| Affiliation with other organizations: |
Mindahi Crescencio Bastida Muñoz is the director of the Original Caretakers Initiative at the Center for Earth Ethics.
He serves as the General Coordinator of the Otomi-Hñahñu Regional Council in Mexico, a caretaker of the philosophy and traditions of the Otomi people, and has been an Otomi Ritual Ceremony Officer since 1988. Born in Tultepec, Mexico, he holds a doctorate of rural development from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and is the President of the Mexico Council of Sustainable Development.
Bastida Muñoz is a member of the steering committee of the Indigenous Peoples’ Biocultural Climate Change Assessment Initiative, and has served as a delegate to several commissions and summits on indigenous rights and the environment. He has written extensively on the relationship between the State and Indigenous Peoples, intercultural education, collective intellectual property rights and associated traditional knowledge, among other topics. |
| Confirmation of the activities of the organization at the regional, national or international level: |
The Original Caretakers Program - Center for Earth Ethics (CEE) - Union Theological Seminary, is dedicated to honoring, supporting and learning from Indigenous Peoples’ wisdom and traditions, especially regarding the values and spiritual dimensions of our ecological crisis.
The Vision and Mission of CEE, to strengthen Earth Ethics values and promote change for the good living of all beings, is fundamental in the joint work with Indigenous Peoples and our relationship with Mother Earth.
The Original Caretakers Program is also based on the Unification Process and the Four Pillars. Based on this common vision, we have been working with Elders from Mexico, Colombia and from around the world and have inaugurated an initiative that seeks the Unification Process, through the Four Pillars: 1. Council of Indigenous Spiritual Elders. 2. Protection of Sacred Sites. 3. Houses of Original Thought to strengthen ancestral wisdom. And 4. Intercultural Exchange. This process is to respond to the world and civilizational crisis, emphasizing that all beings, including celestial bodies, are integral components of life systems, and must be taken into account to recover balance and harmonization with Mother Earth.
As we work to protect sites we partner with Indigenous communities in North, South and Central America to preserve their traditional knowledge and ways. We also provide support and tools to help protect their traditional land from developers, mining companies, and fossil fuel interests.
We are working to establish the Grand Council of Indigenous Spiritual Elders with members of all continents with outstanding spiritual work for their peoples and territories. We are also working in protecting Biocultural Sacred Sites through Healing and Balancing Mother Earth, carrying out ceremonies to reactivate and protect Sacred Sites around the world. In collaboration with UNESCO-Andes we have been working around the Biocultural Sacred Sites protection initiative.
Additionally,, we are working in collaboration with theologians and scholars at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University to develop curriculum rooted in INdigenous knowledge to address the impacts of climate change. The curriculum is intersectional and is oriented towards the academy but a version will also be available for use in the public square. |
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