over or within an activity may speak on behalf of that activity. In parallel: Discussion, evaluation, critique of or about any activity, including divergent opinions of same, is welcome, and a central pillar in our organization.
* We continuously open to potentially newly deeply nourishing ground for constructive disagreement, deliberation, conversation and debate expressing and enacting our values as stated herein. We continue conversing in situations that are difficult or painful, as we believe in responsible interrelational community. We encourage learning to do this effectively and constructively, grounding in the values herein.
INITIATIVES FOR CREATIVITY and PEACE, INC (ICP) dba CULTURE IN PLACE (CIP)