When ancient wisdom beats modern industry - Rebecca Webster
Vložit
- čas přidán 9. 05. 2024
- Get to know the story of the Three Sisters, and what we can learn about sustainably growing food from Indigenous practices.
--
Suffering illness and despair, Chief Handsome Lake prepared for death. Then, he had a vision. He was walking through a planted field and heard a woman call out. She told him that the recent devastation had left her and her sisters with little hope for the future and asked if they could join him on his journey toward death. Who were these women? Rebecca Webster shares the tale of the Three Sisters.
Lesson by Rebecca Webster, directed by Luisa Holanda.
This video made possible in collaboration with Speed & Scale
Learn more about how TED-Ed partnerships work: bit.ly/TEDEdPartners
Support Our Non-Profit Mission
----------------------------------------------
Support us on Patreon: bit.ly/TEDEdPatreon
Check out our merch: bit.ly/TEDEDShop
----------------------------------------------
Connect With Us
----------------------------------------------
Sign up for our newsletter: bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletter
Follow us on Facebook: bit.ly/TEDEdFacebook
Find us on Twitter: bit.ly/TEDEdTwitter
Peep us on Instagram: bit.ly/TEDEdInstagram
----------------------------------------------
Keep Learning
----------------------------------------------
View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/the-myster...
Dig deeper with additional resources: ed.ted.com/lessons/the-myster...
Animator's website: www.luisaholanda.com
----------------------------------------------
Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Jezabel, Abdullah Abdulaziz, Xiao Yu, Melissa Suarez, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Peng, Tzu-Hsiang, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Mark Byers, Avinash Amarnath, Xuebicoco, Rayo, Po Foon Kwong, Boffin, Jesse Jurman, Scott Markley, Elija Peterson, Ovidiu Mrd, paul g mohney, Steven Razey, Nathan Giusti, Helen Lee, Anthony Benedict, Karthik Balsubramanian, Annastasshia Ames, Amy Lopez, Vinh-Thuy Nguyen, Liz Candee, Ugur Doga Sezgin, Karmi Nguyen, John C. Vesey, Yelena Baykova, Nick Johnson, Carlos H. Costa, Jennifer Kurkoski, Ryan B Harvey, Akinola Emmanuel, Jose Arcadio Valdes Franco, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Karl Laius, JY Kang, Abhishek Goel, Heidi Stolt, Nicole Sund, Karlee Finch, Mario Mejia and Denise A Pitts.
I love the Native American history,cultures,stories and folklore coming from different channels lately.
We are finally being seen
Ted- Ed is one of the goats for this, they represent so many cultures pretty well
I so appreciate it as someone not exposed to these stories. Stories connect us all, and keep us connected through the generations sharing them. Much love to you. 💜
I do have native American ancestry (Blackfoot), but I've never even been in touch with any of it. I'm also glad to hear these stories
YEAH!
@@vitisvinifera1590Also Native Descended! Hey!
I'm Malaysian. My family orchard also plant corn and beans together we also plant papaya and pumpkin together.
Great to know
Neat!
Oh I thought the 3rd sister is some sort of pumpkin variety!
Malaysian here too
What do papaya and pumpkin do for each other?
Indigenous knowledge is invaluable.
What kind of knowledge do you think this is specifically, is it called indigenous farming/agriculture. Im just curious, i want to dive in these parts of youtube. As an indinesian who have seen so many problems around these topics I want to learn before its too late
@@milhamalfarisi4112 It makes sense! I think this would be considered Indigenous agriculture, although it's very closely tied to Indigenous medicine as well. In some cases where Indigenous crop cultivation has not historically required the clearing of forests, the term agroforestry might be more accurate than agriculture. There are Indigenous communities in all parts of the world and with them the earnest desire to protect these sorts of knowledge. I'm not sure that there's a consolidated resources base with free access, but there are some great videos on CZcams and the reputable ones should have their sources listed for further research.
HUH 🤔ofc it´s valuable, wtf????
@@NanaKawaiis2 they're saying that this kind of knowledge is priceless...? like you can't put a physical price tag on it?
