It is going to be quite some time before traditional ways of knowing and modern science cohesively work together to form one way of learning our environment. However, many of the ways of the indigenous peoples have disappeared and it becomes harder to learn from their methods.
The main difference between traditional methods and western science is that the traditional methods have been in practice for far longer than western science. Fortunately, there is one common link that binds the two together. Both view the world as having many interdependent variables that affect our surroundings. Nothing is separate. This is what makes them invaluable to each other. The traditional ways of knowing the Earth have been around for much longer than a lot of western science. However, in our current day there are many new human created variables that could affect the health of the planet. In order to understand the health of the planet a mixture of the two is necessary.
An elder native in Fairbanks, Howard Luke, often speaks about why we're having trouble with the Earth. He says that man is going against nature by not respecting the land. What he is saying is that if we only worry about harvesting and not keeping things in balance that the resources won't be there for us later when we need them.
This is happening all over the state of Alaska. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0605/feature1/text2.html This link discusses the situation near Nuiqsut.
Photo: Nuiqsut c/o http://www.co.north-slope.ak.us
When Alpine began drilling for oil in 2000 near Nuiqsut it was supposed to be a high-tech low impact way of obtaining oil. However, it boomed into a much larger operation that quickly began to interfere with the traditional ways the villagers were used to. Rather than continue fighting the expansion, they have taken jobs in the oil industry and negotiate use of land. Although these two groups are working together to maintain the peace it will be a long time before the balance of nature is restored.Western influence has distracted many indigenous cultures from their traditional ways with alcohol, drugs and other addictions. Many of the elders who lived off the land entirely have passed on. Very few are left and it is becoming harder to document the traditional ways of knowing.
Traditional ways of knowing and western science is like the analytic mind coming together with the global brain. While it's good to have a systematic approach to discover the behavior and operations of nature it is necessary to maintain the global view of how everything fits together.
