SYNTHESIS

Through macro- and micro-questions, field guides, and case studies, Synthesis helps you to step into a research stance of your own. You are invited to investigate how water is guided, blocked, or cared for where you live; to trace patterns of continuity and rupture; and to design non-violent forms of action that restore relationship between people, land, and more-than-human kin.

WHY SYNTHESIS?

This section exists because the crises we face—climate instability, ecological collapse, cultural fragmentation—cannot be met by technical fixes or disciplinary silos. They require a return to relationships. Synthesis is where participants learn to see beyond categories like “environment,” “infrastructure,” “culture,” or “spirituality,” and instead encounter the world as Indigenous knowledge systems have long understood it: a living continuum of water, soil, story, governance, memory, and care. The “why” is simple and profound—we cannot restore the planet without restoring relationship. By studying ancestral technologies, tracing watershed logics, and engaging in critical, inquiry-driven research, participants build the capacity for non-violent, community-rooted action that strengthens ecological health and cultural continuity.