Couldn't agree more, giirl
Can we apriciate the artstyle? Amazing job!
Right
I did. It's called watching the video.
That was the reason I clicked it 😂
Fully agree. Its beautiful 😍
@@ghostderazgrizyou can also check out the graphic artist credited in the video description 👍
Companion planting is my favourite way to garden. Carrots and tomatoes planted together also protect each other. The tomato plant releases chemicals that guard against the carrot fly which lays their eggs in the tops of carrots. Peas and radish also do nicely together. Anything in the garlic/onion family will do nicely planted near roses. There’s a pair of books: Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic. They’re written by Louise Riotte. She’s from Oklahoma and spent many years observing her home garden and which plants do well together. I highly recommend both books. 😊
Thank you for the recs!
Thank you for the book titles.
Screenshotted this
I love how the animation style feels so delicate. The narrator's voice is soothing and other educational video. ❤❤
Me too
@@yellowstarproductions6743 uhmm.. narrator seems like an ai voice. maybe it is!
@@Edits_via1707 there is a real narrator name
Being part of the Haudenosaunee, this video brought me to tears. The thought that our culture and practices dying with our people always weighed heavy on our hearts. But seeing that our practices are being shown to so many people melts my heart and gives me hope that my people and my culture is not going to be forgotten
gotta love it when ted-ed weaves folklore, history, and modern science together
I first heard of the 'three sisters' manner of growing a 'perfect meal', years ago. I didn't know the legend behind it, and am delighted to have learned. The practice makes all kinds of sense, and when supplemented by fish or chicken, I think makes for that 'perfect meal'.
This isn’t the story of how the three sisters originated, this is just about how they survived the genocides carried out by settler colonists. Haudenosaunee nations all have their own stories about how the three sisters (often translated as “Our Life Sustainers” across the Haudenosaunee languages) came to be. also, they’re referred to as the perfect meal because together they form a complete protein, no meat necessary.
@@user-nv5sn3tb4e Also they taste great together
@@user-nv5sn3tb4ethanks for that. Came here to say about the same. A lot of people are so used to mass industrial farming that they have no idea that meat is unnecessary, and meat eating has always been far less common than it is now.
To me, and many tribes, the animals on this earth are our brothers and sisters. To kill them to add to a meal of the three sisters, thinking it incomplete otherwise, seems so wasteful and senseless. It makes me sad that people think of our fellow creatures as objects to lux up a completely healthy meal. The traditional Cherokee belief is that animals created diseases in retaliation to humans being to kill them. When someone kills an animal when it is not needed, my great grand mother said the spirit can track them down and make them sick with rheumatism and a host of other ailments.
I disagree. Meat is delicious not just because of its flavor and necessary not just because of its nutritional value, but because it helps satisfy a primal predatory instinct deeply engraved in our genome from the times of our hunter ancestors. Killing and eating prey is partially what turned our ape ancestors to the path towards becoming humans, intelligent and creative beings, before we were evolved enough to learn how to grow plants and manipulate, as first they learned how to use fire to cook meat. Even though the role played by the consumption of cooked meat in the brain growth of our ape ancestors is debated, I think its effect in our evolution from beings at the mercy of nature to wielders of our destiny is undeniable. I agree that mass production of meat is bad and we should reevaluate or way of consuming it, but no reason is sufficient to convince me (and many others) to stop consuming it completely. Maybe we should hunt more our meat for ourselves and our families instead of buying it in a supermarket, I think that would make us more conscious and responsible of our meat consumption
@@cochlea2719 Surely someone that cares as much about evolution as you seem to would know of vestigiality. When it comes to how I live my life, I have to prioritize what I can do with what I have now, not what was once useful to us in distant times and circumstances. Us vs them and predatory mindsets were useful when other hominids also occupied the planet and were direct competitors and threats to our survival, but now the same instinct cause people to want, and sadly achieve, the genocides of millions, never ending war, hyper-individualism, and all sorts of behaviors that are horrible for everyone involved, including the planet.
