Sustainability out of "Regionality"

As I got off the phone with my mom I had to reflect on a question she asked me. After I was done recapping my week's events of what I did, where I went, what I ate, and the people I met, she asked "So when you were little, did you ever think you'd be where Santa Claus lived?" "Uhh.. no" I said bluntly. I blew off the question and moved on to the next topic. What I didn't realize was that I am the furthest north I have ever been in my life, I'm reaching the longest time I have ever spent out of the U.S, and thinking in a language other than my mother tongue. As a five year old, the woods at the end of our street was the edge of my world. I dared not go beyond them. Santa lived millions of miles away in a winter world– so far that he flew in only once a year to visit.

Now as a 21 year old exploring far beyond the woods at the end of the street and living in the arctic zone where Santa comes from, I have become embedded in European, Scandinavian, Swedish, and Sami culture. Tonight we were given a tour of a historical Sami market (bottom picture) where vendors sold handicrafts in a fashion supposed to resemble the ancient market and we heard about a Sami woman's mother who lost a reindeer herd and struggled to make a living in the 19th century. We attended a lecture (top picture) where we heard about global warming and how regional cities and towns can implement sustainable development practices as a small but prolific piece to the global warming puzzle. The Sami are an example of untaught conversationalists in a modern time and could be examples for others to mirror. Not unlike the Sami, we flew thousands of miles to visit the Lakota tribe of South Dakota in a film documentary about current Lakota struggles in a constantly changing world. The Lakota care deeply for their earth with one elder reminding us, "We don't own the land, it owns us." The Sami and Lakota share a similar concept of respect and recognition of the earth. Today it seems a disconnect exists between humans and nature. To an extent, American culture engenders and reinforces those who are droning away all day in air conditioned offices with fluorescent bulbs, then popping into their noise-sealed air conditioned cars to zoom home on the interstate that cuts through a valley or prairie and then drive into their garages to slunk down into their air conditioned basements and let their minds float away on the TV. This ignorance of nature is unconscious and unintentional, I'm sure most people don't choose to neglect nature and attempt to block it out entirely. Yet, the Lakota and Sami are two groups that seem to have remembered this connection within their culture. In sum, the regional native people that live around the world are some of the first to show discretion and forethought towards the earth and are some of the first to experience the effects of carelessness and irresponsibility of those who don't understand.

I left the hot Dakota prairie (a place I've seen alot of growing up) and walked out of the theatre only to be reminded again that I was in Sweden, in Jokkmokk, experiencing the 406th Winter Market. Watching the preparation for this market is thrilling. As I sit here, I know that it will be an experience and memory that I never thought I would possess- certainly not as a five year old.