{"id":32033,"date":"2021-05-25T18:26:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T22:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=32033"},"modified":"2021-06-25T14:37:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T18:37:35","slug":"speed-of-trust-a-native-american-investment-example-of-restorative-agriculture-and-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/speed-of-trust-a-native-american-investment-example-of-restorative-agriculture-and-economics\/","title":{"rendered":"Speed of Trust: A Native American Investment Example of Restorative Agriculture and Economics"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to June 2021 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n

\"Theo<\/p>\n

(above) Kevin Pourier\u2019s Buffalo Horn Art<\/a>: Connoting the achievement of bringing the Buffalo back. \u201cwasna\u201d carrying container by a hunter or warrior for nutrient dense \u201cfast food\u201d.<\/h5>\n

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As White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy espouses, we need to think in systemic terms when tackling our collective challenges \u2014 COVID, economic downturn, seeking social justice to heal racism, and climate change \u2014 these are all challenges that must be approached together. Our best guides \u2014 environmentally, socially, in governance practices and economically \u2014 are still our Indigenous brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n

Eighty percent of the earth\u2019s biodiversity is stewarded by 5 percent of the indigenous people living on 25 percent of the world\u2019s land surfaces. Indigenous people, as a culture, have been very successful in living in balance with the environment.1<\/sup> One could attest that their multi-dimensional, multi-generational ways of living and their spiritual connection with the lands and all species is the fundamental chord in the harmony and vitality they achieve.<\/p>\n

Eighty percent of the earth\u2019s biodiversity is stewarded by 5 percent of the indigenous people living on 25 percent of the world\u2019s land surfaces. Indigenous people, as a culture, have been very successful in living in balance with the environment.<\/h3>\n

I attended the ASBC\/SVC Spring Conference2<\/sup> in April 2021. This session in particular impacted me \u2014 fundamentally. \u201cRestorative Investing for Racial Justice: Learning More about the Tanka Bar Investment.\u201d Participants included Aner Ben-Ami (Candide Group), Dawn Sherman (Native American Natural Foods (NANF)\/Tanka Bar), Jeff Cyr (Raven Capital Partners), and Laina Greene (Angels of Impact). Some of the text of this article is drawn from that session.<\/p>\n

In 2006 Native American Natural Foods (NANF), an Oglala Lakota enterprise mounted on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, launched the Tanka Bar<\/a>, the first commercial bison meat-and-fruit energy bar, based on a traditional Lakota recipe called \u2018wasna<\/a>.\u2019 The intent of the enterprise was to bring the Buffalo back, as the Oglala Lakota people experience themselves and the Buffalo as Sister Nations. With lean buffalo meat reintroduced into their diet,<\/strong> the Oglala Lakota curtailed obesity and diabetes; simultaneously reintroducing the Buffalo led to regenerated soil and community health. With a goal of equitable wealth creation within its robust supply chain, NANF aimed to create livelihoods for their community members and Native ranchers (unemployment on the reservation is around 70 percent!), and bring bison back to the prairie, with profound climate and cultural implications.<\/p>\n