The special thing about humans is that we often have the means to change our environments. We could do so to make a kinder world for ourselves and others, yet tend to choose not to and live in constant conflict and suffering, in exchange for little fleeting enjoyments and petty luxuries we never really needed.
It's hard to argue against the idea that our desire to use and abuse those, who we see as different to us, is no longer working in favour of the survival and prosperity of our species. In my opinion, calling these instincts vestigial is putting it lightly, I think they're far worse than useless remnants. At our current rate, we are our own biggest threat to our species. Even from a completely amoral and solely tangible perspective, animal agriculture causes more pollution than all travel combined, planes, trains, boats, cars, all of it, greatly increases rates of desertification, uses massive amounts of water while greatly polluting it and the communitues it runs off to. Mathematically, practically, we simply cannot sustain our planet eating anywhere near the amount of meat that humans are. From what we currently know, most populations of humans have eaten very modest amounts of meat for the vast majority of our species existence. Now we're sacrificing our ancient rainforests for a few more measly decades of all-you-can-eat hamburgers and chicken nuggets. Evolving away from a predatory mindset might be the only thing that saves our species from destroying itself and the planet along with it. A predator requires endless victims in order to survive, but we only have one planet in the here and now. There is no killing this one and moving on to rob life from another planet. Just like a new type of virus will go extinct if it's so deadly that it kills its host before infecting another. These are all things that follow the theory of evolution.
There are just too many questions I keep running into when trying to understand your reasoning. Or at least my interpretation of your reasoning, feel free to tell me I've misunderstood something or offer how you got through these questions yourself if I got the jist of it. Genuinely, How does a species begin to evolve something new if it just continues to mimic the old adaptations to old pressures? How can we ever evolve to fit our present circumstances if we prioritize using the past to inform our current actions? Evolution is driven by changes in the environment, and oh boy, has our entire human environment changed drastically from the stone age. Making a pretty drastic adaptation to our diets only makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Why would changes so large as industrialization, globalization, and anthropomorphic climate change NOT cause our species to make some pretty drastic changes from humans 10,000+ years ago? How do you hold the belief that evolution is important to how you choose your diet, and at the same time that, choose to base your diet on your ancestors', rather than trying to change to adapt to the selective pressures of our current environment (which is essentially the active process of evolution.)
I did not expect a story with tones of botany and agriculture. I received ever the more than what expected out of something I clicked for entertainment. Wonderful!
If I was a teacher. I would play this at school for my students. Very nice video.
I agree! I wish this video had been around when I was teaching! I once taught in elementary school cooking class, and are used the story of the three sisters to explain these important crops, and in the end, we made a sort of succotash with each of the ingredients. This would have made a great addition as well!
We learned a bit about the three-sister farming method in history class but this video expanded on it so much more ❤
indigenous wisdom will show us the way in our journey to heal our relationship with our mother earth.
Truly! Tribes respected the earth and thrived before colonization simply through innovative ways like these
Affirmative my human brothers and sisters.
One of the main reasons for the fall of the "classical period" Mayans in the 10th century was the massive burning of land for cultivation. Stop generalizing and seeing the Native Americans as a people, there are hundreds of people, most of them never contacted the majority
Every group of people was indigenous to some location. if you read the book Collapse you will find evidence for native American tribes collapsing because of environmental destruction. The Anasazi in New Mexico ate every plant and cut down every tree for hundreds of miles to an extent they had to build roads to get food to the capital.
@@Nuaheal Exactly, the Anasazi destroyed the local environment to such an extent they had to build roads for hundreds of miles to transport enough food to the capital. Indigenous peoples are not magically wiser than any other peoples.
My parents small village in mexico still grows like this. I remember helping my grandfather in the fields planting all three seeds lol
0:58 loved this frame it's my wallpaper now
Same here
I once saw on buzzfeed a video on Native American foods. One of them was a stew called the Three Sisters, made from those exact ingredients. Now i wanna try that.
