Coexistence
Different forms of life make space for one another.
Summary
The video explores how modern science and ancestral cultural knowledge can work together to better understand and care for the natural world. Through the reflections of Dr. Juan Lorenzo and local voices from Laciana, it shows the importance of listening, trust, patience and a more holistic approach that brings together science, art, tradition and lived experience. The video also highlights how local knowledge of livestock, landscape and cultural practices has helped sustain the valley for generations.
00:00
Welcome to EcoPathways, sustainable culture.
00:07
I am Tomás Lorenzo, and here in these valleys ancestral culture is still alive, connecting us deeply with nature.
00:18
Here every action reflects love and respect for the land, a balance that has endured through time.
00:28
Caring for the landscape and its creatures is more than a task; it is a way of life, a legacy that connects generations.
00:38
We speak with Dr. Juan Lorenzo, professor at the University of Louisiana and NASA collaborator. How should a scientist approach cultural wisdom?
00:55
(Dr. Juan Lorenzo): This last week, I think there are probably like two things that at least to start off with I would caution people to use, which is trust and a patience.
01:05
I think you have to listen a lot to what people tell you and you should not be dismissive because the science… the way modern science is practiced is very compartmentalised, whereas cultural wisdom is very integrational.
01:22
I found cultural wisdom has that we don’t have in science is that the center of it all has a strong component of humans, whereas we tend to separate and break everything up and almost people are not in the picture when we do science.
01:39
So we have to take a new attitude when we try… want to learn from cultural wisdom, but I think there’s a lot to learn.
01:48
I think that scientists cannot do it alone. You have to integrate science with art, like the old days. You really need to have a holistic approach to understand cultural wisdom. So you need doctors, psychologists, biologists, musicians, poets… to understand.
02:13
Livestock here is not just a tradition, it is part of the soul of these valleys, caring for the landscape as their ancestors did.
02:26
If you do not have purity, if you do not have purity in the Asturiana de los Valles, in the culona, you end up doing Caesarean sections all the time. You have to have purity.
02:36
As science advanced, we had to follow behind, safeguarding what had not been safeguarded, helping science.
02:50
The veterinarian knows veterinary medicine, but not what a cow is. He knows what has to be given to a cow, but what a cow itself is, that has to be known by the livestock farmer, the one who suckled from it, the one who milked it, the one who saw it being born and the one who saw it grow.
03:17
And one of the ways of reconstructing or rescuing this is to pay enormous attention to the people who still lived this sustainable use —I would say balanced, the word is “possible”— with the means that were available, who are those who today are retired or elderly.
03:37
And recover the place names, the uses, the ethnography, the tools, how butter was made…
03:46
Here in these valleys ancestral wisdom has allowed us to live in harmony with nature. Today it is more important than ever that we learn from it again.
04:00
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What this reveals
Coexistence — Different forms of life make space for one another.
The video shows coexistence as a practice of listening, adapting and learning. Scientific knowledge, cultural knowledge, people, livestock and landscape each contribute something different to how the valley is understood and cared for.
