Transforming one’s consciousness is an eco-business

Transforming one’s consciousness is an eco-business

Claudia Laricchia

The first learning experience organized by the indigenous population’s impact accelerator I lead as President, concluded on March 26th in the state of Assam, India.

The accelerator, named Smily Academy, stands for Sustainable Mindset and Inner Level for Youth. It’s a special program by the non-governmental organization on climate justice for indigenous peoples, founded by Jadav Payeng and Rituraj Phukan. I was appointed as the third leader of their NGO, representing 400 million people in 90 countries, the first non-indigenous person in this leadership position.

The learning experience was unprecedented, because this kind of formula has never been implemented before, having indigenous and not-indigenous populations investing together in next generations. 

However, I don’t want to focus solely on the remarkable success of this global experiment. Instead, I want to follow the example of Jadav Payeng, who, over 40 years, single-handedly planted an entire forest, the Molaikathoni Forest, persevering through hardships without losing sight of the main goal.

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So, I’d like to share a couple of unpleasant episodes to provide a truthful and accurate picture of this global experiment.

The experience began on World Forest Day with The Forest Man, who hailed Smily Academy as a blessing and a platform for future generations, including his 25-year-old daughter Munmuni Payeng. She inherits his mission, entrusting me, a Western woman, with the significant responsibility of carrying forward his life’s work, which has resonated worldwide.

Five years and approximately 100 days from the climate collapse, according to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose results you can check here https://climateclock.world/)  this responsibility, born from my full commitment to a project I co-invented with 21-year-old engineering student Matteo Salerno, holds immense meaning.

It’s counterintuitive. It’s self-change. It’s anti-colonialism. It’s a testimony of peace. It’s unity in human biodiversity. It’s intergenerational. It’s female leadership.

I was particularly concerned about the latter aspect.

As a Western woman, I wondered how I could assert authority in this project, especially in a country still plagued by horrors against women. My leadership was indeed challenged, but not by indigenous men or tribal leaders, nor by the Western companies involved, nor by UN agencies, nor by any of the 30 participants from five continents.

My leadership was challenged solely by a young indigenous woman who applied for the program but attended less than half of the sessions before disappearing with resentment and a desire for retribution.

She runs a small sustainable cosmetics startup and had two Western companies ready to invest in her.

I found her ideological attack respectable.

You can’t change the direction of centuries of colonial history without encountering forests of prejudice.

This woman reminded me of another attack my leadership faced, this time in Brazil, for a learning experience we’re planning in the Amazon rainforest with Ivani Pauli, Smily Brazil’s director.

I was accused of “white sovereignty,” and I had to silence my colleagues who wanted to defend me.

I’m proud of these young women who challenge me.

They’re so enraged by a history their people have endured for centuries that they fail to recognize someone trying to change it—a native leader, The Forest Man of India, who chose me for the very reasons they contest.

I’m proud of them because they know how to confront what they perceive as authority and a threat. Even though their arguments are far from the truth, their anger deserves respect and channeling into deep, critical thinking, not just blindly adhering to the past.

It’s in that rupture that change lives or will live.

Smily Academy begins with consciousness transformation. A transformation that’s an enterprise.

This transformation, facilitated by various profound tools, is incredibly challenging and with Smily, it becomes eco-business. At this respect, the possible available tools are several: mindfulness; consciousness transformation; inner development goals; yoga and meditation; ikigai exercises etc. 

It requires tenacity, love for one’s limitations, the ability to recognize and address them at their root—a painful but necessary process to unlock one’s potential.

Climate change is personal. It’s a matter of consciousness.

It stems from each individual’s inner dimension, mindset, and essence. Only then can action be taken.

Action towards development, productivity, wealth generation—extracting more from Mother Earth than she can give—luxurious excesses devoid of sustainability, structures that violate our nature, abundance, redundancy, disconnected innovations—all of which are disconnected from our true nature and that of nature itself.

Smily transforms consciousness and mindset, turning it downstream into a business. A regenerative business. An eco-business with an indigenous factor, acknowledging that 5% of the world’s population has historically demonstrated regenerative mindset, safeguarding 85% of global biodiversity. Without them, what are we talking about?

My young detractor is part of the FAO’s indigenous youth forum. This prompts reflection on representation, further fragmentation among indigenous peoples, and the tendency to weaken rather than strengthen one’s voice in dissent.

Smily’s journey began on World Forest Day with The Forest Man, a man who single-handedly planted a forest twice the size of Central Park and 13 times the size of a football field. It continued with yoga and meditation sessions by Giorgia Draisci from Thailand, arranged by Dot Academy, to guide us in consciousness transformation.

During her sessions, which included a three-hour one, I cried, suffered physically and mentally, and even harbored resentment towards Giorgia—a close friend of mine for about 20 years.

However, I never strayed from her teachings.

I trusted her and the process. Like everyone else, I immersed myself because to be an eco-entrepreneur, one must work extensively on their inner sphere first, leading to effective action as a collateral effect.

I can’t claim success because my inner journey is ongoing. But I have succeeded in never giving up.

The experience continued on World Water Day.

Thanks to Fortune Italia, we met 1,300 Italian school students at the Aquae event in the jungle, recording a video for our YouTube channel. We studied riverbanks, indigenous adaptation to the climate crisis, visited some of Assam’s 97 tribes, and fished with them.

During the indigenous eco-business school days, we learned about building treehouses with bamboo, ate mindfully, co-created nature-based solutions to climate crisis problems, learned systemic thinking from NNEDPRO and Prof. Sumantra Ray from Cambridge, played fireball—an inclusive sport invented by Max Bartoli who was with us—connected with ourselves (soul), with others (society), with the planet (soil), and celebrated change (smile) during the Holi festival, which symbolizes rebirth.

Just like Easter.

Transitioning, before being ecological in models, must be ecosystemic in our minds, hearts, and spirits. The rest is a collateral effect. Just like business.

Holi and Easter signify rebirth. Humanity must be reborn. That’s our call. Despite the resistance to change, it’s ironic that in my experience, it’s been two young women expressing this resistance. Yet, it’s heartening to see them angry, unlike the complacency in some adults.

With this initial prototype, we’ve shown it’s possible. It’s feasible. We already knew it was urgent and necessary. Now, Smily must scale quickly. It must happen at all costs because we have five years and 100 days before the climate collapse.

And you? Which side of the inevitable change are you on?

Claudia Laricchia, Smily Academy, President and founder of the Smily Academy, the first Indigenous Eco-business Academy for international young ecopreneurs. www.smilyacademy.org

26-04-2024

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