I bet a stew would be great! I’ve also made an amazing succotash with these ingredients
Me too
Everything about this video is so perfect-the animation,the narration,the story,the science behind,the message. ❤❤
I read sunflower is sometimes planted as fhe 4th sister, drawing away birds from the corn
Unfortunately I don't see large scale farmers and corporations implementing this style due to the need to be able to efficiently harvest the crops. I think a major reason why they only grow one type of crop at a time is not only for profit, but also due to the equipment being used to harvest the crop is specially suited to harvest that crop. Having three at the same time to harvest would probably present a barrier that would be hard to cross without having to hire farm hands around harvest time to harvest the crops effectively. As the bulk of machine harvesting methods simply rip the plants out of the ground and separate the produce from the stalks or what have you. Which would be hard to do without manually harvesting the crops, which in it of itself isn't a bad thing as it would aid local communities in terms of income and job opportunities for a few months out of the year. Yet due to the cost it simply isn't in the companies best interest to do that, unless their forced to do so, so well probably keep having the same issue of the land being depleted unfortunately.
Crops being more expensive to harvest would raise the price of food, too. I love hearing about methods like these and plan to implement them into my garden. But I understand why it can't be done on a large enough scale to feed the whole population at an affordable price.
Then make it a political issue that is important to your vote. Ultimately, the US Government directs the nations farming because it is the one subsidizing most agricultural production ("free market", huh). That's why the Farmers have such a powerful voting block in politics; a mutually beneficial relationship.
So if you want to see change, put your vote behind. That's the only way to materialize change.
Technology tends to adapt to our needs. There was a time when electric cars were considered impractical on a large scale due to their many limitations. Today, Tesla is one of the most profitable companies on the S&P500.
@MoneyGist EV is heavily subsidised and most companies are losing money on it now. The technology isn't there yet. So I don't think that is a good analogy. But i get what you're saying.
@@magic_honey I mean it's an issue of there is a lot of laws and legislation that's moreso forcing the switch to them. Truthfully their not that practical and emit the same amount of emissions as a fossil fuel burning car, and can be worse in some cases. It's just instead of the car emitting the emissions, it comes in the form of the electricity it uses being sourced from fossil fuels, and the batteries needed required earth metals that require a lot of mining. So a good analogy for them is Germany, in that Germany lowered their carbon emissions by a significant amount, but it was done so through carbon bartering in that another country was producing the emissions for them instead..
love this! thank YOU! it adds so much to why my family enjoys making 'Three Sisters Soup' b/c now I understand the beautiful, deeper meaning...
Me too
Imagine being named "Handsome Lake" damn good name.
10 out of 10, a tale of science AND story, INCREDIBLE! I LOVE IT! ♥🤲
I love videos like this, it's always so fascinating to learn about the spiritual and scientific factors of things like agriculture!
Thank you for this video! I knew the benefits of the 3 sisters method and it’s origins to the indigenous people, but I learned even more. I have been fascinated by the indigenous community since I was a teen because of their culture and resilience.
Me too
Ancient wisdom, communicated with clarity and compassion, rendered in a beautiful contemporary medium.
One of the most beautiful piece of work, not just the animation but the music, narration and overall direction is so eloquent and perfect.
What a beautiful story and practice. This would make a wonderful children's book. As a parent, teacher and botanist I would love to give this book to my students and grandchildren. Thank you for your beautiful work and valuable story. Be well.
Indigenous American cultures are so beautiful
Agreed
Aztecs (Tenochcas, Tlaxcaltecas and many more): XD
Thank you very much, I am very grateful for this video. The timing could not have been more swift. I am writing a text for my philosophy class about the domestication of land and catholic views on agriculture. This provides me with the perfect counter argument and a fresh understanding of life and our relation to plants. So much more to learn about Indigenous practices ♥♥♥
Make sure you EFF IT UP KING
What a beautiful video & story.. Thank you to everyone who worked on this! 🙏🌟
The animation, background music, and narration are superb. Thank you!
I went from thinking the video's topic was Native American history, then thinking we're about to hear about a Native American myth, then surprised to see some plant science, and ending with a lesson about agriculture.
Regardless, I was happy with what I learned today.
