How Acting Like Mushrooms Makes Us Better Humans & Business Leaders

There's a global movement to organize our lives and businesses in a way that mimics nature. Specifically, mushrooms.
 

Mushrooms are comprised of mycelium - an incredible network of root-like fungal threads that stretch out underground and absorb nutrients. This mycelium also wraps around and bores into tree roots, creating what is called a “mycorrhizal network,” which connects individual plants throughout an entire forest and allows them to freely exchange essential nutrients.
 

In this mycorrhizal network, no single organism is more important than another. There is no withholding of resources so one organism can profit over another. And organisms across species and classification connect to sustain life.  In human terms, we would call it a 'gift economy.'

So, what would happen if we organized our lives to mimic this natural process?
 

Many indigenous communities and various groups have been doing this for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
 

One way is through councils. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is one great example.

According to The Haudenosaunee Confederacy website:

"The confederacy, made up of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas was intended as a way to unite the nations and create a peaceful means of decision making. Through the confederacy, each of the nations of the Haudenosaunee are united by a common goal to live in harmony. Each nation maintains it own council with Chiefs chosen by the Clan Mother and deals with its own internal affairs but allows the Grand Council to deal with issues affecting the nations within the confederacy."

By operating as a council, you advocate for equity and justice among members, by ensuring everyone has an equal voice, and free exchange of ideas within your organization or business.  A modern-day version of this that can be applied to businesses is the practice of organizational self-management, which is the work culture that Alliance for a Viable Future is establishing in our internal processes and our climate leadership curriulum (more to come on that this spring).

It's an inspiring way for us to design our lives, build symbiotic relationships, and establish networks of resource sharing that builds equity, justice and resilience.

The Links Between Racial Injustice And The Climate Crisis

While mainstream thinking doesn't always connect racism and the climate crisis, we know through systems analysis, research, and hands-on experience that these two issues are deeply connected.

Because, while many tie the "beginning" of the climate crisis to the industrial revolution, it can actually be traced back even further to the beginnings of colonization, as shared by AVF council member Sara Jolena Wolcott of Sequoia Samanvaya. 

This pattern of disconnection expanded through slavery and it was also through colonization that indigenous knowledge and stewardship of the earth were discouraged or completely erased from cultures.

Today, it's communities of color and disadvantaged groups that are the most vulnerable to the negative effects of the climate crisis.

If you would like to learn more about the connection between racial injustice and the climate crisis and how you can help create new systems to cultivate healing for people and planet, we highly recommend listening to this interview with Sara Jolena Wolcott. 

How to Help Stop The Exploitation of Indigenous Traditions

In 2023, non-native-led and owned companies continue to make a profit and exploit indigenous ceremonies and spiritual practices without including, honoring, or sharing profits with members of native communities.

The issue is not that non-native people are participating in indigenous ceremonies.  The issue is that non-native organizations and businesses are profiting from the use of indigenous cultural practices without building real relationships, allyship and solidarity with native people and communities.  This is called cultural appropriation. 

CNN News recently reported that the Avatar movie sequel has been criticized and boycotted by indigenous people because it is a story told by a white man about a generalized version of indigenous culture and struggles against oppression, instead of working in partnership with native people to raise up their voices, and stand in solidarity, in the real struggles that they are facing (read the article here). 

The Center for Support and Protection of Indian Religions and Indigenous Traditions (SPIRIT) exists to address the issue of cultural appropriation and raise awareness so that each of us can do our part to be much more mindful and discerning about how we choose to engage with indigenous traditions, cultures and practices.

Today, they're bringing attention to a multi-million dollar organization profiting from the Lakota Inipi traditions, The ManKind Project or MKP.

While MKP is doing good in the world with its mission to help men through personal and spiritual development, its offerings include sweat lodges, ceremonial items, spirit names, and many other practices taken from the Lakota Nation, with almost no direct relationships with the Lakota people or communities, alongside questionable and irresponsible behavior by leadership. 

This issue was first brought to MKP in 1993, but the organization has "refused to engage with any Indigenous leaders from outside of the organization" and little to nothing has changed about how they operate their business in 2023. 

The MKP executive leadership team has begun dialogues with the SPIRIT organization, in the last couple of months, and it is important for us to hold them accountable to their own mission of being men of integrity, and support them to do the right thing - to take this humbling lesson to heart, and go along with the cease and desist demand of the SPIRIT organization.

Find out how and learn more about SPIRIT's mission: https://www.spiritprotection.org/take-action