Mamas from the Heart of the World - The Kogi

Who are the Kogi?

Perhaps you have never heard of the Kogi but if what these people say is true, then the future of this planet and our lives on it depends on their help. The Kogi are a mysterious tribe of people who live high on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain in Columbia, and who believe they are the guardians and caretakers for the whole world. 

 The Kogi leaders are priests known as Mamas. Mama means "enlightened one." They believe that the mountain they live on is the "Heart of the World," and this was why the landmark BBC documentary made by Alan Ereira in 1990 was entitled From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers' Warning.

Indigenous Koguis Shaman at Ciudad Perdida (Photo: Uhkabu)

The Kogi are unique in having been able to preserve their culture intact and dating back before the Spanish Conquest 500 years ago. They are a surviving Pre-Colombian culture but they are in turn descendants of the Tairona culture that flourished before this. The Tairona were an advanced civilisation that built cities and pathways of stone in the jungles. These structures were built to last and have survived in good condition long after their builders had gone.

 Statue of the Tayronas in Santa Marta, Colombia (Photo: Public Domain)

The Elder Brother

The term "Elder Brother" is used by the Kogi to refer to themselves, while the rest of the world and the western civilisation they call the "Younger Brother." In their belief system the Younger Brother was sent away long ago, leaving the Kogi Mamas to do their work in caring for the world from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Kogi boys can be selected from birth to be trained for nine years to become Mamas. They are kept in semi-darkness in a cave for this time and attended only by their mothers and Mamas who care for them and teach them about their history and beliefs and about Aluna. Aluna is the "Great Mother" from which all life and all creation sprang. Aluna is the life force behind nature. 

Kogi village huts (Photo: Thomas Dahlberg)

The Kogi Mamas have a complete understanding of the ecosystem and can interpret signs from nature with precision. Their mountain home is like a microcosm of the rest of the world because it really does contain microclimates and varying habitats such as can be found elsewhere on the planet. There are highlands and tundra, there are cloud forests and jungles, there are rivers and lakes, there are desert areas and lowlands, there are coastal regions with mangrove forests and reefs. 

It is possible to predict the health of the planet elsewhere by interpreting how it is on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This is why the Mamas had become very worried. They had seen that all was not well high on the mountain where snow and ice were not forming as they should, presumably due to Climate Change acerbated by how humans are treating the environment and wasting natural resources. No snow and ice high in the mountains and no clouds meant no water for streams and rivers to form from rainfall and meltwater, so no water for down below and without water nothing can live. 

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Photo: Public Domain)

The Kogi Mamas believe that because we are creating dams in the rivers, causing widespread deforestation, mining the land and mountains, polluting the seas, and otherwise destroying the environment and our home, that the world will come to an end, possibly as soon as in the next 50 years, unless we change course.

The Kogi tribe had kept itself away from the rest of the world until 1990 when the Mamas decided to break their silence in talking with Ereira and allowing him and his crew to film their secret homelands.

Kogi Warning

Sadly the Mamas have concluded that their message and warning to the Younger Brother was not heeded. This is why, 20 years later they decided to try another approach and have made a new film working with Ereira again. 

Aluna

Aluna is the title of the new movie made by the Kogi Mamas working again with Alan Ereira.  The Kogi are very frightened by the way the Younger Brother is continuing to destroy the natural world but know that we do not understand the forces we are unleashing.  They believe that unless we change course and listen to what they have to say then the world will end.

The Kogi could see that the Younger Brother failed to listen to their words and spoken warning in From The Heart of The World so in Aluna they are trying another way to communicate to us. They want to visually show us what they are talking about.

Julian Lennon

Julian Lennon in a Recent Picture (Photo: Julian Lennon)

Singer-songwriter, musician and photographer +Julian Lennon, who is a son of the former Beatle John Lennon, has been actively involved in supporting the Kogi and the campaign to get their message in Aluna widely heard. 

Julian Lennon's ALUNA Support Message

Julian says: "They have the answers. This is a warning that should not be ignored."

A Silent Spring for Seabirds

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

Rachel Carson (Photo: Public Domain)

Rachel Carson's best-selling book Silent Spring gave a grim warning about the dangers of pesticides when it was published in 1962. It correctly predicted that DDT and other pesticides would take a terrible toll on wildlife, and in particular birds. Without birds singing it would be a Silent Spring, and hence the title.  Her book spurred on the environmental movement in a massive way, caused many changes and became a modern classic but it couldn't predict the extreme danger from plastic pollution that was fast approaching. In the 1960s when Carson's book came out less than 5% of seabirds had plastic inside them but by the 1980s it had increased dramatically to 80%.

90% of seabirds have eaten plastic

National Geographic has recently revealed in a shocking report by Laura Parker that today as many as 90% of marine birds have eaten plastic. That means most seagulls, gannets, shearwaters, terns, albatrosses, frigate birds, petrels, kittiwakes, razorbills, boobies, penguins and puffins are likely to have swallowed plastic. The birds mistake plastic for sea creatures and fish with dire results. They are unable to digest plastic, unable to excrete it and so the toxic material accumulates somewhere inside them. As the plastic builds up with each plastic item swallowed so the room for real food gets less. Plastic also contains toxins that can gradually poison a bird to various degrees and lead to its reproductive failure. Sharp-edged plastic items can puncture internal organs and lead to bleeding and death.

