Reclaiming Land-Based Wisdom in Emergency Preparedness

Too many emergency plans treat the land like the enemy.

They talk about the flood, the fire, the quake - as if the land itself is the disaster.

But for generations, Indigenous communities have held knowledge that shows us a different way. The land is not something to fear. The land is a relative, a teacher, and a source of survival.

This isn’t about appropriating Indigenous practices that aren't ours. It’s about unlearning colonial ideas of domination - and returning to ways of preparing that are deeply relational, seasonal, and rooted in respect, and that we hold in our own ancestry.

Below are five shifts we explore in the Inclusive Community Preparedness Lab - inspired by land-based practices and guided by principles of ethics, accountability, and consent.

1. From Control to Relationship

Mainstream emergency management assumes we can out-plan nature. That with enough data, infrastructure, and technology, we can outsmart the next storm.

But Indigenous teachings remind us: the goal isn’t to control the land. The goal is to be in right relationship with it.

Preparedness can mean:

• Learning the seasonal rhythms of where you live

• Listening to plant and animal cues

• Honoring your responsibilities to water, and land

Relationship is resilience.

2. From Extraction to Reciprocity

Colonial systems prepare by stockpiling: resources, data, labor.

But Indigenous and land-based systems emphasize reciprocity - giving back as much as we take. That includes emotional, cultural, and ecological resources.

We ask in the Lab:

• What are you taking from community in your emergency preparedness?

• What are you giving back?

• How can preparedness be rooted in respect, not extraction?

Reciprocity builds trust. And trust saves lives in a crisis.

3. From Generalization to Place-Based Knowledge

Top-down emergency plans often treat every place the same. But no two lands - or communities - are alike.

Place-based preparedness means:

• Knowing the watershed you live on

• Mapping natural resources with community members

• Respecting local Indigenous sovereignty and governance

Your emergency plan should reflect the stories, risks, and strengths of where you are - not where someone else wrote the policy.

4. From Scarcity to Relational Abundance

Many preparedness models focus on scarcity: get more, hoard more, compete more.

But land-based frameworks show us that abundance lives in relationships - not stuff.

Abundance looks like:

• Sharing food with your neighbors

• Having several ways to access water

• Knowing who can host, who can cook, who can drive

This is community infrastructure. It’s already alive in many cultures - we just need to recognize it as preparedness.

5. From Appropriation to Accountability

It’s appropriative to include Indigenous practices that are not yours in a checklist of creating a relationship with the land.

Preparedness that honors Indigenous wisdom must also:

• Acknowledge whose land you’re on

• Build relationships with Indigenous leaders and organizers

• Practice consent, compensation, and crediting of knowledge

• Understand the difference between invitation and extraction

In the Lab, we don’t teach Indigenous knowledge we don’t have permission to share. But we do ask:

What are you doing to support Indigenous sovereignty in your preparedness work?

Because true resilience is built in relationship - with land, with each other, and with those whose knowledge has sustained life on the land you are on for generations.

Let’s return to land-based wisdom.

The Inclusive Community Preparedness Lab is for changemakers who want to build readiness that is ethical, relational, and rooted in more than colonial systems.

We begin May 21. Limited spots available.

Apply or learn more here

Because the land is not the enemy. The land is the invitation.