Thank you for this ancient wisdom.. be blessed 🙏🏼💚 huge respect to the natives 🥹
Not just the knowledge shared, but the animation, voice, and background voices and specially that music note of some old man was awesome
Oh my goodness, this is such a beautiful video, so peaceful. So soothing and graceful.
I wanna learn more about indigenous agriculture, as an indonesian I fear my country’s tradition of farming will fade soon
Especially when the elder generation dies, along with the knowledge. We also have little to no local literature with such information (even if there were, it's hard to access such books)
This is by far my most favorite of all your creations. Thank you for featuring regenerative agriculture - a movement that is very close to my heart, along with permaculture.
- our hearts!
This was truly lovely and informative. Thank you.
That's amazing! I would love to see these strategies happening in modern agriculture... But I think we still have a long way to go! To implement these techniques, the landlords would need to adapt and search for new ways to produce... It would require time and money, so obviously they would not give it a try. I hope that in the future we can produce food to everyone in healthier ways. Greetings from Brazil
The power of three will set you free
Ted Ed never ceases to amaze!
Now I wanna plant these 3 crops in my garden
We have allowed sociopaths and psychopaths to climb into positions of power for generations. This has shaped our cultures away from community, caring and wisdom, and towards disconnect from one another and nature.
We must correct this course if we are to survive. ❤
‼️‼️
Native American history, ancient wisdom, science, sustainability, storytelling ... well done TED Ed. Beautiful description of the synergy between these 3 plants. Great lesson.
The animation and illustration is always amazing
Finally a Three Sisters video! This is the perfect addition to my science lessons
A beautiful story with beautiful animation
I always get so hungry when I learn about the Three Sisters. Perfect meal right there.
Water retention just from mulching already helps a lot to keep my plant live, but for it to be naturally integrated is amazing.
I like this video, I always just assumed that crops would be stronger and healthier planted separately. I guess it's also a metaphor for life that we work together and share our knowledge for the benefit of us all.
This was beautiful history, content, and presentation
Wow, I was today years old before I learned about the three sisters. This is useful information, thanks
great content as always, thanks Ted ed❤
Handsome Lake is in my family tree! His brother Chief Cornplanter is my 5x Great Grandfather! To tell you I was SHOCKED when I heard his name here is an understatement. What a pleasant surprise to make a personal connection to history! 😊
The animation's so smooth. We can't use the word "perfect" to describe.
Absolutely phenomenal video! Thank you!
i've always loved the 3 sister...but this is so enlightening
Absolutel brilliant agricultural
This goes severely overlooked when going on native American history
They were innovators
So beautifully made. As allways.
i thought there will be sci fi ights from the title. but this is so much better. I always knew our ancestors are smart! trust you elders yall
In Sweden the growing of crops had the ground used in intervalls, growing different kinds of grains for three consecutive years and the left the lot untouched for a year to keep balance. This was common practice up until 1900
Practices & beliefs like this will be vital in this century of drastic climate change. The way we think about soil must change.
Insightful and informative.
This gives me hope and a sense of unity somehow. Like the future is here, it’s always been here and it’s to return to close-knitted community like how we used to. Tribes. Groups.
Apply to agriculture like this The Three Sisters’ way for example. Then we’ll soon find ways that’s shown there, in economy, in architecture and art and city buildings. Like idk but this one short animation just gives me so much hope in the possibilities of the future. The answers are right here, waiting to be re-discovered.
Beautiful mix of history and science
Beautiful art style 💞🙏
Excellent work.
I'm an Indian MBBS college student and I learnt all of this when I was preparing for NEET. So I loved to hear this story :) (BTW I gave my NEET first attempt in 2023 and scored 665 ;p)
WOW
👌excellent
Where are you studying mate ?
oh god is it in ncert? i mean the story?
@@Abhi_dominates GMC NAGPUR (cause I'm a localite so prefered it over KEM Mumbai)
The artsyle is AMAZING ❤❤
This has made me realize the meaning of 3 Sisters Chilli. Yes I’m hungry @ 3AM. Thank you !
