touch, which is enhanced by the travelogue style of writing whereby the author takes the reader through a journey of the indigenous people in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Pacific Islands and their methods of living in harmony with the environment.
The book covers a wide range of environmental issues, from food and water scarcity to forest fires. In each case, Hendry argues that following in the footprints of the indigenous people will help to solve these problems. For example, in February 2009, one of the worst bush fires in history hit Australia, but the house of an Aboriginal person remained completely unharmed because he practiced an ancient technique whereby he regularly burned all the timber surrounding his house, so that, in the case of a catastrophic event like this, there was nothing left to catch fire. Moreover, the knowledge of these indigenous people provides evidence for the existence of phenomena such as climate change. The diaries and stories of the Inuit people describe the retreat of polar ice and the damage that has been done to the spirit of the land.
In order to support what she is saying, Hendry references Indigenous scholars such as Marie Battiste, Mason Durie and Kepa Morgan. This not only adds validity to the book, but also allows the reader to abandon the conventional view that Indigenous people are less knowledgeable than us.