God Is Red: Stewardship or Sovereignty with Taylor Keen, Episode 1

What if our approach to regenerating the planet is fundamentally flawed by the Settler-Colonial Worldview? What if it is not our approach as much as it is our heart--our relationship to the Land as the Land? 

In this profound conversation with my friend, Taylor Keen—a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Harvard graduate, and founder of Sacred Seed—we explore the stark contrast between indigenous wisdom and the modern environmental movements of Regenerative Agriculture, Sustainable Development, and so much more.

Taylor takes us deep into the origins of Turtle Island, the indigenous name for Earth (Not America) found in creation stories dating back over 15,000 years. This isn't just mythology, as Taylor speaks—it's a cosmological understanding that connects human existence to both stars and soil. Through Taylor's storytelling, we discover how indigenous peoples maintain sustainable relationships with the land for thousands of generations, while our modern "green" movements often perpetuate the same mindsets that created our environmental crisis over and over and over again, masking its problems as solutions, or salvation.

The conversation challenges the very heart of our relationship with Earth. Taylor explains how indigenous traditions place plants first, animals second, and humans third—a radical departure from the dominion-based thinking that characterizes even well-intentioned environmental efforts. When he speaks about traditional agricultural knowledge, like planting by moon cycles or having only women of childbearing age plant seeds, we glimpse ourselves undeveloped by the millennia of careful colonization and observe our once-spiritual spiritual connection.

Most provocatively, I think, Taylor questions whether our rush to "save" the planet portrays the same arrogance that damaged it. Drawing on teachings from Vine Deloria Jr. and John Trudell, he suggests a different trace forward—one where we stop giving power to colonial and linear minds and instead become true kin with the land. "God is the land," Taylor insists, suggesting that treating Earth with the same reverence we give to religious texts might be our only path to survival.

Whether you're concerned about climate change, passionate about regenerative agriculture, or simply trying to understand your place in the natural world, this conversation will challenge your thinking and open new possibilities for healing our broken relationship with Mother Earth.

Episode Webpage: HERE.