Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity in Mexico

The issues of biodiversity and cultural diversity are some of the most pressing in the
modern day. Every day some language, cultural trait, animal, or plant species dies out because
nobody was there to help it survive any longer. Is this good or bad? Many believe that it is good,
arguing that life could be easier if we all spoke the same language. Many simply do not care that
there is an animal species that is no longer going to exist on earth. However, these things are
essential to our natural and human history. Without these ancient languages, without these age
old ways of life, without the animal and plants to sustain human bodies with. We could never
have progressed as society to where we are today.
Mexico, is one of the most culturally and biodiverse regions in the world. Prior to
politically becoming Mexico, the area of Mesoamerica was one of the great civilizations which
subsided on the natural world around them. Ancient Mayan and Aztecs lived and utilized the
more tropical areas, while peoples like Tohono Oodom lived in the drier desert areas. The
celebration of these biodiverse areas is important, however I believe the most important thing to
learn from these great indigenous peoples were how they utilized nature and the things around
them to sustain and live the full cultural life as we know them. As seen in the TED Talk , it is
talked about that people who live in the old ways do know just as much as we who are more
industrialized do. We just understand things in different ways.
The great Mayan civilization of Mesoamerica that of modern Mexico, is celebrated for
their ancient contributions to mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, and the arts. It was noted that
the great Mayan calendar was supposedly a signal for the end of the world, however it was in
fact an ending of the calendar. How the Mayans came up with the calendar was various cycles of
different lengths, as opposed to do lunar calendar that most westerners seem to have historically

used. Interestingly, the Mayan calendar did use the moon. It differed in that days were counted
with the moon, rather than the sun.
Mayan religion is also so noted for their polytheistic religions. Most if not all of
their gods represented some aspect of nature. One of their most celebrated gods, Chac, was
associated with rain. He also was represented as most important because he held the power of
weather and fertility, and most often in Mayan art he is depicted with a corn ear headdress. The
importance of this Mayan god is due to their main crop of maiz. Maiz or corn was the
agricultural item most known in Mesoamerica and how they used it to sustain them was a direct
reflection on how they interacted with the natural and spiritual world. Another example of a
Mayan god whom was a direct association between natural and spiritual to explain meanings is
the god Ixchel, whom is the jaguar goddess of midwifery. Many of the gods were depicted with
animal characteristics and it is unfortunate that these religions were lost when the Spanish came
and killed the natives of Mesoamerica as well as eradicating many biodiverse species, due to
invasive species.
In many native and indigenous cultures and also much of traditional western cultures if
traced back far enough there is essence of connection of humans to the natural world in a much
meaningful spiritual sense. In our industrial age it is hard to notice or take effort to care of the
impact we make in the natural environment. As we destroy the natural world around us, the
culture around us also disappear. Mexico today is a multiethnic and biodiverse area, however the
advent of westernization since the Spanish inquisition has slowly taken away from the cultural
diversity of Mexico.

The Mayan god Chac.

The Mayan calendar based on astrology