Washed up plastic trash (Photo: Public Domain)

This is happening worldwide because waste plastic is being carried down rivers, streams and sewers into the oceans, in addition to the discarded plastic rubbish from ships and left carelessly littering beaches and coastlines. Plastic is washing up on beaches and looks almost like dead fish. Plastic items including bottles, bottle-caps, cups, bags, straws, lighters, spoons, toys and pieces of plastic packaging are floating around or washed onto beaches and look like food to a hungry seabird. 

It is not just at sea because gulls that are so well-suited as scavengers, and which are increasingly colonising our cities and feeding from rubbish dumps are mistaking plastic for food too with disastrous results as can be seen in this video.

Seagull eating a plastic bag

It is estimated that by 2050 every seabird will have eaten plastic!

Albatrosses

Remains of a Laysan albatross chick (Photo: Forest & Kim Starr)

The magnificent albatross, in all of the species, is a type of seabird in which plastic pollution is causing widespread fatalities among the chicks. Parent birds are feeding all sorts of plastic items to their hungry babies not knowing that they are actually killing their young ones. The baby birds cannot regurgitate the plastic trash and cannot digest it either. The rubbish accumulates inside them and they become undernourished, stressed and eventually die.  The helpless parent birds can only look on in horror!

The following video shows how bad the situation really is:

Plastic in albatross chicks at Midway Atoll

All types of albatross are recognised as endangered species. Can you imagine a world without these birds? Can you imagine a world without seabirds where we can no longer hear the cry of the seagull?

Seagulls in flight (Photo: Public Domain)

 Can you picture rocky cliffs and islands no longer used as breeding sites for seabird colonies?  Plastic is one of the many serious threats to seabirds of all types and, the way things are going, it looks as if these birds are heading for extinction unless something can be done to halt their decline. 

Whales and turtles

Footage of whale who died after eating plastic bags

And it is not just the seabirds that are in danger because of plastic trash that they eat. Whales and turtles, as well as many other types of marine life are eating the material. Beached and dead whales are being found with masses of plastic bags and other rubbish inside them and turtles too are suffering the same fate of dying after consuming plastic. These marine reptiles eat the material after mistaking it for jellyfish.

Sea turtle eating plastic

Butterflies in November and British Butterflies that hibernate

The Red Admiral

The only butterfly you are likely to see flying in November in the UK is the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). Conspicuous, not only because it is the only butterfly you are likely to see at the time of year, but also because of its bold colours of red, black and white.

Red Admiral (Photo: Public Domain)

The Red Admiral can still be seen flying on sunny days late in the autumn and will feed from rotting fruit, such as windfall apples and pears, and on ivy blossoms. It is the last butterfly to be seen in many parts of northern Europe too. It is also found in Asia and North America.

The Red Admiral is actually a migrant butterfly that arrives in Britain in varying numbers each year but it also hibernates and thus maintains a resident population.  Hibernating individuals emerge in spring and start the cycle again by laying eggs on the food-plants, which for this species, is mainly the Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica).

British butterflies that overwinter by hibernating

There are four more butterflies found in the UK, that although they are not seen flying as butterflies in November,  hibernate as adult butterflies. They are the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), the Peacock (Aglais io), the Comma (Polygonia c-album) and the Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni).  Actually, of these, the Comma can still be seen in early November in very mild autumns but usually it will be tucked away somewhere hibernating.

Small Tortoiseshell

Small Tortoiseshell (Photo: Public Domain)

The Small Tortoiseshell was once one of the most common British butterflies but has sadly been in serious decline in recent years, although the exact cause remains unknown.  It is thought to be susceptible to Climate Change, though pesticides and parasites are likely to have killed many as well. This pretty butterfly has caterpillars that, like the Red Admiral, feed on Stinging Nettles. 

Adult Small Tortoiseshells hibernate under cover and often enter buildings, including sheds and outhouses. If you find one in your house it is best to gently move it into a shed if you have one because the temperature inside a house is likely to waken the butterfly from its sleep too early, and it will waste its stored energy fluttering about.

This species, the Red Admiral, Peacock and Comma are all often seen feeding from the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) in late summer.

Peacock Butterfly

Peacock (Photo: Public Domain)

The unmistakeable Peacock butterfly is one of the most beautiful insects in the world with its four eye-spots displayed against its dark red wings. This common butterfly has caterpillars that also feed on nettles. Like the Small Tortoiseshell it will enter buildings to hibernate and also go into hollows in trees to pass the winter months in a dormant state.

The Comma

Comma (Photo: Public Domain)

The Comma has a ragged edge to its wings and from the underside, which is a mottled brown, it can look like a dead leaf.  There is a white comma-shaped mark that gives the butterfly its name. It is a common species too and its caterpillar feeds on nettles, Gooseberry (Ribes grossularia) and Hops (Humulus lupulus).  When it is small the caterpillar of this species is dark grey and whitish and looks like a bird-dropping. 

The Brimstone

Brimstone (Photo: Public Domain)

The Brimstone male is a bright yellow and the female is a paler creamy yellow with a greenish tinge.  This insect was once known as the "Butter-coloured fly" and is said to have been the origin of the term butterfly.  It has a very long life for a butterfly, though much of its time alive is spent in hibernation. 

The caterpillar will only feed on the two types of buckthorn - Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and the Alder Buckthorn (R. frangula). This limits the distribution of the species to areas in which the females can find these shrubs. 

The adult butterflies hibernate in ivy and evergreen vegetation and are usually the first species to emerge in spring, and can be seen flying as early as January in mild winters. 

The other species of butterflies found in Britain all spend the winter months as eggs, chrysalises or as larvae.