The power of illustration ❤
Tomaotes and Marigolds are great to plant together
This is BEAUTIFUL 🤩/PRICELESS 💎 for SO MANY REASONS!
really glad i clicked on this master class
I practiced this years ago. In my region the corn needs to be raised at home first. Otherwise it would not be big enough to sustain the beans. It was fun to do. Thanks for reminding me
Este video es toda una obra de arte como conbina la fantasía y la ciencia
Magnificent. This truly demonstrates that this tribe, like so many across the continent above and below, is truly one with the natural world. So much so that they understood the complexities of growing crops annually and the symbiotic relationships that both the flora and fauna have long before modern science took notice. As a nature enthusiast, I would be honored to learn more about their culture and history that was theirs to begin with in this unique land and whose grandmother that loves growing plants, I’m certain that she will come along for the ride. I’m truly humbled by all creatures, great and small. 🏞
Indigenous people knew how to live in harmony with the earth. I weep for our future of increasing global warming and its effects. I sometimes wonder what the world would look like if if indigenous peoples were allowed to thrive instead of being conquered and colonized by Europeans
What did you expect from much Europeans at the time?!
@@markmunroe-hz8rf what an oddly worded question. You might want to take a second look at that
Well I can tell you that the western hemisphere would be hundreds to thousands of years behind in a technology standpoint, the Aztec empire would continue to enslave and conquer South America, North American native tribes would still be at war with each other, any invention made by the Western countries wouldn't exist (like phones, CZcams, etc).
We'd probably be at the same point in time as 1700s-1800 Europe if no one touched the Americas
Who was in the studio making the drum and chanting! Made me emotional
❤Awesome as always thanks
I saw this being used in the fields around Xela, Guatemala a decade or so ago. The practice goes back thousands and thousands of years throughout Mesoamerica.
This was a great story
Wholeheartedly agree. Though for commercial farms, monocropping is easier to harvest with machinery and this in turn saves on human labour.
Amazing art and music!
What an awesome story ❤❤❤
Thanks! I liked this!
This will probably get buried, but does anyone know the music playing in the background of this video? Would love to listen to the entire thing.
I also want to know
i also wanna know!
Please tag me if anyone finds out :)
Très belle vidéo. Claire, simple, et profonde. 🙏 #SaveSoil
Very interesting! I think at home I can certainly use this knowledge. I am curious however how people will pick these plants with machines if they are planted together. I think that is the main reason for monocrops
I hope they'll make agriculture books about this way of planting 😢❤
I got to know this story through a book I love very much, Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer! I strongly recomend!! Also this video is perfect in every way!
I see a post below recommending planting carrots with tomatoes. I cant even get carrots to sprout. No matter where or when I plant them. I grew them in the uk (now live in Andalucia) in an area infamous for carrot fly. We got to a few early tiny roots before the flies. Not one of the folk remedies worked. We grew our veg organically. Parsnips and scorzonera, turnips and radishes all did fine. Yet a few miles away, on peat rich land, carrots were grown commercially. All our local allotment holders for generations smiles at newcomers who would try to grow them in our boulder clay land. 😂
Beautiful, in México this way of planting the 3 sisters is called "milpa"
Thanks for the information ❤❤❤❤
I’ve heard about the 3 sisters and now I understand the principles behind the phrase.
To throw away the knowledge and traditions generations have accumulated and added on to for centuries is madness, there is so much to learn from our ancestors, even the answers we are desperately looking for.
Beautiful video. For so long, modern civilization had painted such cultures that live one with nature on a negative light. But finally, we are seeing that they are the ones with true wisdom. Before its too late, I hope the world can start embracing the wisdom of indigenous people and chart a true path to sustainable development rather than the modern civilization that is based on overexploitation of resources, marginalization of some peoples and no respect for nature.
Great story and message. Does anyone know the song playing in the background?
I’m tired of comments always just talking about “animation” alone. There are always deeper discussion to be had regarding the topics of the videos, and always just plain old non-productive, “oh, great artstyle, great animation.”
Amazing! ❤
That was the best thing I've seen,